Gilroy’s Bernard Roy has collected golf balls for more than
twenty years. And his hobby might just save American lives.
Gilroy’s Bernard Roy has collected golf balls for more than twenty years. And his hobby might just save American lives.
It started out as a simple way to keep his and fellow players’ bags well stocked over the course of a round, shagging stray balls left behind by players too lazy or blind to find them in the tall grass. Not long after it turned into a passion, and he limited his selection to balls with unique logos.
“I started saving them and some of my friends even threw them in my bag,” Roy said. “They were like, ‘when we need balls, we’ll know where to get them.'”
Roy, 65, retired after 34 years as a software engineer for IBM and took a part time job at Coyote Creek Golf Course to stay busy. While operating a ball washer one day, he noticed that some players were refusing to pay for range balls and would instead hit some of their own to save money. Roy picked out the intruding spheres and continued to add to his collection.
He has stored his favorites in a display case along a wall in his garage, showcasing some of the more unique finds over the years. Included in this group are balls with logos ranging from the historic St. Andrews course, the CIA, a “United We Stand” logo and even a ball labeled the “OH SHIT special.”
A native of Canada, Roy was embarrassed to show a ball with a Canadian flag logo. Embossed on the side were the letters “R-O-Y.” He had collected balls for so long, Roy had even stumbled upon one of his own lost balls.
Acting as a pro(bono)-shop to his friends, he would offer up as many balls as his guests could carry away, free of charge. Roy never bothered to count them, but after more than two decades his collection was so vast he could have given away one ball a day for the next 20 years.
Until a couple of weeks ago.
Roy found out while talking with fellow Coyote Creek employees that the Ridgemark Golf Course & Country Club in Hollister was collecting golf balls and clubs to send over to the military in Iraq. Organized with the help of a chaplin on the ground in the Middle East, Ridgemark saw an opportunity to give the troops a chance to relax. Hitting golf balls into a never-ending desert would take their minds off the daily stress of war. There was also the remote possibility that balls would land on roadside bombs and IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), commonly placed around U.S. military bases.
“(The troops) can only hit the golf balls once, because they’re hitting them into mind-laden areas and sniper areas,” Ridgemark General Manager Eric Dietz said. “The primary focus behind it is for recreation and stress relief.”
Roy knew he and his friends would never play poorly enough to lose all the balls he had collected over the years, so he started boxing up as many as he could. By the time he ran out of boxes, he had donated more than 5,200.
Ridgemark has collected more than 80,000 balls to this point and will continue to accept donations until the Fourth of July.
When Roy was told he not only was helping troop morale, but maybe even saving lives, he sheepishly responded, “It’s just a drop in the bucket.”
Well, thanks to the help of a corporate sponsor, there is no reason that bucket shouldn’t get bigger in the coming days. DHL, which conducts drops of food, supplies and equipment in Iraq, has agreed to cover the costs of shipping all of the golf balls and equipment to the troops for free.
Whether or not you agree with this war, here is an opportunity to show rather than just say you support our troops.
Just a few balls could provide some laughs to a group of men and women in a long-drive competition. With one swing, a ball could even provide a happy boom in the distance, making for one less move that need be measured.
Josh Koehn is the sports editor for the Gilroy Dispatch. He can be reached at (408) 842-1694 or at jk****@gi************.com.
