Local golf ball diver, Nicky Dörfel, has lent his unique talents to aid the DP World Golf Ball Container initiative, which is collecting used golf balls at events across the 2022 DP World Tour season and giving them a second life. 

Diving the lakes at Rinkven International Golf Club ahead of the Soudal Open on the DP World Tour, Nicky and his colleague Martijn Doorn collected 3,500 balls diving in the water hazards on the course. 

The balls are being donated to DP World’s Golf Ball Container, a repurposed 20-foot shipping container, which can house as many as 200,000 golf balls and will weigh approximately 12 tonnes when full. 

DP World launched the container in Dubai earlier this year with a plan to support organisations that are championing golf from grassroots up, to help grow the game globally. 

Dörfel dives the lakes at over 170 golf courses across Belgium, the Netherlands Germany and France. He collects around a million golf balls per year, restoring them and selling through his online business that he started over twelve years ago. 

Speaking about the Golf Ball Container, Dörfel said: “Today has been great, when DP World called me and talked me through their Golf Ball Container, I wanted to help. It’s an amazing initiative, helping to give golf balls a second life and I’m glad that I’ve been able to play my part. We had a great day out on the course and we’re happy with the number of balls we found in the lakes. I’ll be keeping a close eye on the Containers movements during the rest of the DP World Tour season.” 

The DP World Golf Ball Container will be featuring at a number of tournaments throughout the remainder of the season, fans, players, and course members are all being encouraged to contribute to the collection for a chance to win some great prizes and give back to grassroots golf. Its next appearance on the DP World Tour will be at the Dutch Open, taking place at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, Netherlands from 26-29 May.