The Lost Golf Ball Comparison: Lessons for Search and Rescue

One of my favourite movies is Predator. Any flick with an elite military unit is a fun indulgence and always fiction. One character in Predator is an expert scout and tracker. The man determines an enemy’s size and movement from boot prints and breaks down the course of a firefight from spent shell casings.

When people get lost today, we rely on different technologies to help find them. Yet, many times, they are discovered using tried and true old-timey approaches. Tracking is art, common sense, and intuition. Done well, it can vastly reduce the number of searchers and the amount of time it takes to resolve a situation. 

Arguably, one is born with the skill that is further honed by training and practice. I am not a tracker. I do have some training and experience yet, this article was prompted by a quirky insight. Stay with me, I will get to my golf ball theory but first let’s cover some background on missing people in the wilderness.

The Lost

I consume tons of information on people getting into trouble in the outdoors. Among my podcasts are Park Predators and Lost In the Woods. I listened to John Billman’s book, The Cold Vanish. My morning ritual includes opening Flipboard for hiking stories. With growing frequency, there are news accounts of missing folks. With more people reconnecting with nature due to a tenacious virus, there has been more and more lost, hurt and disappeared folks. 

I hike year-round in the Laurentians of Quebec. I have steered people back on track, helped out the injured, and been called out to find the missing. A new development is the growing number of incidents involving mountain bikers, e-fatbikers, and Nordic touring skiers. Their tech takes them farther into trouble and many don’t know the hazards, or worse, they unaware of the remedies when trouble appears.

The statistics in the next few years will be interesting. I expect e-fatbikers will be responsible for a spike in accidents and missing mishaps. And if I may rant, the people on them are not endearing. My personal experiences have created an unflattering stereotype. Arrogant, entitled, and ignorant not only of trail etiquette but of common courtesy. I have guided out several groups and assisted an injured e-fatbiker in just the last two months. The words, “thank you”, are absent from their vocabulary.

Let me dial back the ire I hold for that group and state that anyone can get lost, become disoriented or injured in the woods or suffer from temperature and weather extremes. A minority may even encounter predatory wildlife. However, given the numbers who spend time outdoors, those that perish or are lost without a trace remains, thankfully, rare. 

Why, Oh Why?

People who get into trouble, fall into three broad categories that often overlap. First are the poorly prepared who are inadequately equipped with food, water and proper gear. Next are those lacking experience and skills in route finding and survival. The final category covers those who exercise poor judgement at key moments. A disproportionate number of incidents of the missing, lost and injured are either novices or those that travel riskier terrain than they are capable. 

When someone is reported missing, a systematic mission is initiated using Search and Rescue professionals, dogs, aircraft, and volunteers. A database of 50,000 SAR incidents shows that 98% of search efforts are successful in finding the lost person. The majority are found alive within several hours. However, beyond the 48-hour window, the probability of safe rescue drops significantly.

People lost without a trace has created a cottage industry. The website, SkyAboveUs!, created by outdoors experts notes, “There are now dozens of Youtube videos, blogs, e-books, and articles promoting the myth that thousands of lost hikers have disappeared under mysterious circumstances that defy rational explanation. These authors typically use anecdotal case histories with limited follow-up data.”

I really hope there are Bigfoot out there but do not believe they are responsible for missing people. Folks that disappear have wandered off or tend to get swept away in water, disappear into crevasses, get buried in avalanches, or succumb to injuries or weather extremes. When the undiscovered die in the wilderness, their bodies decompose and are consumed by animals and insects in a short time. Skeletal remains and hiking gear are often scattered in the process, hampering discover, recovery and identification.

The bottom-line is people will always go missing. The solution to finding them is a mix of tracking, human behaviour knowledge, and detective work.

The Golf Ball Idea

I generally hike a lot. Not all is technical terrain demanding a loaded backpack. A recurring outing during the summer months is a 7.5km early morning trek on a network of trails surrounding a golf course. I carry a hiking stick and it works particularly well when I traverse off trail to hunt for golf balls. This is a hilly, rocky, vegetation dense area making the rummaging more challenging than walking around a tree on your well-manicured local civic golf course.

This is a new weird pastime for me. As I mentioned to my wife, I have become the guy I used to make fun of. I am a golfer but have never had the inclination to look too hard for any poorly struck ball. A career in marketing provided a steady flow of branded balls. I cannot remember the last time I purchased any. 

It will be some time before I ever have to. Just the other day, I found 89 balls. My best day was over 150. It is like discovering Easter eggs as a kid except these are Titleist Pro V1s and Callaway Warbirds. The rough terrain bordering most holes dissuades golfers from looking too hard. At about $5 a ball, my efforts are paying off. However, the real value comes from what this activity has taught. Hunting for golf balls carries some real lessons for search and rescue.

