BALL SCOOP

I don't even carry one of these in my golf bag anymore. Actually I never carried one that looked like this. It's well, too springy.

But a friend of mine has one even in worse shape that this contraption. I estimate he paid 15 bucks for it and he has scooped out golf balls totally $300 or so. About three dozen have been mine over the course (no pun) of 35 years. So 1 a year's not that bad.

A favorite line of his was saying that a playing partner needed to have his scoop re-gripped because he had used it so much. But his best line was about 14 clubs. Golf rules dictate that the player carry a maximum of 14 clubs in his bag. He counted a partner's clubs and informed him that the scoop counted as a club and he would have to take it or another club out of his bag. The partner believed him.

The more I think about it, he had a fixation with golf ball scoops. Another partner of ours is known for ball hawking or dipping in the waters for errant shots. But he also uses his long scoop to fetch golf balls hit in neighboring yards. One day he was told that if he got just a little longer scoop he could reach the dining table and snag a portion of the meal.

My reason for not carrying a ball dipper or scoop is that if I am blessed with 30 more years of golf playing, I couldn't use up all the golf balls I have. So I'm leaving the spoils for others. Since our house borders the golf course, we get an average of 1 or 2 a day. Even I don't play that much golf. Don't envy me though, since we have an average expense of nearly $1,000 per year for broken roof tiles, windows, skylights, outdoor table tops, and stucco repairs. Not to mention reparations for our golf ball net which meets the requirement of our HOA, but is not tall enough for slicing golfers.

I guess I could add to my collection if I sat around a patio table with a long scoop and stuck it through our fence to retrieve golf balls close but not in our yard. But if I ever feel the need, I'll get a better scoop that the one pictured.