If you've spent any time swinging a golf club around, odds are you've hit a ball into the water at some point. While that can be a big frustration for players, have you ever thought about what happens to those balls?
The founders of Biodegradable Golf Balls have thought about it. And while they can't change the helpless feeling of shanking a ball, they can help to make sure that ball is much more eco-friendly.
In case the name wasn't self-explanatory enough for you, Biodegradable Golf Balls creates, well, biodegradable golf balls. The company says its products will dissolve in two to four weeks when in water and in roughly six months to a year when left on land (with precipitation levels impacting whether it may take more than 12 months).
An incredible time-lapse video from the company shows the ball dissolve in a glass of water. Changes are apparent after just one day, with cracks in the shell visible after Day 3. After just two weeks, the ball is essentially gone.
The bulk of the discussion around golf's ecological impacts typically centers on the courses themselves. Construction can include deforestation and the destruction of natural habitats. And, once complete, golf courses can use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water each day — or even more, depending on location.
But for something relatively small, golf balls can also have a huge environmental footprint. According to some estimates reported by CNN in 2024, golfers around the world may lose as many as 5 billion balls each year — enough to circle the globe several times.
And many of those lost golf balls aren't even found on courses. In 2009, a team of scientists searching for the Loch Ness monster instead found more than 100,000 balls at the bottom of the Scottish lake, per the New York Times.
With materials including synthetic rubbers, polymers, and plastics, those balls will likely stay there for a long, long time. Researchers at the Danish Golf Union previously estimated, according to 2009 reporting from CNN, that it can take anywhere from "100 to 1,000 years for a [traditional] golf ball to decompose naturally."
The biodegradable balls are composed primarily of polyvinyl alcohol, corn starch, calcium carbonate, and glycerin. As the company has described, the core is made of compressed corn starch, while the PVA, which performs like a plastic but dissolves in water, helps to hold it all together. PVA is a nontoxic resin that is "used in a huge range of applications from medication to foods to packaging," according to Biodegradable Golf Balls.
Because their construction is so different from standard balls, biodegradable balls are not currently approved by the United States Golf Association. The company says they achieve roughly 70% of the performance of high-level golf balls, such as the Titleist Pro V1.
TCD Picks » REI Spotlight
💡 REI's Re/Supply program makes it easy for REI Co-op members to shop and trade in high-quality used gear and apparel for massive discounts
|
When you think about a product's packaging, which of these factors is more important to you?
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
The way it looks 😍 But Biodegradable Golf Balls says that their product is perfect for practicing, for gifts, or for turning any fun experience into a driving range. Think of hitting balls at a beach resort or into a pool for a bachelor or bachelorette party — without the worry of littering your beautiful surroundings.
A dozen biodegradable balls sells for $34.99, or about $20 less than a dozen Pro V1s.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
