Tiger Woods’ legendary 15-shot triumph at the 2000 U.S. Open in Pebble Beach is often described as the most dominant performance in golf history. Yet even in that moment of near-perfection, Woods faltered—his tee shot on the 18th hole hooked into the Pacific Ocean, sinking into Stillwater Cove.
If the greatest golfer of his generation could lose a ball at the height of his powers, just imagine how many vanish each year at the hands of ordinary players. The answer: billions.
The Scale of the Game
According to the United States Golf Association (USGA), a record 45 million Americans played golf in 2023. Globally, the R&A reported 31.6 million registered and unregistered golfers across 146 countries.
The United States remains the heartland of the sport, boasting 16,752 courses—43% of the world’s total. To put that into perspective, there are more golf courses in the U.S. than McDonald’s or Starbucks outlets. Those courses hosted an estimated 531 million rounds in 2023, according to the National Golf Foundation (NGF).
How Many Balls Go Missing?
Ask any weekend golfer, and they’ll tell you: finishing a round with the same ball you started with is a rare achievement. Skill level and course design play a role, but on average, players lose between one and four balls per round.
Shaun Shienfield, CEO of Found Golf Balls, a company that recovers and resells millions of balls in the U.S. and Canada, says the real number is closer to three or four per round.
Using that estimate, American golfers alone may be losing 1.5 billion golf balls every year since 2020. Lined up end-to-end, that would circle the Earth more than one and a half times.
A Global Problem
Factor in the rest of the world and the numbers are staggering. Torben Kastrup Petersen of the Danish Golf Union, which has studied the environmental footprint of lost balls, believes the global figure could easily surpass 3 to 5 billion balls annually.
“These are rough estimates, but the scale is enormous,” Petersen noted.
The Hidden Environmental Impact
While the lost balls fuel a thriving recovery and resale industry, environmental experts warn that their presence in waterways, forests, and oceans is a growing ecological concern. Golf balls take centuries to fully decompose, and as they break down, they can release microplastics and toxic materials.
For now, the image of Woods grimacing as his ball splashed into the Pacific remains a memorable footnote in golf history. But on a global scale, it serves as a reminder: losing golf balls isn’t just a frustration for players, it’s an environmental issue of billion-ball proportions.
