It's amazing that Singapore has quite a few golf courses (perhaps too many) but it also seems to have more than its fair share of really challenged (critically handicapped) golfers.
And it seems that a good number of them frequent Keppel Club (duh!)
The pictures speak for themselves...
most of the little white dots were once in the hands of Keppel's golfers.
more little white (and some yellow and blue) balls
Dragging the heavy bag in the water was easier than carrying it.
However, when the water got thin, it was time to haul it across the soft sand.
bag 1
bag 2
2 IKEA bags... probably close to 500 or more (?) balls.
Picking up this many was back-breaking. Agonising. But at the end of the evening, it was good to know that all the visible golf balls were removed. This just from the area in front of No. 30 Bukit Chermin. Imaging how many balls are in the mangrove!
in the NParks green bin ready to be cleared
Clean? not by far!
Read more about golf balls :
Are there biodegradable golfballs? YES!!!
"Manufactured by Albus Golf, the Ecobioball is reportedly the first 100% biodegradable golf ball that is 100% safe for marine organisms and is certified non-toxic. It is a single-use product recommended by the manufacturer whenever you want to play golf on "cruise ships, beaches, jetties, seafront hotels and resorts, oil rigs, boats, yachts, and near reservoirs, lakes, rivers and other marine environments." Once the golf ball hits the water, it will begin to biodegrade and within 48 hours the outer shell will dissolve completely exposing the fish food inside for consumption by fish and other invertebrates."
"University of Maine engineering undergraduate, and keen golfer, Alex Caddell helped develop the ball.
He said it performs similarly to a traditional golf ball.
'The flight properties are amazing,' Mr Caddell said. 'It doesn't fly quite as far as a regular golf ball, but we're actually getting a similar distance to other biodegradable golf balls.
'I didn’t really think it would turn out to be this fruitful.'
The University of Maine has filed to patent the lobster-shell mixture."
Quotes from the New York Times (May 2nd, 2010): “No one knows for sure how many golf balls are lost each year worldwide, though the total in the United States is estimated at 300 million. Hundreds of thousands of golfballs are lost or abandoned every day in lakes, ponds, forests, wetlands, deserts, backyarts, gardens, parking lots, on rooftops and at the bottom of woodchuck holes” (.....) ”The informed guess is that most balls begin to break down somewhere between 50 and 500 years. Whether the great multitude of lost golf balls rotting under logs or slowly dissolving at the bottom of swampy estuaries pose an environment hazard is also apparently undetermined. But the mere presence of so many abondoned golf balls has made many uncomfortable and has caused others to hypothesize about possible effects”.
With an increasing number of golf balls discarded each year, the Danish Golf Association devised a number of tests to determine the environmental impact of golf balls on their surroundings. It was found that during decomposition, the golf balls dissolved to release a high quantity of heavy metals. Dangerous levels of zinc were found in the synthetic rubber filling used in solid core golf balls. When submerged in water, the zinc attached itself to the ground sediment and poisoned the surrounding flora and fauna. Rather than using harsh heavy-metal pollutants like tungsten, cobalt, lead, zinc or contain non-renewable synthetic materials and compounds; all balls manufactured by Dixon Golf are "green" to the core. So if you want to help out your earth and help out your game, buy Dixon's new Earth Golf Balls.
Dixon Earth culminates the efforts of top scientists to bring to you the first "Eco-Friendly" ball that actually performs on the course.
The first 100% eco-friendly golf ball. Delivers the distance & spin of a high performance golf ball while being 100% recyclable.
High Performance
- 392 Tour proven dimple pattern for maximum control and distance
- Thin Eco-cover provides exceptional feel and increased durability
- Improved high velocity green coreTM for added distance
- Official ball of the E-golf Professional and Amateur Tours
- 92% approval rating from PGA Tour Partners
- Best used by golfers with handicaps between 2-5
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I suppose a similar sight can be seen at all our golf courses fronting natural areas such as reservoirs and mangroves and coastal canals etc. Gold balls are primarily made of plastic-rubber like and these take a very very long time to biodegrade. Perhaps the authorities should restrict such golf courses from using non-biodegradeable golf balls?
Keppel Club seems to have more than its fair share of critically handicapped golfers who cant keep their balls where they need to be.
A note to Keppel's Club's golfers ... go find something else less challenging to do!
Keppel Club should either ban the use of non-eco friendly golf balls or clean up the adjacent mangrove and beachfront on a regular basis.
