Retire a Ball

[bloojays]

When do you 'retire' a ball from play? I was out this weekend and by the time I hit the 16th or 17th, the ball has some minor scratches and went through two sand traps. Still finished with it.. when do you retire a ball and what do you do with it after? Keep it in the bag for the first shot of the day over water?
Most people say their 'game' takes care of this (ie. they lose their ball quite frequently)...

[BowmanvilleJim]

I just judge a ball by the look of it. I have used the same ball for 2-3 rounds. I never change balls before hitting over water. I think you are psychologically setting yourself up for failure.
Retired balls go in the bucket I keep. The kids use them and sometimes I will take the best ones out to put in the shag bag.

[cdnputter]

I'll retire a ball during a round if it's cut. A few scuffs or scrapes are part of the game, those balls will make their way into the shag bag after the round though.

[thekathrynorchard]

I have so many sleeves of balls laying around now a days. As soon as there are some scuffs on it I take it out of play and put it into the shag bag. I clean that out every now and again and give away the ones I don't need.

[nearace]

I tend to use a ball till its beat up pretty bad but allways putt with a new ball,wich does not help as I putt terrible:(

[Big Shooter]

Easy, if you play Rebel Creek!! :D

[MannyR]

I tend to use a ball till its beat up pretty bad but allways putt with a new ball,wich does not help as I putt terrible:(
You can't change balls on the green unless you take the other one out of play and you must play the same type of ball.

Have played with the same ProV for the past two rounds will now likely throw into my wife's bag.

[owenmxz600]

my golf balls usually don't last long enough to get retired, I tend to loose 1 a round or so!

[goshawk]

I tend to retire balls as soon as they find the woods.:D Otherwise, I'll keep using it for the round (unless it gets cut) then it's into the my stepson's bag. He doesn't mind slight scuffs to play with a better ball. :cool:

[Ben Hogans]

Any ball that has a cut in it.
And any ball that gives me more than a triple bogey.:mad:
Both go into the shag bag

[MannyR]

Golf balls are like beer, they can only be rented.

[xander.uk]

i do tend to lose them before i retire them but i hardly ever finish a round of golf with the ball i started with.

yes partly because i will often lose 1 but also because after maybe 12-15 holes my ball tends to look like its been attacked by edward scissor hands.

any scuffs or scrapes and its heading for the practice ball section of my bag.

i also agree i would NEVER change balls for shots over water simply because it would make the water mentally more important...after all your going over it so your ball should be nice and safe :D
of course that approach has resulted in some nice new golf balls at the bottom of the water on occassions :p

[Rough Ranger]

retire them!??! .... damn ... I have been setting them free....

[bythehour]

retire them!??! .... damn ... I have been setting them free....

ROTFL! :D

[dekker]

The new high performance balls are so much better than those of years ago.
I carry a mix of Hogans and Titleist and most days I finish a round with the same ball. They seldom if ever go out of round,and unless I shred the cover it stays in the bag.

lost 9 balls in 20 rounds so far and found 4 almost new Prov1x to make up for it.

[swingpure]

I was very interested in this thread because although you can lose a ball on my course, for the most part is it very ball friendly. I play the Calloway HX Tour 56 ball and it just doesn't get marked up. I can playe 4 or 5 rounds with the same balls and eventually just throw them in the shag bag, but they still look pretty good.