wet golf balls?

[abeno]

Here's a random one..

Is it true that golf balls that have been sitting in a pond are not worth playing with? Recently a pond was drained and I bagged a bunch of golf balls figuring they were fine, but a friend said otherwise .. i couldn't find anything on the web that agrees with the idea so I figured I'd post here.

Thanks for your thoughts,

-beno

[rubber314chicken]

On dirty jobs they did one where they dove in a pond to get balls, clean them, and then marked and sold them as range balls. I think they kept the balls that were in good condition to sell to golfers, and the rest were marked as range balls.

[King Par]

People claim they get filled with water or something like that. Saturated? Don't know if that's the word.

I honestly doubt it. I've played with balls from water before and there is no difference. Not notable difference anyway.

[DrivetheGreen66]

its called waterlogged. It just depends on how long they been sitting in the body of water. If i see some in a pond near the edge that I can get with the wedge i will just throw them in the shag bag but thats about it

[mddubya]

I've found some that felt heavy and were discolored. I guess if they are under water long enough they can get waterlogged, but I honestly don't see how.

[West Coast Duffer]

Its all a matter of time. There should be a few more threads on this topic and I also think one has an article where one of the big magazines tested this out.

[JEFF4i]

Do they look new? Thats a decent indicator.

Higher quality balls tend to get a little pale.

[Wi-Golfer]

The covers will get discolored & that's it. The surlyn covers are non permeable & will not allow water to get in. I work in the plastics industry & have been involved with surlyn on many projects over the last 20 years.

Sunlight will do more damage than water will. The UV rays will degrade the cover causing it to break down.

[eclark53520]

Originally Posted by Wi-Golfer

The covers will get discolored & that's it. The surlyn covers are non permeable & will not allow water to get in. I work in the plastics industry & have been involved with surlyn on many projects over the last 20 years.

Sunlight will do more damage than water will. The UV rays will degrade the cover causing it to break down.

See, thats what i always thought, but had to proof to back it up...

My father in law heard that i was playing with "Recycled" golf balls and told me to becarefull because they might be pond balls that are waterlogged, so i asked him how plastic gets waterlogged? he just shrugged his shoulders...

They never feel any different to me....

[warbirdlover]

The waterlog "theory" came from the old (string) wound balata balls etc. which could get waterlogged. The new balls with polymer centers etc won't get waterlogged.

[Wi-Golfer]

Originally Posted by warbirdlover

The new balls with polymer centers etc can't get waterlogged.

Fixed it for you.

[warbirdlover]

Thanks.

[BHS Golf Kid]

I find waterlogged balls all the time and they work just fine.

[BHS Golf Kid]

Correction they work fine for shag balls.

[APowell1990]

ummm I'm pretty sure balls that stay underwater long enough are NOT going to be worth playing. Throwing them in the shag bag is acceptable though