Diving for golf balls

[Gordon Nimmo]

Just wandering if anyone here has had experience in diving for golf balls in the very murky and silty lakes on golf courses here in the UK.

Im aware of all the legal and H&S issues associated with it, but was wandering if anyone here has had first hand experience at it.

Gordon

[David Walker]

Just wandering if anyone here has had experience in diving for golf balls in the very murky and silty lakes on golf courses here in the UK.

Im aware of all the legal and H&S issues associated with it, but was wandering if anyone here has had first hand experience at it.

Never tried it for golf balls specifically, but it'll just be the same as diving in any other silty lakes, except you're trying to spot little white balls as you go. Normal low-viz precautions should be all you really need, it's unlikely to be more than a few metres deep, but make sure you can look after yourself - its not the sort of thing you want to take a buddy on. I've been in a few places where you can't see more than a few cm infront of your face, so if its like that then looking for golf balls you will need to get very close to the bottom, and depending on the particular lake probably just bouncing along the bottom, feel your way with your hands... so don't go back over where you've already been.
If you are worried about safety you could use an SMB or a line back to the shore with someone on the other end, but in very crappy viz the line is more likely to cause problems than solve any.
Hopefully in golf courses there shouldn't be trolleys and old bikes and things to get stuck on.

Just jump in, have a look around, see what you can see - one lake is probably very different to another anyway so you'll just have to see what that one is like.

David

[Gordon Nimmo]

:=Just wandering if anyone here has had experience in diving for golf balls in the very murky and silty lakes on golf courses here in the UK.
:=
:=Im aware of all the legal and H&S issues associated with it, but was wandering if anyone here has had first hand experience at it.

Never tried it for golf balls specifically, but it'll just be the same as diving in any other silty lakes, except you're trying to spot little white balls as you go. Normal low-viz precautions should be all you really need, it's unlikely to be more than a few metres deep, but make sure you can look after yourself - its not the sort of thing you want to take a buddy on. I've been in a few places where you can't see more than a few cm infront of your face, so if its like that then looking for golf balls you will need to get very close to the bottom, and depending on the particular lake probably just bouncing along the bottom, feel your way with your hands... so don't go back over where you've already been.
If you are worried about safety you could use an SMB or a line back to the shore with someone on the other end, but in very crappy viz the line is more likely to cause problems than solve any.
Hopefully in golf courses there shouldn't be trolleys and old bikes and things to get stuck on.

Just jump in, have a look around, see what you can see - one lake is probably very different to another anyway so you'll just have to see what that one is like.

David

Thought as much. I work in the golf industry (greenkeeping) and there are few golf courses that have lakes in play, unlike the courses in the US.

Most are no more deeper than a few meters deep unless they are irrigation storage lakes. These are usually lined with a Butyl Liner so there is no silt or dirt out on top of that, as it may go through the irrigation pumps. These will be the cleaner ones to dive in.

[dave covey]

Im aware of all the legal and H&S issues associated with it, but was wandering if anyone here has had first hand experience at it.


...I seem to recall a case from 2-3 years ago in which a bloke was jailed in similar circumstances for THIEFT of the golf balls. The public outcry had him out in a week but you need to be careful in UK's political-correctness-gone-daft society!

[Gordon Nimmo]

:=Im aware of all the legal and H&S issues associated with it, but was wandering if anyone here has had first hand experience at it.


...I seem to recall a case from 2-3 years ago in which a bloke was jailed in similar circumstances for THIEFT of the golf balls. The public outcry had him out in a week but you need to be careful in UK's political-correctness-gone-daft society!

Aye

The law states that any golf ball lost on a golf course belongs then to the golf club itself. It was the 'older generation' of that golf club that didnt like the idea of anyone actually going in to their lake/pond and cleaning it out for them. You would need to seek permission first from the golf club to actually go on to the land and dive.

The Golf Course Manager/Head Greenkeeper would then have to inform you about any H&S aspects on the golf course or any areas that you should/shouldnt be going when heading to the lake.

That opens a whole new can of worms then for diving on a golf course....such as who is responsible for the divers in the lake?

[David Walker]

The law states that any golf ball lost on a golf course belongs then to the golf club itself. It was the 'older generation' of that golf club that didnt like the idea of anyone actually going in to their lake/pond and cleaning it out for them. You would need to seek permission first from the golf club to actually go on to the land and dive.

