November-December Cover Story:

Range Balls

More Than a Drop in the Bucket

By Mike Ashley

A range’s most important feature may be its smallest product—range balls.

According to research gathered by the International Golf Practice Facilities Association, a marketing-based membership organization, “total stand-alone range and on-course visits totaled approximately 300 million in 2002 in the North American market.” And one of the strongest preferences voiced by those consumers was for quality practice balls.

Range owner Evin Gelleri does his best to satisfy this demand. When Petaluma Golf Center opened five years ago, he established practices that would ensure that the California facility’s ball inventory stayed in tip-top shape, including having staff pick out “bad” balls during the washing process. On any given day, 50 to 60 balls with fading dimples are tossed. “I don’t want to see a ball out there that goes up and shoots straight down,” he says.

Weeding out bad balls, though, is just part of managing a range ball inventory. The process begins with buying the best quality balls the range can afford.

Something Old, Something New
Opinions vary, but there’s no doubt that top-of-the-line range balls are closer in performance to regular golf balls than ever before. “Today, I don’t think the range ball is too much different from its counterpart, at least that’s what I’m seeing,” says Don Rumpf, owner of Pin High Golf Center in San Jose, Calif., and a PGA Class A professional. “I think the difference is overruns and rejects, balls with blemishes that [manufacturers] don’t want to sell in their retail box.”

At upwards of $8 a dozen, brand-new range balls can account for a large chunk of a range’s annual operating expenses. Erich Gaiser, owner of Westerville Golf Center in Westerville, Ohio, buys 60,000 new Top-Flite balls every year.

For budget-conscious range operators, recycled balls can offer a cost-saving alternative, and there’s more companies specializing in reconditioning balls for just this purpose.

Raven Golf Ball Co. in Macomb, Mich., has been recycling golf balls for 20 years, and General Manager Mark Weatherly says thinking recycled balls are inferior is a mistake. “Most range balls are inexpensive and wear a little quicker and don’t fly as far [as golf balls],” he says. “The golf balls we use are generally manufacturers’ higher end balls, and the cores are a little better and you get a little better performance out of them. But the real benefit is cost.”

Recycled balls sometimes are as low as $2.50 a dozen, but generally, they’re 50 cents to $2 cheaper than new, and can be just as serviceable.

“As long as the dimples are not worn where the ball is flying like a knuckleball, they’re OK,” says Larry Marcelli, president of Golf Balls Galore in Naples, Fla. “Once they wear, they just get squirrelly out there. When it gets to that point, nobody should be hitting that golf ball.”

Most range balls have a solid core encased in a Surlyn cover, which is protected with a clear resin finish. This outer coating protects the ball, but normal play and subsequent washing wear it away, making the ball more susceptible to damage. Companies like Golf Balls Galore and Raven Golf Ball Co. take worn balls with strong dimples and remedy superficial scuffs and dulling with a new clear coat.

“If I get that shine back on there, the ball will last twice as long,” says Marcelli. “It really pays to do it on expensive range balls such as Top-Flites, Pinnacles and [Callaway] XTs.”

Proactive Practices
Range owners can do their part to extend the life of their range balls by keeping exposure to abrasives, such as dirt, sand and even harsh detergents, at a minimum.
“We have a nice grass range so the balls tend to last a little longer,” says Gelleri of his Petaluma practice facility. “We’re not hitting out on a dirt patch, which kills the balls.” The facility does have several sand traps, though.

“If you get a little sand on the ball between the clubface and the ball, it’s just like sandblasting the ball,” says Marcelli. This is particularly a problem in Florida, where, he says, balls wear faster for just that reason. “You imbed that sand into the cover and you start losing the finish and actually dig into the cover.”

A more common problem, especially on ranges where the grass on the landing area has worn down, is dirt. “You have to wash the balls regularly,” says Raven Golf Ball’s Weatherly. Just like sand, dirt is an abrasive that can wear down the ball’s clear coat. Maintaining a lush landing area and target greens can go a long way toward solving this problem.

Ranges with artificial turf landing areas, of course, don’t have to worry about mud-caked balls, but those located in colder climates do have to contend with freezing temperatures that can harden range balls, making them prone to cracks when hit.

“There is not a ball made that will not crack, and typically when they crack is in the wintertime,” says Richard Florek, owner of The Florek Co. in Knoxville, Tenn. “If it’s real cold, and especially if they’ve left the balls out on their range all night in the middle of the winter, and you go to hit one, you’ll crack the ball eventually.”

Manufacturer tests back up Florek. A ball’s durability is measured by cannon tests, where the ball is fired at high velocity into a flat plate. The tests are also conducted at various temperatures, and consistently, golf balls crack more rapidly when the Fahrenheit drops.

“At the lower temperatures, when the ball has been sitting and the molecules are close together, the materials are brittle, and they’ll break very easily,” Florek explains. Warming balls before distributing them to the tee line can prevent damage and also help ball flight.

Some ranges go to great lengths to protect their ball inventory from the elements. At Countryside Golf Practice Center in Clearwater, Fla., owner Michael Murphy carries two sets of balls. New Top-Flites are available most days, but when rain soaks the range, he starts feeding older balls to the tee line.

“They’re the same balls, just a little worn,” Murphy says. “But then if they get plugged and we lose them, it’s not as big a deal.”

More Than Enough
Murphy keeps 15,000 to 18,000 balls on hand in the summer for his 75 tees and twice as many in winter for Florida’s busy tourist season.

Because the quantity of balls in an inventory determines the frequency at which each will be hit, picked and washed, an ample stock will theoretically last longer.

“I went to a range seminar back in 1980, and we had a speaker who said you should have enough balls to accommodate one busy day’s use so you don’t have to go out in the middle of the afternoon, pick balls, wash them and put them back into play,” says Gaiser from his 160-tee Westerville facility. “Every day is not your busiest day, but I get 60,000 new balls every year. If I only had 30,000 balls, they would get twice as much usage and that would affect their appearance, too.”

Forecast Golf Group’s “Developing Your Golf Range” manual recommends stocking at least 800 to 1,500 balls per tee station, depending on the size of the market. On average, that’s somewhere between 13 to 25 60-ball buckets per tee station.

Gelleri follows his gut. “I’m here six days a week, so I just have a feel for it. I’ve got close to 50,000 balls in three machines and I’ve got another 20-25,000, if I need them,” he says.

Some ranges may need to reorder balls three or four times a year to make up for lost or discarded ones, while others can get by with an annual purchase. In many cases, distributors offer incentives and discounts on multiple orders and often, ranges can trade in their old balls to get credit toward new ones, or sell their used inventory to golf ball recyclers. Gelleri even sells some of his worn balls to California golf courses with water hazards.

Though range balls may seem like a small factor in the facility’s larger operations, maintaining a quality inventory is a big part of customer satisfaction. A range ball’s appearance can make or break a business, says Westerville’s Gaiser. “You want the balls looking good every spring.”