Today I bought, or pre-bought, 40,000 balls at the local driving range.
The total bill was $1299 or ≈ 3.24 ¢ per ball.
Sure it may take me 2-3 years to hit them all...
But if I paid normal freight for those 40,000 balls I'd be paying $3,750 or ≈ 9.375 ¢ per ball. So I'm reaping a hefty 67% discount.
I contemplated this purchase for several days. Do I really want to hit that many balls? Of course I NEED to if I ever want to reach my full golfing potential.
I looked at this this way - with the market prices for golf here, I'm not going to be playing too many rounds. So hitting balls is a viable alternative. I actually like to practice very much - especially when *playing* involves considerable time (5 hours!) and money.
And my risks are small (compared to my trading!). As I see them:
Still, this is an awful lot of balls for a non-professional to be hitting.
The girl at the counter said I was *the only one to ever buy that amount*.
That remark put a nice smile on my face. As y'all well know, I pride myself on standing out from the crowd: renting, homeschooling, tuning out the *news*, blogging, etc.
7 comments:
Are you going to be able to hit every day? That is just 109.6 a day for one year.
Two hours of shag balls a day and you'll be playing FINE.
Even at the *discounted* price, it looks like a lot of dough for a silly game when presented like that.
In my opinion, hitting a bucket of balls is far more enjoyable than the actual game.
But what do I know about golf. This sport is only for the rich elite with plenty of time on their hands: traders, firefighters and retired cops...
Potential, you just left Massholechusetts, with the commissar in charge you should just wait for your government check and a certificate of being a 2 handicap.
JT,
I only play golf if I can be done in 4 hours or less. I agree that standing around waiting for other people to hit or find their balls is a waste of time. I've NEVER been one to play amidst the hackers for those 5+ hour weekend rounds.
PM,
I could certainly hit shag balls on some open fields around here....but only very early in the morning. AND I'd have to pick them up, obviously.
Brian,
I'm about a 7 now. I hope to become a 4 handicap one day. Competency beyond that probably requires too much practice/play.
C-Nut, I was making the statement that your purchase seems great to me. We call driving range practice, "pounding shag balls" around these parts.
C-Nut,
You already hit the ball good enough to be a four handicap. Get control of the wedge and make one or two more six-footers per round. There's your three shots per round (potentially more).
League Islander
LI,
I'm working on the wedge big time - and have already seen huge dividends from fixing my left arm.
NY may turn out well for my golf game. I can't play as much but perhaps all the balls I hit will pay off more. Also, at my MIL's house my office/homeschool resides in a large carpeted basement - one that's perfect to putt in. With hardwood floors in my last two places I haven't been able to practice putting indoors at all.
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