Is Anyone Here a Marine Biologist?
February 27, 2018 6:47 AM Subscribe
About 1.2 billion golf balls are manufactured every year, according to a 2017 report in Chemical & Engineering News, and more than half may be lost in the environment.
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In his 2012 book Sandy Parr at the 19th Hole, author Mohamed Noorani reported that one billion golf balls—almost 46 million kilograms, much of it plastic—disappear every year.
People need to improve their game!
posted by chavenet at 7:00 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
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In his 2012 book Sandy Parr at the 19th Hole, author Mohamed Noorani reported that one billion golf balls—almost 46 million kilograms, much of it plastic—disappear every year.
People need to improve their game!
posted by chavenet at 7:00 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
disappear every year
Disappear is sooooo the wrong word to use here.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:03 AM on February 27, 2018 [27 favorites]
Disappear is sooooo the wrong word to use here.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:03 AM on February 27, 2018 [27 favorites]
Meet the environmentally conscious teens cleaning up the Pebble coastline (article + video)
posted by pracowity at 7:04 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by pracowity at 7:04 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Obligatory yt Seinfeld clip.
Could there have been any other answer?
posted by howling fantods at 7:05 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Could there have been any other answer?
posted by howling fantods at 7:05 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I would play a point-and-click adventure game about disappearing golf balls called Sandy Parr at the 19th Hole. Just saying.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:10 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by uncleozzy at 7:10 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Into the blue, get it, Mefites? I've read that golf courses can be helpful in creating wildlife corridors (in the middle of suburbia?), but, um, in addition to the massive water wastage keeping courses green, is this proof that golf is the least environmentally-friendly game around?
posted by stillmoving at 7:12 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by stillmoving at 7:12 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
There's an apple orchard / farm near me that abuts a golf course. So when we're strolling around picking apples or looking for a Christmas tree, the grounds are littered with golf balls. At the farm's store, among all the apples, cider, and pies, they sell bags of "white apples", which are bags of golf balls that they pick up from the ground.
posted by bondcliff at 7:13 AM on February 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by bondcliff at 7:13 AM on February 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
pracowity: "Meet the environmentally conscious teens cleaning up the Pebble coastline (article + video)"
That was excellent, and a bit more in-depth than the article in the post. Thanks for linking to it!
The bit about the wound rubber cores was a surprise:
posted by zarq at 7:21 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
That was excellent, and a bit more in-depth than the article in the post. Thanks for linking to it!
The bit about the wound rubber cores was a surprise:
In the absence of any widespread study, the harm to marine life is mostly anecdotal. A golf ball was found in the stomach of a gray whale beached along the Washington coast. One was also discovered in the digestive tract of a dead albatross chick on Midway Atoll, an island in the Hawaiian chain. (Both animals had ingested numerous other plastic items.) Many of the balls that Alex and Jack have harvested are decades old, including those with a wound core, a technology that was phased out in the early 2000s. As the covers of these wound balls degrade, the core unspools into the ocean, releasing hundreds of feet of rubber string that looks exactly like sea grass (and, for that matter, Jack's hair). Many fish and crustaceans eat sea grass, as do green sea turtles and manatees. Also of concern are the microplastics that are released as the balls are battered against the rocky sea floor. "Particles of plastic absorb a high concentration of toxins, and they are consumed by over 600 kinds of sea creatures and seabirds," says Anna Cummins, cofounder of the 5 Gyres Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to the crisis of plastic pollution in the oceans. "As you go higher up the food chain, the plastics become more concentrated and more harmful. Pretty much every bite of seafood a human takes has microplastics in it; the only question is how much."
posted by zarq at 7:21 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
How hard would it be for golf courses to put up netting around the perimeter of their course, similar to how driving ranges do it?
Is this just a no-go because it is aesthetically unpleasing?
posted by explosion at 7:25 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Is this just a no-go because it is aesthetically unpleasing?
posted by explosion at 7:25 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean?
Mr. McGuire: There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?
posted by Splunge at 7:33 AM on February 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean?
