Golf is wasteful, from the ridiculous amounts of water used to keep courses green in the middle of deserts to the emissions from lawnmowers and golf carts, and even golf balls themselves. Today, golf balls are made from synthetic rubber, virgin plastics, petroleum, heavy metals, ionomer, surlyn, and urethane. These materials take hundreds (even thousands) of years to break down, and 420 million are lost or abandoned into the environment each year.
Here are some sustainable, and more eco-friendly options.
#1 Biodegradable Golf Balls
- Best For: Best Distance, Biodegradable
- Price: Starting at $54.99
Biodegradable Golf Balls have the perfect brand name for its exceptional product. These golf balls are water soluble and are great for golfers with yachts, boats, water property, golf around ranges near bodies of water, or on a cruise. Regular golf balls are extremely damaging to marine life, and harm ocean ecosystems. These golf balls are made out of only two materials: corn starch, and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA). PVA is the substance that coats medications and even some candies. According to its website, these golf balls are not for, “evil people who want to destroy the world, professional golf users, and boring people.”
#2 Dixon Golf
- Best For: Premium Performance, Eco-Friendly
- Price: Starting at $24.99
Dixon Golf is an eco-friendly golf brand that prides itself on providing high-performance, high-quality golf balls that also don’t harm the planet. It offers 4 different varieties: Earth, Wind, Fire, and Spirit. All models conform to R&A Rules and are USGA compliant. The best part is that each ball is for a different kind of golfer. Whether you like a soft compression with a medium trajectory (Spirit), or if you have a swing speed of over 100 MPH and like a firm compression (Fire), you’ll find a model that is right for you.
#3 Albus Golf
- Best For: 100% Biodegradable
- Price: $58.00/24 pack
Albus Golf does something that other biodegradable golf balls do- feed fish! Its Ecobioball contains fish food in its core and dissolves in water. It’s a single-use golf ball meant to be played close to marine environments. It is 100% safe for marine life and is Biodegradable Certified.
#4 Clean Green
- Best For: Recycled Materials
- Price: Various
This Texas-based company sources lost golf balls from all over the country and ships them to its warehouse to be cleaned, sorted according to quality, and shipped out. It guarantees that your order will ship within 24 hours, and any order over $59 ships free. You can shop according to your preferred quality (mint, near mint, good, and range), brand (14 different ones), colors, and quantity. For even more fun, you can get your mix customized with monograms, faces, pets, and custom logos.
#5 Found Golf Balls
- Best For: Bulk
- Price: Starting at $20
Found Golf Balls takes the “Reuse,” in “reduce, reuse, recycle,” especially seriously. It provides used golf balls that don’t compromise performance. Some golfers want to utilize biodegradable balls but aren’t satisfied with the quality. Found Golf Balls completely rectify this issue. You can find your favorite brands like Wilson, Titleist, Callaway, Cut, Honma, Kirkland, MG, and Nike among many others. At Found Golf Balls, you purchase by the dozen, and can even make your own mix.
#6 Tomorrow Golf
- Best For: 100% Recycled Core
- Price: €29.40/pack of 12
Tomorrow Golf is on a mission to bring the golfing industry into the modern world. With its use of recycled rubber cores recovered from damaged golf balls, bamboo apparel, and plastic-free packaging, it takes its mission seriously. On top of that, it uses carbon-neutral shipping through a partnership with the Shopify Sustainability Fund. Its products are not only good for the planet, but good for people, too. Rather than being produced in Southeast Asia, all products are made exclusively in Europe and adhere to production laws and regulations.
#7 Zero Friction
- Best For: Low Friction
- Price: $21.99/12 pack
Zero Friction isn’t exclusively a sustainable golf brand, but it does offer its ECO Z Renewable Performance Golf Balls. These balls are made from environmentally friendly materials and still have outstanding performance. It comes in recycled packaging, and a percentage of the sale of these special golf balls is donated to One Tree Planted. Each pack also comes with a turf tee, which doubles as a divot tool.
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