Identification mark on your ball

mafc

Interested to know if people put an identification mark on their ball.
It amazes me the amount of guys & gals who just pick out any ball and play away. The problem arises when a ball is lost in heavy rough and if found how do you know for sure it's yours ?

Personally I always mark my ball with 3 dots under the brand name.

9bred4

Poll a good idea. Only in competition as when I'm playing with friends we just specify the ball we're using. Unless there's a few quid on the line, then it's competition rules :cool:

Boskowski

I put something on it in competition. Which is dangerous of course as it is known that the newer/better the ball the more likely you are to lose it on the very next hole and by putting a 'I'm in a competition, I mean business' mark on it I seem to increase that risk from 'high' to 'certainty'.

blackwhite

No never

Always mark it in a competition. For casual rounds I'll grab whatever's in the bag, if it's not been marked before then I don't see the need to add a mark to it.


Of course, I've lost so many at this stage that I should probably start changing the mark every few weeks, in case I stumble upon one of last month's mis-hits!

Jazzzman

Never.

If the ball is in heavy rough I'll just pick it up and examine it carefully to be sure it's mine.

Once I've established it is indeed my ball, I'll make sure I place it back in rough in such a way that it's nicely tee'd up for my next shot. Sometimes I'll even use a tee.

I haven't got time for drawing pictures on golf balls.

scrubber72

3 dots under brand name.....damn it

Macker1

Use a combination of coloured sharpies and some http://www.golfdotz.com/

Have to say I'm a bit superstitious when placing the ball down on tee or when replacing on the green after marking in that I will keep the ball in the same position.

PARlance

No never

I've started to always mark them now.
I do a little smiley face on them, two dimples as eyes and the smile in the dimple below them.
I'm a bit OCD when it comes to the marking, if it's in any way off then it'll drive me nuts.

Found a ball the last day and some maniac had drawn about 10 lines around the ball, all uneven, it was a lovely new proV too, I sent it for a swim.

slave1

Three blue dots under the logo in competition, casual rounds I usually use finds and rarely mark unless partners using same numbered and brand ball

FixdePitchmark

Only in competion

The more I play this game with others - I'm surprised how people haven't a notion

a) What ball they are playing
b) Where their ball is
c) How to find a ball and mark when it goes a miss

Another thing - I'm very very gratfull for, is good eyes - I never knew how poor some people sight is, amazing they can play golf at all.

charlieIRL

No never

Smiley face both sides of the ball for me, for every round. Nothing better than seeing the ball smiling up at you after finding it in the rough after a poor shot or when your picking it up out of the hole after sinking a great putt!!!!

aster99

Usually put a green circle around the number

Senna

4 dots spaced around the band name, usually 2-3 dimples away from the name, so no matter how it's sitting in thick rough I can see its mine.

Barnaboy

No never

scrubber72 wrote: »

3 dots under brand name.....damn it

Hey, that's my mark. Best if we don't play together

HighLine

A line around the circumference and a star over the first letter of the brand.

Has anyone ever come across the scenario where 2 identical balls ending up in the same area results in both of them being lost? You only need to see that once to encourage you to mark your ball every time. Witnessed it a few years ago... "John" hits his his drive straight up the middle towards a blind landing area of fairway. Unbeknownst to John, "Paddy" playing on a parallel fairway duck hooks his drive which finishes up within a few yards of John's ball. So... turns out Pro V1's are fairly popular... and in this case both Titleist 3s.

Well the look on John's face (Paddy knew the ruling but because he was having a bad day, wasn't too bothered) when he was told he would have to go back to the tee and hit his 3rd shot. Cruel game sometimes.

Rikand

No never

PARlance wrote: »

Found a ball the last day and some maniac had drawn about 10 lines around the ball, all uneven, it was a lovely new proV too,

Oh! You found my ball!

PARlance wrote: »

I sent it for a swim.

You bastard! :mad:

billy3sheets

I always mark my ball in a comp. A small blue cross under the number.

I once played the wrong ball and the owner pulled me back on it. I said "No, I played a Srixon 3, It was my ball!". To which he replied "Yes, but was it a RED Srixon 3?". It was. Mine was green.:D

If you use a consistent mark then you don't need to remember what brand & number it was.

whosyourcaddy

No never

I always mark my ball with a straight line. I find this very useful as I use it to line up my putts.

mafc

No never

Interesting results on the poll thus far, looks like us Boardsies (92%) mark the ball in every competition round.
Much higher than I've experienced.

