Golf Ball Side Hustle

From the start I have approached the art of selling of golf balls from the perspective of the golfer. If you are not a golfer, then you will need to rely on my thought process or ask someone you know who plays golf. I essentially think it’s best to sell golf balls the way I would like to buy golf balls. This is an assumption of mine. I have no idea if it is a worthy assumption.

I think most people who buy golf balls are going to shop or look for a specific brand, model, color and maybe even age (newer). I used an example in my book that for several years I was partial to the Bridgestone e6 white. This particular model was marketed as “Designed to Fly Straight”. I liked that idea because at the time my tee shot had a very persistent bend to the right that I could not fix, much as I tried. Buying golf balls, I would seek out Bridgestone e6 white. So when selling golf balls my goal is to sell a uniform type of ball all in one lot.

Because my goal is to sell a specific lot of balls to be all one particular brand, model, color and sometimes age, I will need to have a fairly large inventory of golf balls. I generally sell balls in lots of 32, 110 or 175. I will explain later how I came to use these lot sizes. Considering how many golf ball brands, models and colors that exist, to get even just 32 balls that are all same you need a large inventory.

It is not mandatory in my view to use my strategy of selling golf balls laid out here. In the beginning if you are just getting started and want to sell a mixture of brands, models and even colors you will likely find someone to buy them. I propose that if you sell them as one lot being the same type of ball (brand, model, color) you will command a higher sell price per ball.

BRAND – The golf ball brand is the manufacturer of the golf ball displayed on 2 sides of the ball. The most popular and biggest selling brand is Titleist. Other popular brands are Callaway, Srixon, TaylorMade, and Bridgestone. I would classify these as premium brands. Some of other brands that mostly fall into a lower price bracket are brands like Precept, Noodle, Kirkland, Wilson, Maxfli, Snell, Nitro, Top-Flite, PXG, & Mizuno. Below that in popularity is a large number of what I will call off-brands. Some names that come to mind here are Titech, Stryker, Aviator, Intech, Hogan and on and on. There are a lot of brands.

MODEL – Within each of most of the brands above there are several models. The model is shown on the side of the ball. Some refer to this as the side-stamp. For example, within Titleist there is the Pro V1, Pro V1x, AVX, Tour Soft, Tour Speed, Tru Feel, DT TruSoft. In addition, there are many Titleist models that I acquire that are discontinued, but are still in play and still in demand. Each of the premium brands and most of the brands listed above have a similar multipe model line-up.

This “side stamp” serves a dual purpose. It displays the model, but it also acts as a putting aide. On the side stamp there are arrows, lines or even just the font of the printing that golfers will use to “point” or align the ball so that this side stamp is lined up with the direction the golfer wants thier putt to begin it’s travel toward the target, usually the hole. I am sure you can see by now that there is a very large number of different golf ball types. The reason for all the different models is a function of golf ball price, construction and performance.

Color – Back in the day, there were only white golf balls. Today there is white, yellow, orange, red, green, blue, pink and even black. In addition there are balls with unique designs. Callaway has a ball that is a subset of thier Chrome Soft series called Truvis which is usually referrred to as a “Soccer Ball”. They also offer this design on the Chrome Tour and ERC Soft models. TaylorMade has a similar slant on this with the PIX design on the TP5 series. Vice has some cool designs – one calleed “Drip” which looks like paint was splattered on the ball. Vice has another one called Sunset which has a blended orange into yellow look. A new one introuced by TaylorMade on the Speedsoft model is called Ink – again it looks a tiny paint brush has swiped on it for several strokes. Srixon has a model called Divide that comprises a golf ball with half one color, like yellow, and the other half orange. Where these colors meet on the Divide naturally forms a line that can be used a putting aide. Most models are availalbe in white plus these other colors.

Compression – One of the reasons for so many different types of golf balls is the rated compression. The compression rating represents how much the golf ball compresses when struck by the club. The compression ratings range from very soft (30) to very hard (100). People with slower swing speeds are usually served best by balls with lower compression. It is said that a golfer can maximize distance and control by using a type ball whereby the compression matches well with thier swing speed.

Cover Material – There are two general types of golf ball cover materials. Ionomer and urethane. Ionomer is more durable and designed for distance. Urethane is a softer material designed for more spin control and feel. If you are at this for a while you will find that some brands and models quite annoyingly show every little scratch and blemish. Others, on the other hand, just seem to hold up very well. There are variations and mixures of these two types of materials.

