Who decides which snacks are in your office’s vending machine? How much is a suburban elm tree worth, and to whom? How did Girl Scout Cookies become a billion-dollar business? In bite-sized episodes, journalist Zachary Crockett looks at quotidian things and finds amazing stories. Join the Freakonomics Radio Plus membership program for weekly member-only episodes of Freakonomics Radio. You’ll also get every show in our network without ads. To sign up, visit our show page on Apple Podcasts or go to freakonomics.com/plus.
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episode 32: 32. Used Golf Balls
American golfers lose 300 million balls a year — and all those bad swings are someone else’s business opportunity. Zachary Crockett hits the links.
- SOURCES:
- Todd Hutchinson, president and owner of BallHawker.
- Lashan Wanigatunga, founder of Two Guys With Balls.
- RESOURCES:
- "BallHawker, Challenge Enterprises Turn Wayward Golf Shots Into Successful Endeavor," Natalie Gilstrap (Clay Today, 2023).
- "Temecula Golf Ball Diver Nets $100,000 a Year," by Jeff Zevely (CBS8, 2022).
- "Golf’s Recycled Ball Market is Big Business," by Erik Matuszewski (Link, 2021).
- "The Inside Story of What the Original Titleist Pro V1 Launch Was Really Like," Andrew Tursky (Golf Digest, 2020).
- "Head of Golf Ball Retrieval Company Sentenced for Manslaughter After Diving Death at Wales Golf Course," by Alex Myers (Golf Digest, 2017).
- "Man Dies While Illegally Diving for Golf Balls," by Alex Myers (Golf Digest, 2015).
- EXTRAS:
- "Greg Norman Takes On the P.G.A. Tour," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).