Wichita Lineman

No never

I always mark mine with a big Red V. So if you have found any of them my address is.................

denishurley

No never

Always mark them, a blue dot and a red dot next to each other on both sides

ForeRight

Parlance remember my "altercation" in naas over a ball

PARlance

No never

ForeRight wrote: »

Parlance remember my "altercation" in naas over a ball

The biggest ****head I've ever met on a course.

ForeRight

PARlance wrote: »

The biggest ****head I've ever met on a course.

The pleasure I took walking 200 yards up the fairway in front of him to pick up my ball. He wanted to wrap his club around my neck haha

PARlance

No never

ForeRight wrote: »

The pleasure I took walking 200 yards up the fairway in front of him to pick up my ball. He wanted to wrap his club around my neck haha

And to make it all the better, I'd say he has never hit a 3wood better before or since then

Georgie.Girl

As I seemed to be the only one with Crystal Blue Golfballs, it wasn't necessary.
I only marked my balls in competition - with a green shamrock and my initial inside, in black.

Milkers

I usually mark my ball with a massive scuff off the biggest tree within 50 yards of the first tee.

Golfgraffix

No never

Usually a black dot above the brand for me.

Funny story from when I was in Roganstown, a member used to spend ages marking his ball with blue and red dots, I reckon 60% of the dimples wher coloured.

On the 10th tee he carved one right and we could not find it, played his Provo and we moved on.

15th tee and he carves one right again, helping him look for it and he calls from over on the 14th fairway that he has it, We both can see the ball and the markings from 30 yards away but I am sure he was further up. He plays the ball and just as he does I spot another ball 50 yards ahead and more in the place I thought it should be and this one has the same wacky markings.

Ends up that the group 2 holes behind us found his ball on 10 and one of them used it on 13, big hook put it on the 14th fairway. The guy was going well in the comp but fair play to him he took the two shot penalty well, if I remember correctly he lost by one point.

Not sure there is much of lesson to be learned from the story, it was just pure bad luck.

J

Ascii

I always write "Maigheo Abhu" on my ball every time. Its amazing how your in the clubhouse some time later and someone says "ohhh I think this belongs to you" and I get pegged a ball at me which I might have lost that day or in some cases a few rounds earlier.

alxmorgan

Small drawing of a fish on mine.....seems the right thing to do when chances of it ending up in a lake are high

OffalyMedic

No never

Black cross over where it says the type of ball it is and black dot under each number

Innish_Rebel

No never

Black Shamrock next to number on ball, always mark, just find it is a good habit to get into, always have a sharpie in the bag, also useful for the courses with the lovely shiney scorecards that a pencil will only gouge grooves into!!!

tonc76

No never

Large blue dot below the number on both sides and always make sure to hit a different number if hitting a provisional.

Ciaranra

Mafc has this anything to do with 4 ball we played in.
One of the lads was hitting the rough and recovering with a yellow or green ball and it was white off the tee.

FixdePitchmark

Only in competion

Ascii wrote: »

I always write "Maigheo Abhu" on my ball every time. Its amazing how your in the clubhouse some time later and someone says "ohhh I think this belongs to you" and I get pegged a ball at me which I might have lost that day or in some cases a few rounds earlier.

It is cool you have a Swahili link your family,

Was there with ForeRight that day - like all good dubs - I ran away (lol) , no was doing the 150 yards right, drive at the time - could see the 2 lads up against a lad near 60 - was funny stuff, didn't look like it was going well - as PARance says, your man creams the ball - unreal strike.

So - I'm in the 5% (unmarked) - always wanted to be,

Funny enough , found a ball recently that for some reason had "Fix" on the side, put a smile on my face.

So - I better come up with a marking so - there are way too many pro-vs out there - there are also many found that are way too new looking.

mafc

No never

Ciaranra wrote: »

Mafc has this anything to do with 4 ball we played in.
One of the lads was hitting the rough and recovering with a yellow or green ball and it was white off the tee.

No not specifically ha ha

Just surprised that people don't mark their ball before commencing play.

charlieIRL

No never

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Funny enough , found a ball recently that for some reason had "Fix" on the side, put a smile on my face.

Bridgestone XFixX ball, funny i think of your username when i'm standing over it about to hit my shot!! Not in a bad way, but i get a laugh out of it!!:D:D

FixdePitchmark

Only in competion

Lol,

That is the one - bizarre.

I was scratching me head - as not even a good piece of branding.

Ok I found my ball (lol)

Charlie - is it one of those - million miles hard as Kryptonite balls. My driving stats are going up.

