Thinking about taking up golf ball diving.

[Scubagolf]

Here, read this.
CDNN :: Scuba Diving Accident Kills Golf Ball Diver

Oh, and the last time I was in Ixtapa the guy in the lake pulling golf balls (not a diver) used a stick to discourage the gators.

 

[moneysavr]

And hence the nick?



So you were able to gather more than 10 balls per minute continuously while in the water? Are you sure there isn't a touch of creative math or at least some selective memory going on here? Or was it just a club full of REALLY bad but highly determined golfers?

As said that's easy to do,as a GBD you do a sweep move into a rig that is like a minnow basket and in a good pond you can do over 10 BPM easy! as a GBD you need to know how to work as we call the sweet spots,long drives,roll backs,and use of a line then sweep areas with zero vis!
This is not a job for the faint of heart depending on the local,leaches,chemicals,bugs,larvae,aquatic life and so on-but there are some good ponds and them I love to dive as we have several real high end world class resorts close by!
profit well the other guys make the most!
and you just don't walk on a course to do GBD most are set up with a recovery group,sorting, counting & bagging is a big part of the job,I will post a photo of the sort rack & counter made from PVC,bagging is done with feed bags, the palletizing & shipping!
The buyers don't want junk balls and too many and your pay goes to zip!:shocked2:
so its a lot of work,can be ok .
but you need to be way over leaded,no fins your on the bottom crawling, a mobile trailer and tent we use on site,
safety wow that's a big one guys get hurt doing this,some ponds you can stand up in some you cant! some work is at night course closed, so have some type of back up air,don't work alone as we all do!
be safe,not dumb!
Brad
so good luck!

 

[BrotherBear]

If you have never done the work, then I think it is inapprorpiate for you to question my productivity numbers. 10 bals per minute is not fast at all. It is honestly amazing how quick and efficient you can become at picking up something as simple as a golf ball. I would generally shoot for 3,000 bals per day, that is $240, but I am quite sure I had some days that approached 5,000 balls. You don't even put the balls into the catch bag until you have atleast 3 or 4 in your hands at one time.

I had a spreadsheet that tabulated my "catch for every single day of diving for years (since i used it to develop invoices). My hard drive crashed so I can't see the records anymore.

I did it in Florida and the conditions were not great. It is stenuous work and it is particularly tough on the shoulders with the constant arm sweeping motion that is required and it takes strength to walk wearing 20 to 35 lbs of lead and tank and lift bags of balls out of the water that weigh 50-70 lbs. It is not easy work. It is strenous, dangerous, battling ear infections is a constant concern.

Poor use of smilies on my part...I was mostly just ribbing you. :ermm: I wasn't questioning your ability to retrieve them, just the numbers required to reach your benchmark. Must have been a pretty busy course to support that kind of catch on a regular basis.

 

[ScubaSteve]

There have been several threads I have seen in the last year on SB that discusses the pros and cons. Have you searched the forums?