If you want to make money selling golf balls, EBAY is the best and easiest way to do it. First you need to sign up to EBAY which is free. Selling used golf balls is a big business and you can make good money doing it if you know how:
This is a hobby I did one summer that made well over $1500.00. It is a great way to make money for a teen or someone with some extra time. If you are a golfer you know that used golf balls sell for between 50 cents and a dollar in the bowl on the counter of every pro shop. They also sell for that amount (sometimes less) on Ebay. You can make a lot of money selling these golf balls especially if you can get thousands of them for free!
I bought my metal golf ball retriever contraption on Ebay. (You can sometimes find one on Ebay. You need one with a rope that you throw in the middle of the lake and it will bring up a handful or more at a time. Check this “GOLF BALL RETRIEVER LINK” AND SCROLL DOWN TO LOOK FOR ONE WITH A ROPE- there are several types that might be listed) This is not the kind that is a long poll that people carry in their bag but the kind that is attached to a very long string or rope. You throw it out into the middle of the lake and pull it back towards you. As it goes along the bottom, the golf balls get wedged in and by the time it comes back to you there might be as many as a dozen balls lodged in it. NOTE: to be successful you need this type of retriever and NOT the kind that brings up 1 to 4 balls at a time. You need to bring up as many as you can at once and this type of Octopus golf ball retriever does the trick.
If you can’t find anything on Ebay you can go here to get the Golf Fisherman
The only problem with this type of unit is that sometimes it would get stuck on the bottom as weeds or something else would get tangled with it. I did have a few scary moments when I thought I would have to cut the string and leave it behind but in the end I was somehow able to free it each time.
In my case, and this is a little embarrassing (just a little as I’ll do almost anything for money), I would drive to the nearby course at around 3:00 AM in the morning when it was pitch black so as not to be discovered. You really can’t just walk on a course in the middle of the day and start throwing your retriever in the lake because you would get in the way of the golfers and the course management would probably kick you off. Another reason is that many of the courses pay companies to do this ball retrieving for them (yes there are really companies that do this) and then they pay the company a small amount for each ball.
Note: I did sometimes go to the course at the end of the day when it was starting to get dark and the last golfers where coming in. No one ever said anything to me and I successfully got hundreds of balls a trip then as well.
I would usually take 2 empty buckets with me and in an hour or so (I knew a really good spot) would be driving home with 500 or so balls and then go back to bed. That part, though, was not necessarily the hardest part. My next step would be to wash each ball in warm water with a rag and try to make it as clean as possible. That was the most time consuming and boring part. Having done that, I had a big sorting job ahead of me.
If you look on Ebay you will find many auctions for used balls. Those auctions are usually for groups (lots) of balls and many times they are separated by ball conditions or company brand. In order to get the most money I would separate all my balls into three groups. Group 1 would be the best balls that were almost new, group 2 was balls that had some wear but were still playable, and group 3 was for balls that were shag balls (balls that people use for practice).
I would further sort group 1 into smaller groups by brand for selling on Ebay. The most expensive balls in the best condition would often bring about a dollar a ball and I would wait until I got 24 or 36 per group and put them up as a “lot”. The remaining good balls would be put up as lots as well but they might have multiple brands within the lots.
Read about someone who does this for a living HERE.
The second group would also be separated into lots and sold with a description which was accurate for that lot of balls. Those lots would often be bigger sizes like 48 or 60 balls in a lot. I would usually get between 50 cents and 75 cents for those balls.
The final group were the bad balls that really could only be used for practice (I would throw the cut ones out and not sell them). These lots would be advertised as shag balls and sold in lots of 100. I wouldn’t get much for these (perhaps 10 cents after shipping) but it was nevertheless a profit on virtually every ball I brought up from the lake.
On average I calculated that I was making 25 cents per ball and so when I came home with two full buckets that each held about 250 balls, I was making between $100.00 and $125.00 per trip! Not only was I making some good money but I also suddenly had more balls than I could ever lose on the course myself! It was fun and it shows there are many ways to make money using a little bit of brainstorming.
Selling golf balls is great fun (and some hard work) but there are other easier ways to make money. Whether you are a teenager, a college student, or a work at home Mom or Dad you can start making money like I did on the Internet. To see how I got started making money, and I did not have to spend a penny to get started, please see my detailed post Best Ways to Make Money. I now make a lot more than I did fishing out those golf balls!
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That is so funny and crazy! Wow I wonder what happens if you got caught or a police stopped you, kinda scary if that happens. That really is a great moneymaker in just one hour, it can almost be like a night job or a way to nuke your day job!
