Castaway Golf in search of lost dimpled treasures

The slice, hook or shank that sends balls into water hazards have golfers seeing red, and Castaway Golf, seeing profit.

Matt Vance liked scouring the course for golf balls more thanhe liked playing.

"Ever since I was a little kid, there was something about collecting golf balls, and even now, I see it as a grown man's Easter egg hunt," says Vance, who is now 24 and a graduate of the engineering program at the University of New Brunswick.

Scuba divers make a living retrieving golf balls, especially in year-round golfing country. Some have died, caught in fishing line, or barbed wire. All have tetanus shots and snake bite kits.

Vance convinced his father they could build a machine to retrieve sunken balls faster and from shore.

They did, building a machine that can haul in 70 balls a minute from a water hazard. They won't show the machine publicly because they don't want it duplicated.

They've also found a buyer for the thousands of balls already retrieved from courses in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. They're expanding to retrieve balls inPrince Edward Island this summer.

They've also landeda dealwith Giant Tiger to sell mesh bags full of 60 balls or 30 balls in 207 stores across the country.

They also sell smaller packages of a dozen"experienced balls" to Maritime businesses.

Vance, his father Kevin Vance of Truro and CEO Josh Ogden would like Castaway Golf to become an international business with its home office in the Maritimes. They would also like to automate the packaging and sorting of the balls, which is now done by hand.

Castaway Golf is one of the finalists in this year's Breakthru competition put on by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.

The winner will be announced Thursday, March 19.