Ari van Hamburgs’ recycled golf ball business has caught the attention of some big names
When I sat down to talk with 11 year old Ari van Hamburg about his recycled golf ball business, one thing became incredibly clear – Ari is an exceptionally bright boy. Despite knowing nothing about golf myself, Ari was more than happy to tell me about his business endeavours.
Initially inspired by his friend, who collected discarded golf balls to play with, Ari realised very quickly he could create something more. Ari has now recruited his parents as ‘employees’ and does the rounds outside various local golf courses near his Castlecrag home to find abandoned golf balls to sell. Even his packaging is recycled.
“I searched up online and I figured out that the golf balls were six bucks new,” the Year 5 student said. “A lot of money. And I thought I could sell them on average for (around) $2 new. The first time I found 11 golf balls, not that much. But I was happy because I thought that was a lot back then.”
It’s not much compared to how his business has grown in the six months since he started – Ari has since fulfilled over 90 orders and sold over 2,200 golf balls. You’d think that running a successful business, alongside school and extracurriculars, might be challenging, but Ari describes it as, ‘Not too hard, I just do it on my free day or after school.’
Ari’s customer base is steadily growing, and includes Willoughby Mayor Tanya Taylor and internationally acclaimed singer Guy Sebastian. Despite this, Ari’s favourite customer is close to home, a friend of his father’s named Vincent. “He’s my favourite customer because he’s ordered from me a lot,” Ari says. “Vincent’s mum lives next to a golf course, and she gets golf balls flying into her backyard. So she picked them up and gave them to Vincent and he gave them to me. He gave me (around) 200.”
Ari’s recycled golf ball business is growing
Guy Sebastian is another favourite. “My dad’s friend from work had a golf tournament and he was going to play with Guy Sebastian,” Ari explains. “So my dad had him give (Guy) a little gift of 12 balls from me. And then (Guy) gave me a little shout out on a video.”
The video is still up on Ari’s Instagram page, which also serves as his main point of contact for potential buyers. But not all of the recycled balls get sold – Ari has developed a hobby of collecting his favourites, with one in particular he considers his favourite amongst his current five.
“I have a gold golf ball I found, which is really rare. And I kept it because it was so cool.”
Ari explains that 80% of the money he receives goes to a fund to accumulate savings, while with the other 20%, Ari is saving to buy a new surfboard.
Ari’s Golf Balls can be found on Instagram, @arisgolfballs, but he is also planning to attend more markets to sell his wares in person. For more information, visit his social media.