How long do you have to have lost it for before it belongs to the club? What if its just lost under a tree for a few hours as you look for it? Or you give up, continue playing, and next time you play you see your ball under a tree - as you'd lost it is it still yours?
There is of course an obvious solution... wait til 3am! :O)

David

[Dave]

...I seem to recall a case from 2-3 years ago in which a bloke was jailed in similar circumstances for THIEFT of the golf balls.

Quite reasonably it is theft in the UK too in the same way that if you found a wallet containing money on the street and then kept it, that would be theft too.

Dave

[Andy Wade]

:=...I seem to recall a case from 2-3 years ago in which a bloke was jailed in similar circumstances for THIEFT of the golf balls.

Quite reasonably it is theft in the UK too in the same way that if you found a wallet containing money on the street and then kept it, that would be theft too.



Isn't it called 'stealing by finding' or something?

[susan fiszman]

Just wandering if anyone here has had experience in diving for golf balls in the very murky and silty lakes on golf courses here in the UK.

Im aware of all the legal and H&S issues associated with it, but was wandering if anyone here has had first hand experience at it.

Gordon ive never dived for golf balls what do u mean

[susan fiszman]

:=Im aware of all the legal and H&S issues associated with it, but was wandering if anyone here has had first hand experience at it.


...I seem to recall a case from 2-3 years ago in which a bloke was jailed in similar circumstances for THIEFT of the golf balls. The public outcry had him out in a week but you need to be careful in UK's political-correctness-gone-daft society! how about tennis balls do people steal them:)

[gridler]

Isn't it called 'stealing by finding' or something?

Theft by finding, I am aware of someone being done for theft from a skip so be carefull

[Andy Wade]

:=Isn't it called 'stealing by finding' or something?

Theft by finding, I am aware of someone being done for theft from a skip so be carefull

That's near enough for me, I just recall what the local bobby once told me (years ago) when I found a wallet, I'd actually given it to my Mum and she passed it to the Police at the station, I went too and was told about it because I said I should have been able to keep the money in it, kind of a kids idea of a 'finders keepers' thing, our local Bobby put me straight about it of course.

Theft from a skip? Are you saying I'd rummage through skips?
Pah! (mock indignation)
;-)

[Mike Halligan]

:=Quite reasonably it is theft in the UK too in the same way that if you found a wallet containing money on the street and then kept it, that would be theft too.
:=
Isn't it called 'stealing by finding' or something?

I was once told that there's to be both (a) an owner and (b) an intention to permanently deprive, and not much more. However, I am not a constable.

Mike

[Dave]

Theft from a skip? Are you saying I'd rummage through skips?
Pah! (mock indignation)
;-)

Skips are even better. You can be prosecuted for theft for putting things in someone elses skip. This time it is theft of space

Dave

[Gordon Nimmo]

:=The law states that any golf ball lost on a golf course belongs then to the golf club itself. It was the 'older generation' of that golf club that didnt like the idea of anyone actually going in to their lake/pond and cleaning it out for them. You would need to seek permission first from the golf club to actually go on to the land and dive.

How long do you have to have lost it for before it belongs to the club? What if its just lost under a tree for a few hours as you look for it? Or you give up, continue playing, and next time you play you see your ball under a tree - as you'd lost it is it still yours?

Hi there

Its a real gray area this thing as golfers who find golf balls when out playing are going to keep the ball unless its clearly being played by someone else.

The real problem about taking golf balls from a lake is if the diver doesnt get permission from the golf club itself then they can use the 'stealing property of the golf club' rubbish and take the diver to court.

Is there any divers out there who golf?? How about underwater golf...golfing on the sea bed with scuba gear!! That would be challenge....

There is of course an obvious solution... wait til 3am! :O)

David

[gridler]

:=:=Quite reasonably it is theft in the UK too in the same way that if you found a wallet containing money on the street and then kept it, that would be theft too.
:=:=
:=Isn't it called 'stealing by finding' or something?

I was once told that there's to be both (a) an owner and (b) an intention to permanently deprive, and not much more. However, I am not a constable.

Mike

A person assumes ownership when they reduce the item to their possesion, the permantly deprive is harder to prove but in the event of golf balls it may be argued that selling them on proves the fact that the owner will never get them back. Whats wrong with rumaging in skips there is a big one in Portsmouth called Hornsea and we all rumage threw that one.