Wow… that’s so industrious of you! This never would have occured to me!
Dude I used to do the exact same thing. Behind my house was a creek, and behind that was a driving range. The creek was only about a foot deep so I used to put waders on and grab them with a net. Then I’d sell them to the pro shop at another golf course.
It worked fine until they started getting balls with “Stolen from Pollsmoor Driving Range” printed on them.
Nice idea. I do sell used stuff, and never thought about golf balls!
Wow, great idea! Thanks for sharing!
A great idea and of course good for the environment too. Reusing lost golf balls is a great idea! Very enterprising of you.
[...] How To Make Money Selling Used Golf Balls [...]
Wow, that’s pretty darn clever. Entrepreneur eh? or thief?
Replete,
That would be Entrepreneur and not thief (a little thief?)
I did get some balls during daylight hours. I would sometimes go to the course at dusk when everyone was finishing up and throw my ball collector in the water. No one ever stopped me.
is the time spent gathering and selling these and the water and utility used to wash the balls worth the trips?
probably i will hire someone like you to do it for me, pay you a minimal sum per ball, and sell it to golf shops and courses with a bit of markup.
thats earning something out of nothing
Nice post
HAHA, how funny. I recall when I was on the golf team and I remember how many golf balls I lost. I think your business premise makes sense becuase golf balls are soo expensive (even the “experienced” ones as they call them)
Taking golf balls from someone else’s golf range, without their consent, isn’t a business premise.
If you had an agreement with the golf range to remove and retain the golf balls, and could make a profit on it – that would be a business premise.
Personally, I think it’s a clever idea! Just probably not legal
Replete,
I was not taking balls from a golf range – did you read the article? I was taking them from the BOTTOM OF THE POND! I also did this a little in the daylight while I was playing a round of golf.
[...] Pay Your Way Through College by Finding & Selling Golf Balls [...]
Good article! I’m thinking about doing this myself!
[...] ideas are wide and varied, ranging from raiding golf courses in the middle of night to dredge the ponds and waterways for lost (and resalable) golf balls, through to taking advantage [...]
Lol! I did the exact same job here in the Netherlands but I only got minimum wage an hour
(about 6 dollars per hour).
[...] DayJobNuker shows you how to make money selling used golf balls. [...]
[...] 15-How To Make Money Fast, Dating Affiliates! by Kristian at PromoteDating.com 16-How To Make Money Selling Used Golf Balls by Bruce at DayJobNuker.com 17-Google Adsense Keywords That Make Money by Gary at GarryConn.com [...]
With my luck I’d probably get eaten by a gator here in Florida trying to do that, so I don’t think I’ll give it a try. It’s a great idea though.
How To Make Money Selling Used Golf Balls…
This is a great way to sell used golf balls on Ebay to make extra cash. I made over $1500 doing this and anyone who lives near a golf course can make money. Teenagers and college students especially can make some nice extra income this way. Golf balls …
That is a great way to make some money. I know I have hit in over a couple dozen of balls overtime
I would imagine that you could do even better at expensive country clubs where everyone buys expensive balls.
Brandon,
You most certainly would do much better at the expensive country clubs but how are you going to get the balls? You can’t just walk onto most country clubs as that would be trespassing. The course I got most of my balls from was a public course.
[...] you read mine maybe you do too. I mean where else are you going to find a guy willing to get up at 3:00 AM to fish golf balls out of a pond, buy 150 cans of soup at a time to save money, or work so hard selling Beavis & Butthead [...]
I love it. Where I grew up in South Florida, there were so many golf courses and my brother and I used to hock golf balls. Luckily we didn’t need the retreive tool because there were plenty of wooded areas we could search and retrieve balls that had never been in the water but got stuck in the bushes. We used to make good money (for kids).
[...] How To Make Money Selling Used Golf Balls - 19,905 unique pageviews [...]
It’s amazing how many different ways on a daily basis we can make money. The sky is the limit, but unfortunately we have blinders on and don’t see all these opportunities right in front of our eyes. Very cool post.
I totally missed this post, thanks for sharing it
I always did this when I was on vacation in Scotland. But I didn’t sell the balls, so I didn’t make money 
if you find ping golf balls let me know
Wow..this is too funny!
We used to sell the golfers doughnuts, coffee and the used golfballs that came into out yard.