I've - come across bad swing thoughts - but thinking of me - lol

slave1

Ciaranra wrote: »

Mafc has this anything to do with 4 ball we played in.
One of the lads was hitting the rough and recovering with a yellow or green ball and it was white off the tee.

That reminds me of a society outing years back, playing somewhere or another and one of us went into the trees, anyhow your man, an elderly guy decides he'll go have a look and before we get the chance to help him (we were other side of fairway) he shouts out "got it", out he comes, grabs a wedge or 9 iron and disappears back into the trees, whoosh and out comes a shiny yellow ball onto the fairway and both of us nearly collapse in stitches as it was white off the tee, still talk about it because your man was 100% convinced it was his until we pointed out it was yellow and he honestly did not notice, can you believe.
Priceless.

benny79

No never

I always put 3 dots in a triangle above the logo on the right on both sides and a line at the side this more so for lining putts.

charlieIRL

No never

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Lol,

That is the one - bizarre.

I was scratching me head - as not even a good piece of branding.

Ok I found my ball (lol)

Charlie - is it one of those - million miles hard as Kryptonite balls. My driving stats are going up.

I've - come across bad swing thoughts - but thinking of me - lol

They're not bad to be honest, I like using them. Not a hard ball at all.

I have a few spare sleeves and will bring them with me to Naas, have to get the name corrected on them first..........

BigChap1759

No never

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

It is cool you have a Swahili link your family,

Was there with ForeRight that day - like all good dubs - I ran away (lol) , no was doing the 150 yards right, drive at the time - could see the 2 lads up against a lad near 60 - was funny stuff, didn't look like it was going well - as PARance says, your man creams the ball - unreal strike.

So - I'm in the 5% (unmarked) - always wanted to be,

Funny enough , found a ball recently that for some reason had "Fix" on the side, put a smile on my face.

So - I better come up with a marking so - there are way too many pro-vs out there - there are also many found that are way too new looking.

Serious question - if you don't mark your ball in competition, how can you identify it if you've hit into heavy rough etc?

FixdePitchmark

Only in competion

Well an unexpected silver lining - thanks lads.

This could be that final move "to get there".

BigChap1759

No never

tonc76 wrote: »

Large blue dot below the number on both sides and always make sure to hit a different number if hitting a provisional.

I had an incident in competition where a guy played a provo which was the same number and identically marked as his first one.......:rolleyes:

FixdePitchmark

Only in competion

BigChap1759 wrote: »

Serious question - if you don't mark your ball in competition, how can you identify it if you've hit into heavy rough etc?

I obviously know number , brand - confirm not the same at start and I know where my ball is most of the time.

It is very unusual for you not to be able to see number etc.

Anyway - haven't played in too many competitions - but will mark after this thread .

Funny enough - I like the look of a perfect golf ball - no marks etc.

tonc76

No never

BigChap1759 wrote: »

I had an incident in competition where a guy played a provo which was the same number and identically marked as his first one.......:rolleyes:

Did he then "find" his first ball?

Topper Harley

No never

I put a smiley face on both sides of mine. I particularly like it when using a Nike ball so I can use the tick as the smile. It stands out and there's never any doubt as to whose ball it is, but it now appears I'm not the only one.

I also put a line down the side to help align putts. My putting improved massively since I started doing it but I also started practicing a lot more around that time. But it definitely adds to my confidence in commiting to the line.

SevesThreeIron

Three dots on the ball with a green sharpie (in a triangle shape), little line out the bottom - instant shamrock!

BigChap1759

No never

tonc76 wrote: »

Did he then "find" his first ball?

The rules state that he has to assume that it's the second ball as it's impossible to prove otherwise - wasn't happy when I informed him of this!

Dtoffee

slave1 wrote: »

That reminds me of a society outing years back, playing somewhere or another and one of us went into the trees, anyhow your man, an elderly guy decides he'll go have a look and before we get the chance to help him (we were other side of fairway) he shouts out "got it", out he comes, grabs a wedge or 9 iron and disappears back into the trees, whoosh and out comes a shiny yellow ball onto the fairway and both of us nearly collapse in stitches as it was white off the tee, still talk about it because your man was 100% convinced it was his until we pointed out it was yellow and he honestly did not notice, can you believe.
Priceless.

I know this guy, never loses a ball and seems to always manage to squeeze a prize ;-) ........ I usually mark mine with my first iron shot, once branded my trademark 'gash', I never worry about mistaken balls as most opponents just walk away from it (some even kick it futher up the fairway) :pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

tayto lover

No never

I put my initials on my ball then nobody can say it's theirs.
Too many putting 3 dots, 4 dots etc under the number.