Golf Ball Cleanup

Four years ago, Alex Weber was diving with her father in the waters off Pebble Beach, California. Suddenly, she spotted something strange: thousands of golf balls all over the ocean floor!

Alex, who is 20 today, was alarmed. She began collecting golf balls each time they went diving. Her dad and some friends helped. They would easily gather at least 500 a day. “The balls didn’t stop coming,” says Alex.

That’s because golf courses line that part of California’s coast. Golfers had been hitting balls into the ocean every day for decades. Alex wondered why someone wasn’t fixing the problem. She decided to try.

Alex thought the problem would be easy to fix. She went to the owners of golf courses and told them about all the balls in the ocean. But the businesses didn’t seem concerned.

So Alex emailed Matthew Savoca, a biologist at Stanford University, in California. He studies how plastic pollution affects ocean life. Savoca didn’t know about the golf ball problem until Alex told him. She showed him the massive collection of golf balls she had fished out of the ocean. Savoca was very concerned and joined the cleanup effort. 

The outside of a golf ball is hard plastic (see Golf Ball Breakdown sidebar, below). In the ocean, the plastic on the balls wears down. Tiny bits of microplastics fall off the balls and into the ocean. “ Marine animals mistake the bits for food and eat them,” says Savoca. That can harm or kill the animals.

In total, Alex and her crew collected 50,000 golf balls! Savoca thinks the balls they collected would have created more than 60 pounds of microplastics in the ocean. 

Alex took detailed notes during the cleanup. She was gathering evidence. This would help her write a report about the project to make other people care about the problem and help fix it. She wrote it with help from her father and Savoca.

In January 2018, Alex’s report was published in a major scientific journal. Her report offered ideas for solving the plastic problem. One idea was for golf courses to get involved. They could post signs telling golfers not to hit balls toward the ocean. They could educate golfers about golf ball pollution. Golf courses could also work to remove balls from the water.

Alex presented her paper to local golf courses. This time, the owners paid attention. Now they’re cleaning up their act.