If you've ever been on the market for a ball retriever before, you'll probably have come across some of their shortcomings. It became apparent whilst I was looking, that no matter what type I chose (and I tried them all),  Scoop, Trap, Sucker retriever, there didn’t appear to be one that was able to recover my ball from all the various hazards I would encounter. 



Either the space was too tight, meaning the mechanism got jammed because there were too many obstructions, or perhaps I found the ball underwater stuck in soft mud, making it difficult to capture or maybe in the middle of a gorse bush which being so dense caught or knocked the ball out whilst trying to retrieve, or else the retriever simply broke during use! Well, I guess you get the picture, I was finding it frustrating. 



I wanted to discover a ball retriever that I could rely on, a good all rounder and one capable of dealing with the situations I needed it to. But unbelievably I wasn't able to find one.

 As a professional precision engineer, it’s important to me that everything should work well, is made and designed to last, even exceeding expectations and that includes the humble golf ball retriever and I found it disappointing that they all seemed to fall short of my standards. 



It was whilst playing golf back in the early 1990’s, with an elderly relative of mine, my Uncle (he just happened to have a bad back and was finding it difficult to bend), that I had inspiration.  Being that I'm also a spare-time inventor, I set to work designing a better retriever that would fulfil its promise and pick up from wherever we found the ball on the course.



 

It seemed to me, that to solve the problem it was important to design a retriever that approached the ball directly from the front, not scoop or trap, as space was often tight. It should also pick up as firmly and sensitively as your fingers and not rely on gimmicky moving parts that could easily break, or on suction, trapping or scooping to retrieve the ball, as obstacles such as branches, mud and debris might hinder pick up. It also had to be robust, but also light weight, so you could manoeuvre it effortlessly. And finally, it should detach from the handle, fit in a pocket and onto a putter (without damaging the putter of course) to help with bending on the green. Ultimately, I wanted to create a retriever that was robust, reliable, adaptable and simple to use.

 



It took me three years to trial, test and refine the design ballpic and eventually I was pleased with the results. Especially the way ballpic, with its forward grab action, once over the ball seemed to attract it into its grip.



 

Initially I only wanted to produce a retriever that we (My Uncle and I) could use ourselves and had no intention of selling them to anyone else. But other Golfers who saw ballpic and tried it seemed amazed how easily and securely ballpic picked up the ball. So much so, that some even thought it must use magnetism and be some sort of magic trick! I was getting so much positive reaction and people asking to buy one of them, that I decided to go into production. Ballpic was even ‘picked up itself’ and chosen by Trevor Baylis (who invented the fantastic wind-up radio) to appear on his BBC TV show 'Best Inventions'.



 

So if you’re also on the look out for a retriever that’s strong, light and that works, (for the ‘rare' occasion you might need one), why not this time consider arguably the best golf ball retriever available today - ballpic.  



Seeing is retrieving™



If you decide to purchase, I would love to know what you think of ballpic. Although I can't always reply to emails, I will try, so please email me any comments or feedback from our contact us form.

Many thanks,


Colin Thompson
Inventor