Former Troon caddies raise thousands for charity by selling recycled golf balls

Campbell Mathieson and Andrew Bogle recycle golf balls and sell them for charity.

Meet the Scottish duo who set-up a discounted golf ball business during lockdown – and are now raking in the cash!

Campbell Mathieson and Andrew Bogle have always made a pretty good team. The 23-year-olds went to the same school together, played golf together, and even caddied at Royal Troon together.

But it wasn’t until they left for separate universities and then returned home to Scotland during the first lockdown last June that starting a business together was even discussed.

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They hadn’t entertained the thought until Andrew happened to mention that he had boxes and boxes of golf balls collecting dust in his parents’ garage.

“His grandad used to collect them,” says Campbell. “I was like, ‘There could be something in this. If we clean them up, I’m sure money could be made from selling 5,000 golf balls – regardless of their quality’.”

Between buying a bottle of bleach from a supermarket the next day and washing, sorting and grading around 5,000 golf balls in Andrew’s back garden, it took the pair just 11 days to price all their stock, film a promotional video, and launch their new business, Ayrshire Discount Golf Balls, on Facebook.

“We actually had to look up online how to clean the golf balls properly,” says Campbell, laughing. “The biggest problem we had was that they were pretty poor quality. I think we only had two Pro V1s among them. But it got us started.”

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As word spread that they were donating 10 percent of all profits to Whiteleys Retreat, an Ayrshire-based respite centre for children with cancer, the pair received an endorsement from former Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart and didn’t even have to go looking for balls to replenish their stock.

“We got lucky because people started donating them,” explains Andrew. “One guy even gave us boxes of Pro V1s. That was the first time we got hold of some decent stock. I think people started taking us seriously then, which is when we started to make a decent amount each month with barely any expenses.”

Even though donations dried up by September, demand didn’t. After spending two days sourcing new suppliers, Campbell and Andrew recruited kids from their old college to work as ball processors so they could concentrate on their studies.

Incredibly, they still use Andrew’s parents garage as their stock room, but they have since set up their own website and currently employ eight staff.

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The only dilemma facing them now is how long they can keep the business going, especially as Andrew is job hunting after graduating from university.

“The business is not a full-time job, but the workload has certainly increased and we’re looking to source more suppliers,” says Campbell. “I never expected it to get to this stage when we started last year. 

“I know it sounds clichéd, but we just wanted something to do. Andy thought we’d make only £200/£300, whereas I thought we might get to a grand. But we’ve already donated over £3,000 to charity so the numbers have been quite staggering.” 

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