{"id":7635,"date":"2011-04-05T01:36:15","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T08:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/?p=7635"},"modified":"2011-04-05T01:36:15","modified_gmt":"2011-04-05T08:36:15","slug":"eco-golf-balls-from-lobster-shells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=7635","title":{"rendered":"Lobster Balls for Waters of the Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"

The avid golfer in our family has a favorite kind of golf ball. It has to be white. The best games he has ever played were not with Pro V1s from Titleist<\/a>, nor popular upscale brands made by Callaway<\/a>, Bridgestone<\/a> or Pinnacle<\/a>. They were just white. His argument is the kind of ball really doesn’t matter that much.<\/p>\n

The University of Maine may test his theory.<\/p>\n

In pursuit of a golf ball that can be hit off cruise ships without harming the sea or its inhabitants, the U of Maine has invented an eco-friendly ball made of lobster shells. Tests \"\"<\/a>show it will begin to break down in sea water after seven days, or a little sooner than the estimated 100-year lifespan of a regular ball in the ocean.<\/p>\n

Research indicates the biodegradable ball will cost 19 cents to produce and will sell for less than a dollar. Initially, the study was to make use of lobster waste (an eco-issue in Maine), so using it to make golf balls serves a dual purpose. It can also be used for items like plant pots and survey stakes, neither of which interests the avid golfer.<\/p>\n

Golf balls do. Lobster, too.<\/p>\n

For him, the win-win part of this equation is being able to hit golf balls off the deck of cruise ships without feeling guilty, and eating more lobster. However, convincing him to use them on the course is another matter. Studies show the eco-balls don’t travel quite as far as conventional golf balls, and there’s no guarantee they’ll do anything special to compensate for the loss in distance…like cure his slice. Or his hook. Or his putting.<\/p>\n

So the market for this may, indeed, just be cruise ships, where golfers are now forced to practice by hitting balls into nets. The more in demand the eco-balls are, the more lobsters that will be available.<\/p>\n

Besides, when you a drive ball into the water \u2014 be it a hazard or the ocean \u2014 it really doesn’t matter how far the ball will go. And remember, when these eco-balls head for the water, it’s kind of like going home.<\/p>\n

Oh, more thing…how will the fish and the whalesbe able to resist them for seven days?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The avid golfer in our family has a favorite kind of golf ball. It has to be white. The best games he has ever played were not with Pro V1s from Titleist, nor popular upscale brands made by Callaway, Bridgestone or Pinnacle. They were just white. His argument is the kind of ball really doesn’t… Continue reading Lobster Balls for Waters of the Ocean<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,25,19,15],"tags":[204,86,573,175,574],"class_list":["post-7635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruise-industry-news","category-people","category-ships","category-stories","tag-cruise-ship-entertainment","tag-cruise-ships","tag-eco-golf-balls","tag-golf","tag-golf-on-cruise-ships","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}