Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumTeenage Diver Finds Tons Of Golf Balls Rotting Off California.
A diver in California has stumbled on an unexpected source of plastic waste in the ocean: golf balls.
As the balls degrade, they can emit toxic chemicals. And there appear to be lots of them in certain places underwater right next to coastal golf courses.
Two years ago, a 16-year old diver named Alex Weber was swimming off Pebble Beach along the Pacific near Carmel, Calif. "My dad raised me underwater," says Weber, and she means it. She's a free diver: no scuba tanks; she just holds her breath. She was diving in a small cove and looked down and saw something weird. "You couldn't see the sand," she recalls, still sounding incredulous. "It was completely white."
White with golf balls. "You looked down and you're like, 'What are you doing here?' "
There were thousands of them. "It felt like a shot to the heart," she says.
She was offended. Right then, she decided to haul them up. Thus began a Sisyphean task that went on for months: She and her father would haul hundreds of pounds of them up, and then of course more golfers would hit more into the ocean.
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/686257550/teenage-diver-finds-tons-of-golf-balls-rotting-off-california?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20190117&fbclid=IwAR2SvopGmXQD_L0fQtw5R3a3zQJaILeUk1mLFaOteqQ2oyINh_nqwxrNxfM
underpants
(182,767 posts)I thought I could get out with a rescue club.
procon
(15,805 posts)Why isn't the golf course(s) being sited for pollution? Why aren't they getting fined and ordered to cleanup the ocean? Why haven't they been issued a cease and desist order and told to take steps to prevent any more golf balls from littering the water?
pscot
(21,024 posts)add four to your hole score.
Canoe52
(2,948 posts)MichMan
(11,908 posts)brush
(53,764 posts)Golfers will buy those balls.
cgralow
(24 posts)Wow - unique story. I never would have thought about the golf balls polluting our waters.
Finishline42
(1,091 posts)There's a 9 hole course in my area that the owner put his daughters through college on the golf balls recovered from the water hazards on his course. There was a fish bowl on the counter when you paid your green fees for those of us that didn't care what brand of ball we used.
There was a small water hazard in front of the 8th green that you couldn't see from the fairway. Green was a bit higher than the fairway. It was a weird feeling hitting a good shot and then see a splash - WTH???. Then when ball retrievers became common, he dug the thing deeper.
My point is instead of trying to make this about the balls polluting the sea it should be about how to make money recycling golf balls. The balls in the picture look in pretty good shape (it's true that they will degrade over time in the water - but I think it's probably weeks if not months).