By Sandra J. Pennecke
Correspondent
KEMPSVILLE
Craig Stewart spends hours on the golf course, but he's too busy and too tired to play. He's often unnoticed by other golfers.
The owner of Your Golf Ball Shop at 6229 Indian River Road, Stewart dives into the ponds at about 45 golf courses throughout Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore of Maryland to harvest balls hit astray.
"It's like an archeological dig down there," said Stewart, whose diving season starts in early spring and operates through the end of November.
"It's a way to recycle golf balls," said Mike Waugh, PGA professional who works at the Battlefield Golf Club in Chesapeake and has Stewart come out several times each year.
A competitive swimmer as a child and former Navy diver who was conscripted for two years, Stewart later spent 3 1/2 years diving for diamonds off the African coast before he came to the United States in 1986.
After a friend started a business diving for golf balls, Stewart decided he'd plunge in, too, and began diving in 1988.
"I just hop in the water and spend all day down there. It's not a highly technical skill, but very physical work," Stewart said. He arrives as the sun comes up, explores as many ponds as he can and works his way from the back of the golf course to the front.
"I keep a low profile so I don't interfere with the golfers."
On a recent one-week diving trip, the Southern Woods resident said he found close to 40,000 balls. "I normally find approximately 25,000."
Other surprises often await Stewart in the depths - golf clubs, broken glass, catfish, thorns, trash, snapping turtles, crabs and, once, an alligator at a course in North Carolina.
Armed with a mask and gloves, Stewart basically feels his way through the silt.
"Once you start working the mud, it gets kicked up and you can't see anything. It's almost better that you can't see." Stewart happily wiggles 10 fingers.
The recovered balls are hauled back to Your Golf Ball Shop, soaked in a mild acid solution, washed, soaked in bleach, dried and then sorted.
"That's the tedious engine that drives everything," he said.
The balls are given to the golf courses as range or jar balls, packaged up for the store and resold, while others that have bubbles, discoloration or the coating missing are sent to be refurbished.
Your Golf Ball Shop, which had been on London Bridge Road and moved to its current building 1 1/2 years ago, also carries anything and everything - at reasonable prices - associated with the game of golf.
Stewart said he enjoys providing the service he does and doesn't foresee it ending any time soon.
"Not as long as they keep getting them in the water."
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