For anyone struggling with what to include in a local online newspaper this type of story would be excellent! Good job
Ellie…
Just wanted to drop a note to let you know what a great site you have. It is a great resource and a great place to drop by….
haha. interesting story. could have used some money like that when i was in college.
Ha Ha That’s funny. I used to find ‘experienced’ golf balls (in the heavy rough) as a kid and sell them outside the Clubhouse at my local public course. We used to just buy Cokes and candy bars with the money. 30 Years ago, 10 bucks would buy alot of junk food!Probably sold them right back to the guys who lost them.
Never thought about actually developing a business out of it though. Good idea! (for someone else…)
[...] Before the internet was huge, it was envelope stuffing and chain letters. Before that, fool’s gold and snake oil. (Heck, some people are still doing work from home jobs like fishing for used golf balls!) [...]
Wow I remember doing this as a kid, but we never made that much money from it. I’ve heard you could make a full time income from it, but I never thought about trying it myself. I especially like the ball collecting device, I figured you’d have to at least get wet to make a decent amount of money. You got me thinking seeing as how I have a golf course within walking distance of my house.
Wow that’s a pretty cool way to make money and certainly you planned well, with buying the ball collecting machine and making an effort to go out in the middle of the night to collect them. I guess if it was possible to do this everyday it might easily have become a great source of income.
I appriciated this post, thanks for sharing it. I always did this when I was on weekends. But I didn’t sell the balls, so I didn’t make money .
I live right next to a golf course and i’ve collected a few balls over the last few months. I never thought about selling them on eBay. thats a great idea. but i’m too lazy to go out there at 3 in the morning though
[...] and then regurgitating it on my blog. I did try hard to write some original things like my post on how to make money selling golf balls and my 3 part review of incentivized freebie websites which could also have been called my [...]
Not only can you make a little money, but it helps my elderly father get out and get some exercise. Make sure if you are doing this in Florida to be careful, we saw a HUGE snake last night.
cool i do that same thing but i go in the water with a wet suit. iam byeing the thang you have.i am 13 years old.
How do you find a metal ball retriever? I cannot find one on ebay.
Uhh…did you click on any one of my 3 links?
can u show a picture of the golf ball retriever that you used
Sorry but it is now buried somewhere in my garage.
It is similar to the one pictured.
Dude last time i tried selling golf balls on the corse they called the cops scary um i want 2 now where u sell yours
o ya one more thing somtimes we would go 2 the driving range with a net and ride our bikes across it after a couple of times of that the golf course swiched 2 practice balls then the fourth time we did it my friend got hit by a golfer he was 2 stupid 2 keep on going
This is a great idea. Im going to give this a try. But also could you buy a cheap lot of balls with some of the higher priced balls and resell them somewhere.
i have been doing this for like a week now… the problem i find is all the moss and algae… is there a good way to do this in a mossy pond?
Ryan,
A mossy pond does not work well for sure. I know I have tried this in some ponds and had to move on because everything I brought up was an absolute mess.
Hey what a great idea to sell on eBay. I have a huge box with about 300 golf balls sitting in the garage. These have been just found and collected from his weekly golf sessions. Thanks for the idea.
I just did this with a buddy at our local golf course. However, I did the diving while he was the net holder. We retrieved right around 1500 golf balls with 25 of them being high end priced. It took us right around 2 hours which was not to bad. It was a fun and exciting night. Will be selling on Ebay soon.
haha. sounds like something i do.
well im only 13 but im trying to save up for a palm centro electric cellphone, ive collected about 250 golf balls from the pond in my backyard. we live on a private course (the moors)
ebay is good, but i sell them in my backyard but kind of like a fruit stand sort of thing so i dont really have to watch it. its only been a couple days and ive made 20 bucks so far. i really want that metal ball collecter! (: great idea and keep it up.
oh yeah one more thing..
well my pond is really mucky so the only way i find them is by feeling them in the mud.. but there are also a ton on top of it too..
would the ball collecter still work even though its really mucky?
If they are buried in the mud I think the ball collecter would have a difficult time of bringing them up. Not 100% sure but that is my thoughts.
day job nuker my neighborhood has a lake and this guy lets me use his backyard by the golf course and i get a lot of golf balls on land but theres a water fall with concrete under it theres tons of golf balls there but to make it worse theres a brige above it and barbed wire so i cant get on the brige and plus i dont have a boat sorry for the long story might seem confusing
P.S how do i get the golf balls
day job nuker????????????????????????????????? can u plz help me??????????????????????????????????
Sorry Reuben, I don’t have an answer for you. Time for you to get creative maybe and come up with an ingeneous solution?
oh ok ill think of somthing thank u anyway
!
