How To Store Golf Balls (Complete Storage Guide)

You may have spent a lot of money of your golf balls and now you may be wondering where to store them.  

The general rule of thumb is to make sure your golf balls stay in the same conditions where you would be comfortable.

If you are comfortable in a room-temperature environment about 70 degrees, your golf ball will do quite well there.

Most people do not enjoy freezing temperatures or very hot and humid conditions; the same goes for your golf ball.

In this guide, we will give you our best tips as to where and how to store your golf balls.

 

Best Place To Store Golf Balls

 

Many golfers will purchase a dozen golf balls and put all twelve of them into the golf bag.

Storing golf balls in your golf bag is not a bad thing.

Where you store your golf bag will make or break the lifespan of those golf balls.

If you keep your golf bag in the trunk of your car (which you shouldn’t), or outside or in your garage, you may notice a difference in your golf ball performance.

A golf ball does not do well when left in freezing cold or scorching hot weather conditions.

If this happens for a night or two or even a week or two, the golf balls will still perform fine.

However, leaving the golf balls in these types of conditions for extended periods will result in a decline in performance.

If you buy a dozen golf balls, put a few in the bag and then bring the rest in your house with you.

Left inside a house, a golf ball is in the perfect condition for it to survive for many years.

Even though we are talking about golf balls here, you should do the same for your golf clubs.

Leaving your clubs in the trunk of your car is going to cause long term issues with epoxy.

Your club heads could start coming off, and your grips will deteriorate quickly as well.

Find a corner in your home where you can store your golf clubs and extra golf balls.

 

Does Freezing Damage Golf Balls?

For a while, people thought that they could take unused golf balls and put them in a freezer to preserve them.

Unfortunately, this was later proven to be a mistake.

Placing a golf ball in the freezer will cause it to have a much shorter lifespan.

The golf ball will lose its effectiveness, and you will notice a significant decrease in distance.

If you have stored your golf balls in your cold garage for years, you are likely costing yourself some yardage on the golf course.

Even when golf is played in colder conditions, the distance will be affected.

Never store golf balls in a freezer as a way to preserve them, you will be doing more harm than good.

 

Does Heat Hurt Golf Balls?

This is not a simple yes or no answer, unfortunately.

If you leave golf balls in a hot and humid location for an extended period, they will not perform the same way.

However, on a hot day, a new ball will perform better than on a cold day.

This mostly has to do with the time left in the environment.

Mainly if you leave dozens of golf balls in your trunk for a few years, they will not perform as well as a brand new golf ball.

Anything left in the trunk of your car is going to deteriorate.

It’s not a great location to leave your golf gear.

 

Do Unused Golf Balls Go Bad?

 

Sometimes when you take a break from the game of golf, it can be a little disheartening to learn that all of your equipment is outdated.

Many people wonder if the old golf balls they had in their bag or on the shelf in the garage are still good.

Although there is no way to know for sure if a golf ball is still a top performer (aside from trying it against a brand new ball), there are a few general guidelines that may be helpful.

 

Two-Piece Golf Ball

A two-piece golf ball consists of a rubber core covered with an ionomer cover.

Since both of these materials tend to hold up well over a while, the two-piece ball will last the longest.

An unused two-piece golf ball sees no change in performance even after about 7-10 years of being stored.

This does require storing the two-piece ball in a temperature-controlled environment.

The fact that the two-piece ball holds up so long is significant; however, some things are not as great about this golf ball.

The two-piece ball tends to be a bit harder than a three or four-piece golf ball.

It is made for distance, but the feeling around the green is not ideal.

If you come across some old two-piece golf balls that have been left unused, they will likely be just fine for you to put into your bag.

 

Three or More Piece Golf Ball

Three-piece golf balls still have that high energy rubber core, but there are other components as well.

The three-piece ball may have elastic windings or surlyn materials included as well.

Since these materials can contract and expand, their shelf life is a bit shorter than the two-piece.

A three-piece ball left on a shelf for 4-5 years will be nearing the end of its life.

You will notice when you put this ball back into play that it will not perform to the same level it once did.

This may only be the difference between a few yards, but it is still worth noting.

If you purchase a few dozen three-piece golf balls, try and use them before this happens.

 

Can Golf Balls Be Used For More Than One Round?

Some golfers feel lucky to use the same golf ball for one hole, let alone an entire round.

If you finish a round with a golf ball, do you put it on the shelf or throw it back into the rotation?

You are probably aware of the USGA rule about using only one type of golf ball during tournament play, but you can use many of that type of ball.

Professional golfers sometimes switch their golf ball after a bogey, but many will play one ball the entire round.

Amateur golfers who are wondering how long a golf ball in play will last for should follow this simple rule.

If the paint on your golf ball is entirely intact, the golf ball is still good.