Number of Layers – There are 2 piece, 3 piece, 4 piece and 5 piece balls. This refers to the number of layers. The more expensive balls have more layers. I won’t go into what exactly consists of all these layers, mostly becsause I don’t know. The marketing behind this says that more layers make the ball easier or better to manage around or on the green. More spin, they check-up better, stop where a golfer wants it to stop – essentially more control.

Player Markings – Some players put markings on thier balls with a sharpie or some other type of ink. They might put idenifying colored dots or thier initials on the ball to easily differnetiate it from other balls in the foresome or on the course. Players are also known to draw a straight line on the ball to use as a putting alignment guide similar to what I decribed in the side-stamp.

Logos – Companies and organizations of all types place thier logos on the golf balls. The balls are ordered with these logos and they are afixed on the ball during manufacturing. Golf courses might sell golf balls in the pro shop with thier logo on it. Other organizations do this as “give away” items for trade shows or to give to customers. Anyone can order printing on a golf ball. I encounter a lot of golf balls that have custom printing that says stuff like “Congrats on Your Retirement” or “Last Round as a Bachelor” – that kind of thing.

Gender – There are golf balls that are marketed towards women; however, I have played golf with women who ingnore this and play the ball they like regardless of this designation. Callaway has models like REVA and SOLAIRE that are intended for females. Similarly, TaylorMade has a model called KALEA. Some brands just have pink balls that are the same model and I believe most of these would be bought by women.

Grade – There is a grading scale that seems to be the most generally accepted for used golf balls created by a big used golf seller called Lostgolfballs.com. I encourage you to read it but the gist of it is as follows:

• AAAAA (5A) – Very similar to new. No defects. Maybe a ball hit once or twice.
• AAAA (4A) – Can have a very small blemish or mark.
• AAA (3A) – The ball has one or two small scuffs.

As you can imagine this is a somewhat subjective component of the process. Anyone who can fog a mirror and has eyesight is qualified to grade a golf ball on this scale. I do my best for my customers. I grade in thier favor. That is to say, if there is any question at all, I give it the lower grade. I don’t want my customers to have any bad surprises.

I don’t sell any balls lower than 3A. I throw those balls into a very large tupperware container in the corner of basement and when it gets full I sell a box of 175 of them as “hit-away’ or “shag” balls. In my listing I point out that these balls are perfect for beginners, driving ranges and for hitting into the woods from a backyard. Sometimes I hit these balls at a range myself, or bring 10 or 15 to warm up before a round if the course has a practice area and they don’t mind.

Age – Golf balls are practically indestructible. Age doesn’t matter much. Used golf balls will perform pretty much like a new golf ball for the average golfer assuming it is free of obvious damage. Sure, a ball that is 20 years old will have lost some of it’s pop and probably be the color of worn chinos instead of white. Balls that are less than 5 years have shown to be as good as new in various tests published in golf magazines. The game is a mental game though so some golfers want used balls that are not very old.

If you search the web for “Titleist Pro V1 – through the years”, you will find a guide to figure out how old a Pro V1 is. The sidestamp font and putting alignment arrows are different every 2 years. Same with the Pro V1x – it uses the same setup. Most models of most brands do this. You will get to know which of the sidestamps are a recent vintage and which are a previous generation. Some you can look up similar to the Pro V1.

I go into all this because I get so many Pro V1s and V1x’s that I usually keep the vintage the same in each lot. This caters to players who want the more recently made balls. So a typical lot of Pro V1s for me to sell will be 32 balls from 2024 / 2023, grade AAAAA 5A white. I could even sort further and have only balls with no logos or no sharpie marks or niether. I sort by age on many brands and models. It all depends on how many balls i have in that brand, model and color. It takes a lot of balls to be in this business (ba-dum-tiss!)

In the book referenced in the introduction, I have a grid that shows all of the brands and models I could think along with thier corredonding compression, cover material and layers. It’s easy to look up on the web, which is why I could provide it.

This gives some basic background to golf balls in case someone reading this is not a golfer or is a golfer doesn’t pay much attention to the golf balls side of the game. I will use much of this information further in the blog as I cover subjects like building and managing inventory, marketing and sales and everyone’s favorite part – preparring (cleaning) the golf balls.