Golf Fisherman

This item really works. Like I said there is a trick to it. If your course has a pond with a lot of underwater leaves and plant life which most do you have to pull it pretty fast so it catches the golf balls not leaves and gunk. Notice that if you do not do this the gunk can build up and the balls will roll off the side of the fisherman. I am sorry this review did not have more about how much i like the product this was mostly a review to help you use your product well. I do however love this product. I have a shag bag and practice balls to hit at the range. This product ensures that even if we lose some we have a way to get more without buying them. This product has already paid for itself in my mind.

I have better luck with a rescue stick. I've dredged several ponds and water hazards with very limited success. I keep pulling up grass, mulch, and even though I feel it hit a ball they often fall out. If you can see the ball and are careful not to pull too quick, the ball will stay in there. My biggest issue is that it doesn't have a locking bar to trap the balls. If you are using in a clear water hazard, I could see it working much better. Only given two stars for me as it has only returned 5 balls to date.

I was looking forward to fishing out free golf balls the moment I ordered the thing. Opened the package quickly put it together, looked at the direction, really? Does it really need directions, i read them anyway, whatever'. Finally going to play a round of golf and thinking of all the free golf balls. When got to the course, showed my new toy off to my buddy. The tee box of the third hole was right next to a water hazard, we had to wait for group in front of us, perfect! I pull out my shiny new golf fisherman rush to the the waters edge and gently toss it in, next thing I know, the line snapped out of my hand and landed in the middle of the hazard, s***. "Bring me a club!" I yell to my buddy, he brings one over, it's just a foot out of reach of the club. I pull off my shoes and socks and prepare to go after it! Check the depth with the club...at least 3-4 foot drop. With my buddy laughing hysterically, I said "the fist thing on directions was to put your hand through the loop at end of line" humph, who needs directions? I gave it five stars cause we laughed our asses off for the next 15 holes! And I'm sure I'm going to hear about it again, that was worth what I paid for it!

I paid the high price thinking that golf ball savings would justify it. HOWEVER this device is useless in real world water hazards. I threw it out about a dozen times in an area that I know is littered with golf balls, I could actually feel the "fisherman" hitting balls, but all I caught was silt and vegetation from the pond bottom, ZERO golf balls. Could not be more disappointed...terrible product. May work in a clear water pond with a hard bottom....if you have that, then this may be the product for you...otherwise, SAVE YOUR MONEY.

Bottom Line Up Front: The right bottom conditions will produce high yields... however, 4-Stars (almost 3-Stars) for tack welds of the cage, screw in eyelet, and short, poor-quality rope. (And limited use as it draws too much attention.)After have great success with the Search and Rescue 2-Ball Retriever I decided to increase my harvest results with the Golf Fisherman. It arrived in 2-days via Amazon's Prime in a small box disassembled. The eyelet screws into the basket portion and there is a wing-nut for added security. It's hard to screw in at first since the PVC green coating makes a tight fit... However, after unscrewing it and screwing it back in, I can see how people have lost the basket with normal use and the packaging warns against this and how the company is not liable for lost baskets.THE FIX: Blue Locktite. Slathered some of that on the eyelet and the wing-nut, easy day! Granted I cannot disassemble it and store it in my bag, but that's why there are baskets on the back of golf carts, right!??! (more on this later)Next, I took a couple practice throws and realized I can EASILY throw the basket further than the length of rope included. Besides, the rope had some snags in it and I didn't trust their knots.THE FIX: I promptly used some heavy duty cord (550 Cord would be good too) to replace the stock rope and have 40 feet of reach! (This was nice for throwing into the middle of the water hazards, but it's a lot of cord to manage.)I also noticed that the curved steel on the cage is just tack welded to the frame on just one side... I can easily see these breaking but had no issues thus far. I also managed to bend one of the curved pieces when I threw the basket and it hit the ground... Ooops! Bent it back... we'll see how it holds up.OPERATING SUCCESS: I was able to dredge a few different hazards. The first was full of algae and all I got was a pile of stinky sludge. Within a couple feet pulling the basket I could feel that it was full of muck. So I moved on. Finally, I found a hazard that was around a green and had some natural flow out of that hazard and into an adjacent hazard. With just a muddy bottom, I was able to pull in 2-5 balls at a time. You CAN FEEL THE BALLS GOING INTO THE BASKET as you are dredging. Within about 20 minutes I had 18 balls. Not too shabby. Then I got "busted" for dredging the ponds (see below).Finally, and most importantly... THIS RETRIEVER DRAWS ATTENTION. Typically golfers just retrieve their own ball and the course has no issue with this. However, I was informed (by the Course Marshall after being "busted" for "trespassing" (my girlfriend, her sister, and her parents all have houses within the development)) that "ball hawking" was against course rules and that I had to throw all of the balls back into the hazard (he eventually let me keep them when I humbly apologized). I would not put this in the back of your golf cart because it SCREAMS BALL HAWKER (what ball hunters are called on the course). After further research, if you are using this retriever without permission, you can be charged for trespassing and theft. This was reported in an article for four individuals SCUBA diving for balls at night ("night hawking") and were pulling 2,000 balls out a night. Just know if courses are cool with you dredging for balls or if they are not... Some courses contract out to professional ball retrieving groups and they get a cut and consider ball hawking stealing. Just an FYI.

It certain waters it seemed to work great. In others not so good. I tried one pond not much underwater grass or alge. I was able to get an average of 2 to 3 balls a throw However I tried another with lots of grass and couldn't get any balls at all. Just kept pulling up lumps of under water plants.Overall worth the buy if you pick the right water. I would like it to be a little heavier so less chance of going over balls.