The game of golf’s environmental footprint extends far beyond water-intensive courses and chemical-laden greens. It turns out that the golf balls themselves, when lost to oceans and other waterways, are leaving a lasting mark on marine ecosystems. Researchers, conservationists, and even young activists are sounding alarms about the impact these small, often-overlooked pieces of sports equipment are having on the environment.

The Accumulation of Plastic Debris

Every year, tens of millions of golf balls are lost across the United States alone. For coastal courses, a substantial number of these stray balls inevitably find their way into nearby bodies of water. Golf balls are primarily made of synthetic rubber, plastic, and various chemical additives that make them sturdy and resistant to wear, Citizen Sustainable reports. But it’s this very durability that poses a problem: traditional golf balls take between 100 and 1,000 years to decompose, and in the process, they shed tiny plastic fragments into the water.

Matthew Savoca, a conservation biologist, collaborated with high school student Alex Weber to study this issue after she began retrieving thousands of golf balls from the ocean floor off California’s Pebble Beach. Acccording to The Conversation, they gathered over 50,000 golf balls—nearly 2.5 tons of material—and published a peer-reviewed study documenting the extent of pollution from coastal golf courses. As Savoca points out, the balls’ plastic fragments can work their way up the food chain, potentially reaching humans.

What Happens When Golf Balls Break Down?

The decomposition of golf balls in marine environments is a slow process. As Tomorrow Golf reports, ocean currents, sunlight, and physical impacts from rocks gradually wear down the balls, releasing microplastics and toxic chemicals. These plastics then float freely in the water, or worse, become embedded in marine life. Marine animals like fish, birds, and even endangered species such as the California sea otter often mistake these particles for food, leading to ingestion that can disrupt their digestive systems and health.

Golf balls contain harmful additives like zinc acrylate and benzoyl peroxide, which help with elasticity and durability but can be toxic to marine life. A golf ball’s synthetic core and plastic resin cover provide no immediate danger when intact, but as they break apart, these substances enter the ecosystem, adding to the ocean’s already problematic levels of microplastic pollution.

“Once they become microscopic-type fragments, there’s basically no cleaning it,” Savoca told CNN.

The Scale of the Problem

Lost golf balls may seem like a small problem when viewed individually, but their cumulative impact is substantial. The Danish Golf Union estimates that Americans alone lose 300 million golf balls each year. Many of these balls end up lost in forests, bushes, or bodies of water near golf courses, where they linger for years, polluting these ecosystems. In Monterey Bay alone, as many as 186,000 balls are estimated to be lost annually by players at Pebble Beach, translating to approximately nine tons of plastic waste, reports ScienceDirect.

Globally, the problem may be even larger. Shaun Shienfield, CEO of Found Golf Balls, a company specializing in recovered and recycled balls, told CNN that worldwide golf ball loss could exceed 3 to 5 billion annually. With golf courses in 84% of the world’s countries, few regions are untouched by the spread of these synthetic fragments.

Solutions and Efforts to Reduce Impact

There are some efforts in place to tackle this issue. Some golf courses have retrieval programs, hiring divers to collect balls from water hazards and reselling them as “lake balls,” Oregon Courses reports. Pebble Beach, in particular, has committed to a ball recovery program, partnering with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to retrieve lost balls from nearby coastal waters. Such initiatives help reduce the number of balls left to decay and release microplastics, but many courses lack the resources or incentives to implement these programs on a large scale.

Some companies have also developed biodegradable golf balls that are safe for marine environments. Balls have been developed from corn starch and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), both of which dissolve in water within a matter of weeks. Similarly, a product from Spain disintegrates and releases fish food when submerged in water. While these eco-friendly options are not as widely used, they offer a sustainable alternative to traditional golf balls.

Golfers and Courses: Playing a Role in the Solution

The responsibility to address golf ball pollution doesn’t lie with companies alone. Golfers and courses can also take proactive steps. For players, using eco-friendly balls when near water or on coastal courses can help prevent the pollution that traditional balls cause, Filabot reports. Additionally, players can make a habit of retrieving lost balls whenever possible, minimizing the overall number lost to the environment.

Courses located near water can play a significant role by installing collection systems in water hazards or by partnering with retrieval companies. As Savoca told The Conversation, courses need to actively manage golf ball waste: “If we want this issue to be mitigated, to be dealt with, what we need is a blueprint—where the pollution is, how much pollution is out there, what are the collection methods that work and what are the consequences if we don’t do collections?”

A Call to Action

Golf balls may be small, but their environmental impact is anything but. In an era of heightened awareness about plastic pollution, it’s essential for golfers, course managers, and manufacturers to recognize their role in this problem and work together toward solutions. From supporting clean-up efforts to investing in biodegradable options, there are tangible steps that can reduce the ecological damage caused by lost golf balls.

If even a portion of the 300 million balls lost each year can be diverted from oceans and waterways, it would make a meaningful impact. As Savoca’s research suggests, the time to act is now, before these tiny fragments of plastic further infiltrate marine food webs and contribute to the rising tide of ocean pollution.

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