COMMUNITY

As far as a shelf life, I wouldn't think so. I am sure Mongo has better knowledge of this than me, but I just can't see a ball going bad just sitting there unless it was stored in extreme conditions. Heat, cold, water some crazy crap like that.

I would think as long as they are not in the sun they would last a long time. I have some golf balls (in the house) for 5 years and they are still good.

thanks guys

Yep, just don't store them in the trunk of your car or an attic and you'll be fine. I've got some balls that are coming up on 10 years old and it's no problem.

When a certain brand goes on sale, I will always buy more then a dozen especially when I get gift cards at Christmas time. I keep them in the basement level of my house and have never had a problem with them even after a year or two of storage.

Over the time the golf ball will lose a little of the ability to compress and rebound. The coefficient of restitution will drop but not to a point where a golfer will notice under normal condition .
Like many said, extreme heat will damage the golf balls the most, then cold temperature and submerging in water more than 24 hours would also damage the golf ball.

Golf ball will still look fine and shinning ( new or refinished ) but it will lose some distance and playing characteristic after exposed to extreme temperatures.

A new golf ball should smell like a new golf ball, just like a new car has that new car smell.

If you have to buy in bulk to save $10, and you don't lose many golf balls like a new golfer does, then I would say get the new golf balls and play what you like. A round of green fees should cover a dozen of new golf balls easily which could give you months of pleasure.

I don't know about that, but I can tell you that the NXT's are awesome.

Golf balls have a "new" golf ball smell? I need to check, I have never sniffed a golf ball before. BRB, going to go dig in my bag!

Hmmm just sniffed my balls and it may be because they are out of the box and in my bag already but my balls don't smell. Something is wrong.

Buck is partly right. Unless they are stored in extreme conditions for a LONG time, there shouldn't be any issue at all. Balls today are all solid cores. If you were asking this question 15-20 years ago and we were talking about WOUND balls then there would be an issue. Particulary with balls spending a few weeks in water. That's why you hear the old guys saying balls retrieved from water are dead. Because they are still stuck in the wound ball era mentality.

Today's solid core balls are not affected by water at all as far as playability, other than a little tinting that starts to occur after about 2 weeks or so underwater.

I've not had any issues, and I stockpile balls like the USA-USSR stockpiled arms in the 1980s.

Consider this, too: Several Titleist staff players often stick with the previous model of ProV1, which means guys as good as Steve Stricker have played 2-year-old balls (or older) in PGA Tour events.

I just got those 5 dozen golf balls a few weeks back from DrMulligans. I was wondering the same thing since the golf season is over for me. My garage gets very cold during the winter, so I put them in a closet in my house...and sing them to sleep at night.

lol, and what are you singing to them?

A song I made up about staying dry, don't play in the sand, and staying out of the damned weeds, set to the tune of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star"

lol, that is great! I love it

Yes... they do... especially the 3 piece old ones.. like balata...