One thing that has always struck me as wasteful is the way that a golf ball in water sinks like a rock. Whenever some one drops one in the lake it's lost because on one can find it again. However just making the ball lighter is no good as then it won't fly properly. The idea of the floating golf ball is that it contains a small water soluble pellet in the middle that gives it the weight to fly well, but if it lands in water the pourus walls of the ball let water in to the pellet, this disolves and fills the ball with gas making it float back to the surface where it can be easily recovered with a net. A new pellet can then be inserted after drying the ball out and the ball is ready for use again.
-- Bronzewing, Jul 06 2004

Floating Golf Ball http://www.umei.com/golf-ball/floater.htm
make the core buoyant [xclamp, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

for [po] http://www.anu.edu..../golf_ball_sign.jpg
[Amos Kito, Oct 04 2004]

And is this cheaper than buying new balls ?
-- PainOCommonSense, Jul 06 2004


there was a man prosecuted for retrieving lost balls and selling them on but I cannot find a link.

someone else drowned retrieving them as well...
-- po, Jul 06 2004


I think we are on the verge of some bad science here... Water goes into the ball (adding mass) and converts the pellet to a gas (no change in mass) all the while, keeping the same volume, right? That is not going to make it float up to the top...

I suppose you could do a version where the water causes the pellet to change into gas, which then exits the ball (I'm not sure how you could even keep it in anyway). This would leave you with just a water filled shell. If the shell material is buoyant, then I suppose it would float back up, but I think you would have to wait an awful long time for all of this to happen (water diffusion through shell, reaction with pelet, gas diffusion out of shell...)
-- luecke, Jul 06 2004


Jesus, Moses and another guy are playing golf. Jesus tee's off and plop right into the water trap. Moses drives one into the water and so does the third guy.
The water is not very deep and Jesus can see his ball so he walks out onto the water and reaching down with his club he flicks the ball out and into the hole for birdie. Moses parts the water and walks down to his ball, he also gets birdie on the hole.
The third guy looks around for a bit and spots a hawk circling the course. It swoops down and grabs a fish from the water hazard. The fish has a golf ball in its mouth and lets it go at just the right time to dribble into the hole.
Third guy says, "Hole in one." Jesus says, "Quit showing off dad."
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 06 2004


i think there are a lot of aerodynamic reasons why this wouldn't work, but i'll leave that to the physics gurus.

seems it would be easier to build a buoyant core into the center during manufacturing, again possibly compromising distance etc. but i would guess less so than with this method. (link)

the whole bit about drying the ball out etc. makes this not such a good idea anyways.

[po] i worked at a driving range during summer breaks in school. they used to pay 'divers' to recover golf balls from the water hazzards on the course for use at the driving range. according to the divers it was a semi-lucrative sideline business.
-- xclamp, Jul 06 2004


thank you Amos. Ouch
-- po, Jul 06 2004


If a small bit of sodium metal in a ball of suet were placed inside the ball, this might also work well.
-- bungston, Jul 06 2004


Keep the golf ball as it is, and mix huge quantities of sodium silicate into the water. Not sure about the wildlife, but you've already spoiled a good walk anyway.
-- Ling, Jul 07 2004


What [xclamp] said. Some courses, where the water is in sufficient volume, have an agreement with the local dive club whereby the club can use the lake as a training area for open water dives provided that they take a couple of nets with them and fill 'em up on the way.
-- gnomethang, Jul 07 2004


One word: Trainedotters.
-- bungston, Jul 07 2004


Unfortunately 'Trainedotters' is only one word and does not yield any results. It did , however, suggest 'Trained Otters'. Is this significant to [bungstons] anno?. Or am I being heavy handed?. ;-)
-- gnomethang, Jul 07 2004


<looks both ways, pockets the word *pourus*>
-- ldischler, Jul 07 2004


[scout] give that girl's dad a croissant from me. most clever.
-- xclamp, Jul 07 2004



random, halfbakery