Mr. McGuire: There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?
posted by Splunge at 7:33 AM on February 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
I made decent coin as a teenager tubing down the Credit River, which ran through two golf courses picking golf balls out and reselling them to golfers while dodging shotgun wielding (loaded with blanks for scaring the geese) groundskeepers. Good times right up until I took a short cut through a field of golden rod and discovered or developed my hayfever allergy!
posted by srboisvert at 7:34 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by srboisvert at 7:34 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
We need to send srboisvert and Teddy down to the deeps to retrieve the golf balls and sell them back to the world's golfers.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:41 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by elsietheeel at 7:41 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I believe the guy who first made a living selling used golf balls was featured in the only-in-America book Monster Trucks and Hair-in-a-Can: Who Says America Doesn't Make Anything Anymore? by Bill Geist.
posted by Melismata at 7:56 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 7:56 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
How hard would it be for golf courses to put up netting around the perimeter of their course, similar to how driving ranges do it?
Is this just a no-go because it is aesthetically unpleasing?
Not particularly hard, but to a lot of golfers, the scenery is part of the experience. Especially at places like Pebble Beach, where it is legendary. Plus, a lot of these golf courses are interwoven with houses, which sell the adjacent golf course and unobstructed views beyond as major amenities.
posted by Badgermann at 8:09 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Is this just a no-go because it is aesthetically unpleasing?
Not particularly hard, but to a lot of golfers, the scenery is part of the experience. Especially at places like Pebble Beach, where it is legendary. Plus, a lot of these golf courses are interwoven with houses, which sell the adjacent golf course and unobstructed views beyond as major amenities.
posted by Badgermann at 8:09 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
About 1.2 billion golf balls are manufactured every year, according to a 2017 report in Chemical & Engineering News, and more than half may be lost in the environment.
I would think that way more than that are lost in the environment - in fact I would think that ALL of them eventually end up there. Because the only place they could go, that doesn't ultimately come down to "lost in the environment" would be some golfer's house. And that's a temporary placement. Golfers who play, lose golf balls, and golfers who don't lose them in play, eventually die and the contents of their houses are moved on, or their houses rot in place. Either way the golf balls are released.
When I was a kid we lived near a golf course. We would burn golf balls in campfires. They were interesting to see as they came apart. But even burning them doesn't get them out of the environment - in fact you could say those burned golf balls are more in the environment than ever. Heck I probably have golf ball microplastics in my lungs today.
posted by elizilla at 9:00 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
I would think that way more than that are lost in the environment - in fact I would think that ALL of them eventually end up there. Because the only place they could go, that doesn't ultimately come down to "lost in the environment" would be some golfer's house. And that's a temporary placement. Golfers who play, lose golf balls, and golfers who don't lose them in play, eventually die and the contents of their houses are moved on, or their houses rot in place. Either way the golf balls are released.
When I was a kid we lived near a golf course. We would burn golf balls in campfires. They were interesting to see as they came apart. But even burning them doesn't get them out of the environment - in fact you could say those burned golf balls are more in the environment than ever. Heck I probably have golf ball microplastics in my lungs today.
posted by elizilla at 9:00 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
wound core, a technology that was phased out in the early 2000s
Wow, I didn't know that. Today's kids will never know the joy of cutting open a golf ball's shell and having hours of fun as the bouncy plastic rubber-band ball slowly unwinds.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:10 AM on February 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
Wow, I didn't know that. Today's kids will never know the joy of cutting open a golf ball's shell and having hours of fun as the bouncy plastic rubber-band ball slowly unwinds.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:10 AM on February 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
“This is a Slazinger Seven. Here's my Penfold Hearts. You must have played the wrong ball somewhere on the 18th fairway, Goldfinger. We are playing strict rules, so I'm afraid you lose the hole and the match!”
posted by valkane at 9:13 AM on February 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by valkane at 9:13 AM on February 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
How hard would it be for golf courses to put up netting around the perimeter of their course, similar to how driving ranges do it?
Is this just a no-go because it is aesthetically unpleasing?
It’s a no-go because if the people who run golf courses gave even the slightest shit about the environment, they wouldn’t run golf curses.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:43 AM on February 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
Is this just a no-go because it is aesthetically unpleasing?
