How much can you earn diving in the golf industry?
Buyers include the golf course, retailers, and golf ball companies. Anecdotal information suggests that divers earn about $200 a day. But, as independent contractors, divers must account for taxes and benefits (such as insurance, paid leave, and retirement savings) from that amount.
What is it like to be a golf ball diver?
That’s because as a Golf Ball Diver, you’re a reminder of their failures. So most of the time, you do your work very early in the morning, before the Golfers arrive. Having the course to yourself is one big perk of the job. When you arrive, you strap on scuba gear and dive to the bottom of the water feature.
How old do you have to be to scuba dive a golf ball?
Golf ball divers must be at least 18 years old and be certified for unrestricted commercial scuba diving. Certification may require up to 200 hours of dive experience, including low visibility diving, underwater navigation, and search and recovery.
How to make money from scuba diving?
Just whack on a scuba-suit, jump in the pond, and start filling your bags with the ‘white gold’. You keep all the profit, but it’s a slower process. You’ve also got no-one to help with the heavy lifting; each sack can weigh around 30kg each on a good day.
Can you make money diving for golf balls?
Typically, golf ball divers earn money for each ball they recover. Buyers include the golf course, retailers, and golf ball companies. Anecdotal information suggests that divers earn about $200 a day.
How much can you make scuba diving for golf balls?
Such pricy balls resell well, even after they've been submerged, and ESPN reports that golf-ball divers make an annual income between $50,000 and $100,000.
How much money does a golf ball collector make?
How much does a Golf Ball Picker in United States make? The national average salary for a Golf Ball Picker is $53,976 per year in United States.
How do you become a diving golf ball?
To become a golf ball diver, an individual must be certified for unrestricted commercial scuba diving, which may require up to 200 hours of diving experience. They must also be certified in first aid and dive rescue, in good physical health, and should enjoy working outdoors at all times of the year.
How do I start a golf ball diving business?
0:144:32How To Start A Golf Ball Retrieval Business - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipCourse all right and go into a local course. And what you can do is you can build a relationshipMoreCourse all right and go into a local course. And what you can do is you can build a relationship with the owners all right as a third-party outsource. For retrieving the golf balls.
How many golf balls are in a pond?
Weynand, 28, averages about 200 to 300 balls per pond but said many variables can affect the amount of balls in a lake, from the season to the location to whether they came from a left-handed or right-handed shot.
How do you get golf balls out of ponds?
To get started, buy a golf ball rake with a long handle for reaching out into ponds from shore. There's also a product called the “Golf Fisherman,” which you toss out into ponds and pull back in (hopefully full of balls) using an attached rope.
How do scuba divers make money?
You can earn money working as a dive instructor or dive guide either freelancing or at a dive base. If you are a certified scuba diver, you should already have an idea of the tasks and responsibilities these jobs involve. Being a dive instructor is a lot of fun!
Do golf balls get old?
Titleist golf balls have a shelf life of five years or more. Unless you store your golf balls in an environment with an extreme temperature -- a freezer, for example, or during summer in the trunk of your car -- they will last for years.
What do golf courses do with balls in the water?
A number of businesses have started to collect old golf balls and turn them into profit. The most common way to find success in the golf-ball-recycling world is to employ divers to scavenge the balls from the lakes on and around golf courses. John Weynand is one of those divers.
How much does Glenn Berger make retrieving golf balls?
Money doesn’t grow on trees. But maybe it lurks in shallow waters. Glenn Berger says he earns about $15 million a year retrieving golf balls from water hazards in golf courses around Florida. He dives for balls, collects them, cleans them and resells them to driving ranges for a buck a piece.
What is the golf capital of Florida?
Florida is the home of The Player’s Club, Sawgrass and the PGA TOUR’s headquarters, and is widely considered the golf capital of the nation. Because of the elite reputation of the course, players — even amateurs — who visit the TPC-Sawgrass course use high-quality balls that might sell for almost $50 per dozen.
How much do golf ball divers make a day?
Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t collect statistics on golf ball divers specifically, its website suggests divers might earn about $200 a day.
Who is Jamie Cattanach?
Jamie Cattanach is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a Florida native. She’s never played a game of real golf — and she’s so bad at putt-putt that if she did, golf ball divers would be making millions easily.
How much money can a golf ball diver make?
How much money could you make as a golf ball diver? A golf ball diver usually earns from $50,000 to $100,000 a year, which is what we at MoneyMagpie call a decent sum. The independent diver or the company they represent usually signs an esclusive contract with 10-20 courses to retrieve their water hazard’s balls.
How many golf balls are recycled each year?
Every year, around one billion balls are produced, but nearly 100 million of these are later salvaged and recycled.
How much do golf ball divers make?
Buyers include the golf course, retailers, and golf ball companies. Anecdotal information suggests that divers earn about $200 a day.
Why do golf ball divers work?
Golf ball divers work in crews for safety reasons . They may face danger from wildlife, such as alligators, and from objects hidden underwater. And scuba equipment is heavy, so obstacles such as a fishing line could trap and drown divers. The tasks are also physically demanding, repetitive, and tiring.
How do two person dive crews work?
Roller. Two-person dive crews may work with a roller, which consists of metal discs on wheels. The roller’s metal grooves grasp balls as it moves through the water. Crewmembers stand on the ground at opposite ends of the pond and guide the roller by pulling on a wire connected to it.
How old do you have to be to dive golf ball?
Golf ball divers must be at least 18 years old and be certified for unrestricted commercial scuba diving. Certification may require up to 200 hours of dive experience, including low visibility diving, underwater navigation, and search and recovery.
How many ponds are there in a golf course?
A typical golf course has between 4 and 12 ponds. Divers spend 8 to 10 hours per day harvesting the ponds and may need multiple days to finish a job. Depending on the size of each pond, divers recover balls with the help of a dive crew or a roller.
Why do golfers dive?
Golf ball divers enjoy working outside. Because golf courses are generally well maintained, the manicured landscapes are attractive and designed for comfortable walking. But the conditions that draw golfers to the course are often the ones that challenge divers.
What do you need to know before you start working at a golf course?
Before beginning work at a golf course, they meet formally with its owner or manager to agree on the terms of the job. For example, the course charges the diver a fee for the opportunity to harvest the ponds.