However, if you bounced a few off a cart path, or had an encounter with a tree, the paint on the ball likely took a little bit of a beating.

Those imperfections on the golf ball will start to affect the aerodynamics.

So if you have a golf ball that is perfectly intact after a round of 18 holes, there is no reason not to put that ball back in play.

Many players will use a ball for 120 holes or more before they see a scratch on the ball.

With the price of a golf ball these days, you may as well try and get as much time as you can with the golf ball.  

 

Do Golf Balls Get Waterlogged?

Yes, golf balls get waterlogged.

If you find a golf ball in a pond and you don’t know how long it has been in there, you won’t want to put it into play.

When you look at the cover of a golf ball, you may not realize that there are tiny holes in the cover.

Those holes will soak in water over time.

When there is water inside the golf ball, the material inside the ball will get waterlogged.

If you put this golf ball into play, you will notice a decrease in the distance by about ten yards for every hundred yards.

This is a significant loss in the distance.

Waterlogged golf balls work well for practice balls around your yard, but not put in play.

If you hit your golf ball into a water hazard and retrieve it quickly, then you should be fine.

It takes a few days for a golf ball to be waterlogged, where you will notice the difference in playing ability.

When you buy used golf balls, you should try and find out where they are coming from.

Sometimes businesses will send a diver in to retrieve lake golf balls, and then those will be sold to you.

If you purchase a large quantity of these golf balls, they will likely not be helping your game much.

Instead, look for an affordable dozen golf balls that are new.

There are plenty of lower-priced options that won’t cost much more than the used balls.

 

Should I Buy Used Golf Balls?

 

Buying used golf balls is a personal decision.

Some used golf balls are good and others that have probably sat at the bottom of a lake for ten years and then were repainted.

If you purchase from a reputable company, you should have no issues with used golf balls.

Beginners and higher handicappers who lose a lot of golf balls will save a great deal using preowned golf balls.

Unless you are a golfer that plays with great precision, you may not even notice the difference between the used and new golf ball.

 

Should I Always Use the Same Golf Ball?

Golf can be a very inconsistent game.

For any given round of golf, there can be changes in the weather, your body, the course conditions, etc.

Anytime you can find a constant, you should take it.

Using the same type of golf ball will make it easier for you to feel consistency, especially around the putting green.

Knowing how a golf ball will react coming off the face of your wedge or your putter makes a big difference when it comes to scoring.

It can be hard to determine which golf ball is best for you.

Companies like Bridgestone do ball fittings to help you choose which golf ball is best for your game.

Most of your decision when it comes to which ball to use will be based on your swing speed.

Higher swing speed golfers are going to need higher compression golf balls.

These players have enough clubhead speed to compress a golf ball considerably.

If you have a slower swing speed, you need a low compression golf ball.

Playing with the wrong golf ball is going to make a difference in your ability to get distance and spin.

Our best advice is to find a golf ball that is fit for you, buy a dozen at a time, and use them until they get scratches on their cover.

As long as you keep them out of the woods, these golf balls should last you quite some time.

 

Can Golf Balls Be Recycled?

What should you do with a golf ball once it does get scratched?

There are not very many places that you can recycle a golf ball, mostly because golf balls are not recyclable.

The best way to recycle a golf ball is to reuse it.

If you can’t use your golf ball in the course of play, try using it in the yard for some essential chipping practice.

Do you have a local school or community center nearby?

Many of these places have junior golf camps and schools.

Sometimes they need golf balls for the kids to use for practice.

If these golf balls have a few scuffs or marks on them, it is not going to matter to the junior golf program.

Another option is to sell your old golf balls to a company that will refurbish them and resell them.

Unless you are playing a premium golf ball, you might not get much money for the golf balls, but it’s better than just throwing them away.

Most of these companies require you to send a few hundred golf balls at a time.

Depending on how much golf you play, it may take a little while for you to stock up on golf balls.

If you can find an alternative to tossing your golf ball in the trash, you should take it.

Golfers need to care about the environment if we want to continue playing this game for years to come.

 

Does Golf Ball Technology Change Often?

Golf ball technology goes through some significant changes every few years.

There is not a ton of change from one season to the next. 

If you are playing with a golf ball that was released last year and you have some leftovers, you will not be behind in technology.

It would take a very high performing player to notice a difference in a golf ball from one season to the next.

However, if you have some ten-year-old Titleists in your garage, the new ones will be much different.

 

Conclusion

As long as you keep golf balls out of extreme conditions, they should last you for many years.

Most people will be able to use their golf balls a long time before they even come close to losing their effectiveness.

If you think a golf ball may not be performing as it should, try comparing it against a new golf ball.

Although it’s impossible for you to take the same swing twice, you will at least have an idea as to the impact it will have on your game.