It’s a no-go because if the people who run golf courses gave even the slightest shit about the environment, they wouldn’t run golf curses.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:43 AM on February 27, 2018 [18 favorites]
Good news! I have towed the golf balls outside the environment!
posted by dirigibleman at 10:27 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by dirigibleman at 10:27 AM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Netting made most likely of plastic? And the balls kept out of delayed from entering the ocean...?
posted by maniabug at 10:37 AM on February 27, 2018
posted by maniabug at 10:37 AM on February 27, 2018
It seems like the biodegradable wooden golf balls mentioned in the article could be a good solution to this problem. (If we can either convince or require golfers to switch, of course.)
posted by BlueJae at 10:59 AM on February 27, 2018
posted by BlueJae at 10:59 AM on February 27, 2018
I'm a marine biologist. I've been diving near golf courses where there were lots of golf balls all over the place. For the most part, as with everything, it depends on where the golf course is. Most aquatic environments are depositional in nature. Things fall in, become buried, and effectively disappear. Not a big deal. Certainly there are some places where burial doesn't happen and they decompose into their various parts, some of which could be a local problem (though "it looks like seagrass" is a real stretch). Given all the issues faced by marine creatures, this isn't one I'm losing any sleep over. The nutrients coming off the golf courses and the sterile, hostile environment the courses themselves represent are is a much, much bigger problem in my personal opinion.
posted by Patapsco Mike at 11:23 AM on February 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Patapsco Mike at 11:23 AM on February 27, 2018 [12 favorites]
I would think that nets tall enough to catch golf balls would also be very good at catching birds too. No. That's not a good thing.
posted by Splunge at 12:58 PM on February 27, 2018
posted by Splunge at 12:58 PM on February 27, 2018
unless you're really really hungry.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:01 PM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:01 PM on February 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
I kept waiting to see how much money she was making from all those golf balls.
posted by fiercecupcake at 1:37 PM on February 27, 2018
posted by fiercecupcake at 1:37 PM on February 27, 2018
Today's kids will never know the joy of cutting open a golf ball's shell and having hours of fun as the bouncy plastic rubber-band ball slowly unwinds.
Or, you could cut through the rubber bands and into the liquid core, which will squirt out of what remains of the golf ball and leave a mysterious (I'll never tell, anyway) purplish stain on the white curtains in the living room.
posted by she's not there at 11:51 PM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Or, you could cut through the rubber bands and into the liquid core, which will squirt out of what remains of the golf ball and leave a mysterious (I'll never tell, anyway) purplish stain on the white curtains in the living room.
posted by she's not there at 11:51 PM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wow, I didn't know that. Today's kids will never know the joy of cutting open a golf ball's shell and having hours of fun as the bouncy plastic rubber-band ball slowly unwinds.
One of yesterday's kids went in pursuit of that joy and failed miserably. I still have a prominent scar on the web between thumb and forefinger from attempting to cut open a golf ball with a pen knife, slipping and driving the blade into my hand. That sucker bled a lot.
posted by e1c at 10:25 AM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
One of yesterday's kids went in pursuit of that joy and failed miserably. I still have a prominent scar on the web between thumb and forefinger from attempting to cut open a golf ball with a pen knife, slipping and driving the blade into my hand. That sucker bled a lot.
posted by e1c at 10:25 AM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Same thing happened to me when I was about 12, with a brand-spankin'-new Xacto knife. 45 years I still have the 1.5" scar to prove it.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:58 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:58 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
unless you're really really hungry.
Grrrr!
posted by Splunge at 4:26 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Grrrr!
posted by Splunge at 4:26 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
> Wow, I didn't know that. Today's kids will never know the joy of cutting open a golf ball's shell and having hours of fun as the bouncy plastic rubber-band ball slowly unwinds.
Did you ever try putting it in a vice and cutting a few of the rubber bands? Good times.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:59 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Did you ever try putting it in a vice and cutting a few of the rubber bands? Good times.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:59 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by zarq at 6:48 AM on February 27, 2018 [7 favorites]