Haha this is crazy! Crazy like a fox! I’ve heard of people who live next to golf courses collecting balls near their fence, but not this industrious collection from lakes with mechanical devices, I’m sure lakes will be getting trawled in the near future
day job nuker i looked on the link to get the golf ball retriver,and they were all out.Do u know were i can the same one ore somthing just as good.
Damien,
It does look like no one is selling that kind of retriever right now. I have looked and can’t find them anywhere else so my only advice is to keep checking on Ebay and hope that someone will put more up for sale.
I do the same thing 3 times a week at my local golf course and find aboput 900 each time. However i dont use a machine i just strip down and jump right in with a bag strapped to my front. I was wondering how much ebay charge for you to sell the balls?
It doesn’t cost that much in Ebay fees and I always charged just a little more in shipping to cover the cost of Ebay fees. Most people do that.
The more balls you sell the more you know just about how much it costs and you can then charge accordingly.
Ahaha, I never knew that fishing golf balls was possible! Anyhow, I think it’s cool. How bout fishing in sand bunkers? That would be cool too. LOL
Okay so my brother and i stole more than 2,000 golf balls in a week hahah we never thought about selling them that is such a good idea. we still have them too and two times a week we go get more so basicaly were just doing it to see if we will ever get cought Why not make money while doing it
2 other ways I made money in college was completing online surveys and testing online games. Easy money.
I used to Golfball for a living.I made 32,000 dollars in 5 months time.My grandfathers uncle actually started this in ST.Louis,Missouri.
Nighthawking is the best way to make money doing this.It requires obtaining a scorecard from the course locating the water shots slices etc and being dropped of after dark to swim until the green keeper starts mowing,Then you sneak off the course.
Loved It.
I HAVE LIVED ON A GOLF COURSE FOR ALMOST A YEAR NOW, AND I HAVE COLLECTED OVER 40,000 BALLS. THE MAJORITY I FOUND IN THE BUSHES, BUT WITH A GOOD LED FLASHLIGHT YOU CAN SEE THE ONES IN THE WATER. I HAVENT SEEN THIS OCTOPUS THOUGH, ILL HAVE TO TRY THAT. PROBABLY 80% OF THE BALLS ARE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION AND 15% ARE IN GOOD CONDITION AND 5% ARE SHAG BALLS. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS POST, I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR A WAY TO SELL THEM.
Where can this octopus ball retriever be bought ive been looking everywhere ??
the last two years we have colected 1700 golf balls by hand,just around the pounds. and we clean are golfballs with bleach and you only have to rub them to get them clean.
James,
Looks like you have some selling to do. Now is the perfect time to get started as summer is coming.
We sell all are golf balls to people in town.
but this year me and my brothers are going to sell them
on the side of the golf course diring the tournaments.
James
You can’t do that where I live , our golf courses are very protective over the balls in the water and they have people that they pay to retrieve them. They have charged people with trespassing and have put a few entreprenuers out of business. It is looked at as theft in our country .
Great idea, I might have to give this one a shot.
I purchased one of these metal contraptions about a month ago, and I was doing pretty well. I hit 3 courses and brought up a lot of balls at night, and on my trip to the 4th course someone saw me coming in and called the cops. Needless to say I got arrested for trespassing and the course might press charges for “stealing” their golf balls. They said it’s their pond and they get the balls out and re-sale them, so what I was doing was theft. Oh well, Just hope the lawyer I paid 800 dollars is able to get it dropped.
The golf ball retriever you have, im looking on ebay and there isnt any like yours, is there another place besides ebay i can buy one just like yours? i live on a golf course and im 17 and i cant beleive ive never thought to do this
Evan,
You are right. The exact one I have has not been for sale on Ebay for quite a while. Right now there is one that is similar called the “Golf Fisherman Golf Ball Retriever” and it is something you throw in like mine but I don’t know how well it works. It looks like it is designed to bring up multiple balls like mine is.
I can’t imagine that golf balls can help make money online. I should give this one a try, for me to earn some. Thanks for this idea.
I would really like to do this but the specified ball catcher is nowhwere to be seen on ebay. Please help
Right now on Ebay is a “Golf Fisherman” which will work fine. You throw it into the middle of a lake and bring up 4 to 10 balls at a time. You have to keep checking back on Ebay to see what is listed. I don’t know of anywhere else to get a ball “catcher” like this.
