[GOLF]

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Hard to find recycled balls
for sale in Hawaii

The Golf Warehouse might be
the only outlet on Oahu where
you can buy used golf balls

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By Randy Cadiente
rcadiente@starbulletin.com

In the market for some golf balls but just can't afford to pay the high prices?

Not to worry.

The Golf Warehouse Center sells recycled balls by the dozens.

"It's one of my big sellers," said owner Don Comeaux. "I usually bring in 10 boxes a month and there are 650 balls in one box."

It's no wonder that Comeaux does good business.

His shop might be the only one on Oahu -- or for that matter, in the islands -- where you can buy recycled golf balls that are the byproducts of someone's mistake.

A check at some of the major outlets here turned up nothing.

"No," answered a sales associate at Nevada Bob's on Kapiolani Blvd. when asked if the store sold used and/or recycled golf balls.

"Don't have it," was the response at the Pro Am Golf shop.

"We don't sell golf balls," was the answer received from a sales associate at the McCully Bicycle Shop on King Street.

The Aloha Golf Shop in Kapahulu doesn't sell used balls.

Neither does the Sports Authority's outlets in Waikele and Honolulu.

"We do sell new balls with misprinted logos," said Waikele store manager Eric Acoba.

"But as far as recycled balls, no."

The lack of companies that don't deal in the sale of recycled balls means more business, and money, for Comeaux.

"It's a mainstay," he said.

"A lot of people don't want to spend $30 or $40 a dozen on new golf balls. The quality (of the golf ball) is there. It (recycled balls) just costs less."

The recycled golf ball business can be lucrative.

Guy Aguilar, who has a small operation in California, says he buys a lot of lost golf balls from dealers in Hawaii to be recycled, packaged and resold on the market.

"I work part-time with Jim Johnson (see story at left) but I do have a small business of my own that I run out of my house," said Aguilar. "He sells six million (golf balls) a year. I sell one-tenth of that. And it can be very lucrative.

"But it's like the stock market," he added. "It can go up and down."

Aguilar said he ships his packaged of recycled balls all across the United States -- except Hawaii.

Comeaux said he gets his recycled balls from a dealer on the Big Island -- the only one he knows that's in the recycled golf ball business.

"The price is right," he said.

Comeaux didn't mention how much but he did say that a dozen of his recycled golf balls sells for $9.

So if he brings in 10 boxes a month and there's 650 balls per box, that's an estimated $486 a month.

Multiply that by 12 months and it comes out to close to $6,000 a year.

That's on recycled golf balls only.

Comeaux also sells generic golf clubs, bags and gloves -- new and used -- at his shop located in Aiea.