Former Malaysian Navy Frogman Finds New Career Diving for Golf Balls

TaiwanPlus News

A 22-year veteran of the Royal Malaysian Navy, Sumadi Ibrahim, now dives for golf balls at a course outside Kuala Lumpur, reselling them to players. His business brings him three times Malaysia's median monthly salary.

Transcript

00:0051-year-old Sumadi Ibrahim is no stranger to murky waters.

00:10For 20 years, he's spent his days diving off the Malaysian coast as a frogman in the country's

00:16Royal Navy.

00:18Now, retired from that, he dives to collect mishit golf balls in ponds at a course outside

00:25Kuala Lumpur.

00:26My friends said, let's do a part-time job, because we can do part-time jobs to earn more money.

00:34That's what I thought.

00:35No, they said it's not enough.

00:37No, it's not.

00:38I just like it that way.

00:40That's my original intention.

00:42Golf ball diving has been Sumadi's primary source of income for the last 10 years.

00:48He comes to the course three times a week, often waiting until dark to commence his underwater

00:54search, stuffing his findings into his shirt before emerging from the water and dumping

01:00them onto land.

01:01We can get 1,200 to 1,300 balls a week.

01:05Usually, if I dive three times a day, I can get 500 to 600 balls a day.

01:15On Saturday morning, he sets up shop outside the course, selling the recycled balls for

01:21a fraction of the course's price per pack, earning nearly 8,000 Malaysian ringgit, or

01:27more than $1,700 per month, around three times Malaysia's median monthly salary.

01:35Some golfers at the course have jumped at the chance to buy from Sumadi.

01:40I purchased my golf ball near the clubhouse because they usually sell secondhand balls

01:46because it's a more economic way to play compared to buying new balls in the pro shop.

01:52Sumadi's customers aren't just considering costs when they buy from him.

01:57Golf has long been criticized as bad for the environment.

02:01Besides disrupting the natural ecosystem, course upkeep consumes vast amounts of water

02:07and requires pesticides.

02:09Also, golf ball synthetic materials release toxic chemicals.

02:14So for many, the recycled golf balls can present a more sustainable way to play.

02:19If we buy a new ball and it goes in the lake or anything, it won't be retrieved until someone finds it.

02:25So that's why it's much better.

02:27I feel it's much better for the environment that we use a recycled ball than a new ball.

02:32Though the environment isn't top of Sumadi's mind when he dives into these waters,

02:37he says he's glad to contribute in some small way to sustainability.

02:42And he intends to keep diving for as long as he can.

02:46Kama Xu and Sonia Schlesinger for Taiwan Plus.

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