Has anyone had success with the (Golf Fisherman Retriever) I’m thinking of getting it off Ebay but I want to know if it works first and if it does will it work in mossy ponds and weeds? Hope you can help me. Thanks
I just recently purchased the “Golf Fisherman” and through it out one time and all I got was a bunch of mud. I’m going to try again tonight, so hopefully I will have some better results. Let me know if anyone has had any luck.
Thanks
I think throwing it out “once” is hardly enough to make a judgement. You don’t even know for sure whether there are any or many balls at the bottom. If the golf course has just had someone clean them out then there wouldn’t be any at the bottom for you to get. One of the tricks is throwing it in a place where you know there are balls. You can’t strike it rich every time and sometimes you need to move on to different places in the pond or completely different ponds.
Hey Jared so did you have any luck with the Golf Fisherman yet? I would like to know also if anyone else has had luck let me know. Thanks
Jordan,
I have had some luck recently. It is definitely worth purchasing. I need to go out when I have more time, but I’m afraid I will be seen and get kicked off the course or worse yet…arrested!
Ok Thanks! Jared
Hey. i have been doing that for like a week an have gotten around 200 but i was just walking around in the water. Instead of washing the balls by hand u can go to the course an use a 4 golf ball washer it works 10 times faster an it also cleans them better cause the cleaner is ment to clean the golf balls.. so after that i just put them in bleach to shine them up alittle. but the golf fisherman thing does that get the golf balls in the mud? and around how long do u think the string is cause theres a dam that ppl hit around 3 top flites in per person every round does the fisherman thing get unstuck easy? thank you
If you need a longer string you can just buy your own and attach it to the unit. The one I use get balls out of the mud and I think the Golf Fisherman will as well.
I built my own “octopus” it’s very simple, but If you guys are interested I could build them and put them on ebay but I don’t want to waste my time if no one wants it, any takers??? Also in about 2 weeks time I just go in the woods looking for balls and came up with 1500, I just started going aqua and it’s way easier, lucky for my I have a river which runs through the course into a pond no one knows about. Probably 5 to 10k golf balls in there!
Hi.Im only 12 and every afternoon at 7 me and my dad go walking (since he works around and on a golf course).We always find about 3 golf balls or so….and i always used go and sell them to golfers.But one man gave us like 2 dollars for 2 golfballs when they wer only 50cents.He just said your welcome.How much do i need to make them pay.My dad already said no getting golfballs out of the pond.But, i always go look in the woods sometimes..:)
i am so gonna start selling my boyfriends golf balls.. he is one of those who normal come back with TREATS(golf balls he picked up)after golf..
You know, my father used to do this – you can wash them in the dishwasher!
Dishwasher! Sounds like a great idea. I wish I had thought of that!
Hey jbt171 i would be interested in buying one of those contraptions from you. Let me know if you get this message and would be interested in making one for me.
The best way to clean the balls it to put them in in a 5 gallon pail for about 1-2 days with about 1\4 bleach and the rest water and then put half in at a time in the washing machine with some old towels…
note.. do not put pro-v1 titliest or black callaways in, it will rune them. hope this helps.
james
i have a golf course behing my house. i have only 23 in 3 days. is there anyone with an idea that will bring me more in a day:(
The ball retreivers like the ball fisherman,I make a basket that guarntees to pull balls in.Been useing it for over 10 years now getting easy 200 to 400 balls every time go to golf course will sell them for 100.00 plus shipping.I buy all golf balls to.
Just make sure you do it before the morning maintenance workers come in. The ones at my local course come as early as 4am.
we have done this for years. the top design is new to me. i have a modified bottom version that i found in a pond one time walking in it. the one i have is much better. it is way more “v” shapped. we have pulled in 15 or so balls on a single pull. we got 400 balls in 15 mintues using 2 “throw rakes” one morning. we were “run” off by the pro but he didn’t see the 2 full buckets my brother just put in the truck. he only saw the 20 or so balls we just pulled up. the “v” design will hold the balls in better for sure.
I do the same thing every week at my local golf course and find a few hundred every time I go. I was wondering how much you have to pay ebay to sell the balls?
ive been looking for golf balls for over 18 years started as a kid and just carried on doing it as i couldnt afford golf balls to play with
i reckon each time i look for balls in the woods/ponds and fields i find atleast 200+ each time i go out only out for 2/3 hours each time sell them on ebay hard work but easy money
p.s if your thinking of doing this be careful as it is illegal all over the world the police charge you with theft by finding which can result in a prison sentance but 9/10 you’ll get a fine for tresspassing