Introduction to Lost Ball Business with Monthly Income of 6 Million Won
A case of a man in his 40s who collects lost balls?golf balls that players give up searching for after going off course during a golf game?and earns about 6 million KRW per month has attracted attention.
On the 25th of last month, the YouTube channel 'Tamgu Saenghwal - Stories of Life That Make Money' featured the story of CEO Kim Jeong-hoon, who runs a lost ball business at a golf course.
CEO Kim Jeong-hoon, 49, running a lost ball business [Photo by Tamgu Saenghwal - Stories of Life That Make Money]
Lost balls are golf balls lost after flying into water hazards or mountains during play, and CEO Kim collects these balls.
When asked what prompted him to start the lost ball business, CEO Kim said, "A friend I know was doing the lost ball business, so I went along to check it out and thought it was good, so I started." He added, "At first, I was turned away, but now I have contracts with about 30 to 40 places."
Regarding how the collected lost balls are processed, he answered, "All collected balls are sent to a cleaning factory," and explained, "At the cleaning factory, S-grade and A-grade balls sell for over 1,000 KRW, B-grade for 500 to 600 KRW, and C-grade for 200 to 300 KRW."
CEO Kim earns income solely from lost balls without receiving any separate payment from golf courses. He revealed, "If I work about 4 hours a day for 20 days at night, I earn around 6 million KRW."
He added that even ordinary people can do this work if they have a scuba diving license, saying, "Many people have their main job and do this as a side job."
When asked if there are people who enter without permission to collect balls, he replied, "Most of them are like that," and explained, "(If you have an official contract) you have to pay a certain fee to the golf course, so to avoid paying that, they take the balls secretly."
In fact, on the 2nd, a group who stole and sold about 55,000 lost balls from a golf course in the Jeju area was prosecuted on charges of special theft.
CEO Kim said, "Since the weight of the balls carried out at once is over 30 kg, accidents can happen if you are too greedy," and emphasized, "The rule of giving up greed must be strictly followed."
Meanwhile, lost balls have a considerably large market size due to the advantage of being cheaper than new balls.
It is known that the section for lost balls ranks first in sales in the golf ball category on Emart’s online mall.
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