Course Knowledge: having played the course, I know where errant balls fly having hit my fair share. When someone goes missing, it is best to have experienced searchers who know the area. I can talk in shorthand about local trails. I know where people on many Laurentian trails may have taken a wrong turn or become confused.

Different Perspective: when I hit a ball into the woods, I walk in at point of entry and look around. Often it cannot be found. When I am out on a golf ball hunting expedition, I come at the area from a different angle based on topography. Invariably, I find balls because of a change in perspective. That is relevant instruction for search and rescue. Hit the terrain at different vantages and clues will emerge.

Time of Day: sometimes I happen across a few balls in the same area and wonder why the golfers missed them. This can be attributed to lighting. The sun’s angle can expose the ball, shadow it, or “hide” it. When searching for the missing, it is amazing how often a person is found on the second pass in the same area due to lighting.

Looking Back: golf balls seem to magically appear when I advance a few yards and then look back. Many times, I have walked over balls without registering them. When I look back, they are in plain sight. This is something I recommend to hikers. When you are on a trail, look back with frequency to note the trail from the other direction. For searchers, looking back may reveal clues you did not pick up entering the one way.

In Their Head: being a golfer gives me some insight as to how a player would behave. I have an idea where they may hit a bad ball and whether or not they would risk tearing their pants to find it. The same holds for people who are missing. If I know they are novices or experts and are familiar with or new to the trails and terrain, I can get in their head to understand what they may have encountered and how they reacted. When asked to find someone, I want to learn about them. What state of mind were they in, how were they outfitted, how experienced, etc.?

Find the Roll: what goes up, must come down as the adage says. Golf balls follow the fall line, the most directly downhill course. That gives me an idea where the outdoorist might end up. It is documented that many novice lost folks ascend believing the high ground will allow them a better cellphone signal or reveal them to an aviation search. More experienced people follow water, streams and creeks, down. When I have participated in a search, I get a feeling about the situation. I call it, 'finding the roll'. 

Finding a role, is my thesis of what transpired. It can be wrong. People knock their heads so their actions are completely unchartable. But the practice provides a strong supposition of where to look.

On one occasion, I happened across a trail runner who had broken an arm and was disoriented. There are many “tribes” outdoors. Trail runners are generally fit, but pampered and affluent. Looking for performance stats rather than naturalist appreciation. Slick gear, a bit of water, zero real supplies because speed is their metric, they forget they are in the outdoors. I got sucked in like oodles of this tribe and bought the faddish Nike Trailer Runners. Stupidly over priced, flimsy shit shoes, treads fall off. Fashion over function. When I spot these on folks on the trail, I know I may be carrying them out. Shame on you Nike…refunds all around.

But I digress 😎.

To be sure, golf balls are not people. Searching for the missing and injured is far more complex. People move even though when lost, staying put is their best chance to be found. In such circumstances, people do not operate rationally due to fear or disorientation. A tracker or searcher has to read all the available clues, it is an innate skill and critical art.

I would be remiss not to include what may help you avoid getting lost in the first place. Whether it be a day hike or multi-day expeditions, scale your necessary gear. Carry navigation tools, first aid kit, signaling mirror and whistle, firestarter kit, knife and multi tool, water and food (this means you e-fatbikers too!). Research the trail and carry your phone with a battery charger. Do not think your phone will save you. I pack like I don’t have one. Relying too much on tech is a huge mistake.

LET ME UPPERCASE THIS ONE: set out like you do not have a cellphone.

On big outings, I leave a note in my car with details of the hike. It is also smart to give your trip plan to two reliable friends or family members. The plan should include:

• Name, personal description and photo of all
• Description, license number, and location of motor vehicle
• Area, trail head and route, stop overs, time of departure, number of miles, and estimated time of return
• Personal phone number and park contact information to facilitate response time in case of an emergency

When people are lost they typically make the same predictable errors driven by anxiety:

• Leaving the trail or bushwhacking
• Random wandering looking for a landmark
• Sampling different trails or directions
• Backtracking
• Increasing elevation for a better view
• Following waterways seeking civilization

The best strategy is to stay in one place. If you are capable, use a compass and map to find a route. Leave markers along the way to inform you and searchers. I carry neon marker tape for that reason. 

Even with cellphones and GPS, people get into trouble. The most experienced people get lost. I mentioned listening to a book on missing hikers. Well, I was listening to it on a hike and got turned around. I began sampling different trails. Talk about sad irony. Turned around while listening to a hiking book. What did I do? Took a break, drank some water, pocketed my earbuds and got re-oriented.

I started this blog talking about elite military units. There is no such thing. Most special forces units are under strength all the time. Often most are out due to training injuries, even up to 70% of their complement will be out of action due to human frailties. There are no Rambos or Jason Bournes. We get sick, hurt, and make bad decisions. We just need to be prepared for being prepared.