Hows this for a job opportunity? Diver wanted for salvage operation was the title of the classified help wanted advertisement. When the diver answered the ad with dreams of treasure ships in Florida waters, the work turned out to be slightly different than he expected. He was salvaging golf balls from the water hazards of a Florida golf course.
Slightly disappointed, he nevertheless continued the work, starting with six cents per ball and moving up over the years to where he now is owner of a golf ball salvage company which collects golf balls from the courses around Salt Lake City and sells them back to the course.
Jeff Lehman is a 56 year old refugee from the warm Florida waters who owns Wasatch Golf. He states that one of the dangers of diving in the water hazards of Florida was finding an alligator living in the pond. His encounter with One-Eyed Jack early in his career was enough to make him look for a less cranky pond owner when he decided to look for another area to relocate.
Salvaging golf balls doesnt qualify as a get-rich scheme, especially in Utah, although others in this line of business in Florida, California and Arizona where golfers slice year round are millionaires
Lehman dons scuba gear and works the murky waters mostly by feel. Lehman doesnt get much enjoyment out of the diving, its just a line of work. About 3000 balls are collected on a good day for which he receives about a quarter each.. After collecting the balls, they are washed, sorted and packaged for resale. Occasionally a valuable ball will be recovered for which the money is better. The record for Lehman was a black and silver Ping which sold for $100.
A similar story is told of the life of Tom Rath who first dived at night for used golf balls which would be resold to the golf course. Rath turned his early diving for golf balls experience into a partnership with a brother to sell all kinds of used golf equipment. The used equipment doesnt come from the water hazard, but the business startup concept was combining scuba with golf and creating a gold mine.
Its possible golf ball scuba diving might be a job opportunity for those really dedicated to working the course owners. In many areas, the course already has a contract with a scuba diver to salvage the sliced chopped or missed balls.
