Are golf balls found off the golf course property legal to take?

Question

My bf works as maintenance for a department store that sits 20 feet from the fence surrounding a golf course. Every week he has to do work on the roof, and each time he finds enough golf balls to fill at least one pocket. Needless to say, after four months he has quite the collection of golf balls.

He has a bunch of different types (brands) of golf balls, and some of them have the golf course name printed on them. Are these technically property of the course? Or since they have been hit out of bounds are they free to take?

Also another question, just for fun: What do you think he should do with these? He doesn't golf but is thinking of borrowing a club from a friend and hitting them into the lake. I think that's a waste and polluting to boot. Why not hit them back where someone else can find them, if you're gonna hit them at all? What do you think he should do with his huge bucket of golf balls?

Answer 1

The golf balls without the golf course print are free to take and sell or w/e. But i would def return the golf course's golf balls back to them, whether he hits it back into the course, or brings a bagful to the course shop. who knows, maybe they'll give him a free round for his good deed? but it's not illegal to take them if he found them near his work.. it's always finder's keepers when it comes to golf balls...as long as it's not your playing partners ;)

Answer 2

Since the golfers were the ones that hit those golf balls in to the adjacent property, and the golfer originally owned that ball and have not retrieved it, they are yours to keep...even the ones with the golf course's logos on it.

As for what to do with these balls, you can either give it to your golfer friends (and they will love you for it) or sell it.  In the golf stores, used balls go for anywhere between $0.75 to $1.00 each (good condition of course).  So you can wash the dirt and mud off the balls, sort them in to brands, then walk around in the golf course's parking lot and offer them to the golfers at a really cheap price and still make enough money for him to buy you something nice.  You can always put them up on eBay by the bag and see what offers you get.

Don't hit them in to a public lake.  If you get caught, you could be sited for either polluting or dumping on public grounds.

Answer 3

He is allowed to keep them as the golfers abandoned them when they hit them off the course onto the roof.  Needlessly hitting them into the lake is not a good idea.  He could sell them (if they are in good shape), or he could donate them to the local high school or junior golf program for underprivileged kids.

Answer 4

Any balls out of bounds and off of the course's property belong to the adjoining landowner.  Usually the landowner will let you collect the balls if you don't damage his property.  As far as hitting a golf ball into a lake, there won't be any pollution.  Golf balls can last for AGES underwater with no damage to groundwater.

Answer 5

sure i would wash them first, finders keepers right?

Answer 6

yeah its perfectly fine to take them.  

Answer 7

My kids glued them together on the inside of a big garbage can. When it got hard, they just lifted the golf ball masterpiece.

My oldest son has it and made it into a lamp base.

Answer 8

I would say the golf balls would be free to take seeming they are no longer the property of the golf course. I think the idea of hitting the balls back for someone else to actually use them is a good idea.

Have a good one...

Answer 9

I hope so... my mom's property backs up to a golf course. She collects the "strays". She and my sister go out everyday to see what they see!

As for your second question... if its the golf course lake, they clean it out periodically anyways - so its technically recycling!  If its someone's backyard lake... yeah, that'd be bad. Poor unsuspecting fishie.