What really lurks in Loch Ness

Apparently, it's golf balls. From cnn.com:

It seems the simple plastic golf ball is increasingly becoming a major litter problem. The scale of the dilemma was underlined recently in Scotland, where scientists -- who scoured the watery depths in a submarine hoping to discover evidence of the prehistoric Loch Ness monster -- were surprised to find hundreds of thousands of golf balls lining the bed of the loch. It is thought tourists and locals have used the loch as an alternative driving range for many years.

It would be kind of sad if Nessie died choking on a golf ball.

Cryptozoology Nessie

Posted on Tue Nov 10, 2009


Comments

Golf balls? Hardly. Those are Nessie's droppings.
Posted by RichmondTom  on  Tue Nov 10, 2009  at  09:39 AM
Hundreds of thousands? Really? I find that highly unlikely. Somebody threw an extra "hundreds of" in there. Searches for the same info turn up articles that simply say "thousands".
Posted by Rodney  on  Tue Nov 10, 2009  at  10:42 AM
Actually, after a little math you'll see that "hundreds of thousands" really isn't all that unbelievable.

According to this site: http://www.golfproductnews.com/golf-practice-101-your-home-on-the-range/
A golfer can usually use a bucket of 50-75 balls in about half an hour.

Under those conditions only about 2000 people would need to have used the lake as a driving range ever to put 100,000 balls in the water. While that's a lowball estimate (not everyone has 75 balls to waste) it sounds pretty likely to me.
Posted by Robin Bowles  on  Tue Nov 10, 2009  at  01:01 PM
Are they sure they just haven't found Nessie's eggs?
I look forward to the wave of sightings when they all hatch! 😉
Posted by Captain DaFt  on  Wed Nov 11, 2009  at  10:19 PM
"where scientists -- who scoured the watery depths"

Can we all have a look at wikipedia about what a scientist is?

A scientist, to my best understanding "performs experiments whereby input variables are manipulated and results are analyzed using appropriate statistical methods"

That's about 100,000,000 miles from looking for golf balls in a lake.

They may be scientists in other circumstances but in this, they are technicians at best.

Joel B1 (BSc(Hon))
Posted by Joel B1  on  Thu Nov 12, 2009  at  12:49 AM
Of course it would be sad if Nessie choked on a golf ball. Just like it would be sad if the Tooth Fairy got squashed under a pillow or if Santa got stuck in a chimney and starved to death, slowly. Very sad.
Posted by Croydon Bob  on  Thu Nov 12, 2009  at  10:37 AM
The scale of the dilemma was underlined recently in Scotland, where scientists -- who scoured the watery depths in a submarine hoping to discover evidence of the prehistoric Loch Ness monster
Posted by Stainless steel range hoods  on  Sat Mar 13, 2010  at  03:50 AM
It is thought tourists and locals have used the loch as an alternative driving range for many years.
Posted by Stainless steel range hoods  on  Sat Mar 13, 2010  at  03:52 AM
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