Ball Buddy is designed and made by one person, on one machine, in one workshop. Every stencil is designed by the customer, made here, and posted by hand.
I marked my golf balls the way everyone does: a plastic liner from the pro shop, a Sharpie, and a line that leaned a little further each time. The liner slipped, the dots never matched, and by the end of a season no two balls in my bag looked alike. I make parts for a living on a laser-sintering machine, so one evening I designed a cap that clips onto the ball, holds it still, and puts the slots exactly where I wanted them. The first few went to friends with their initials on. Ball Buddy is that cap, made properly, to your design.
The idea is simple: a stencil that clips onto the ball and holds it still, with slots cut for exactly the marks you want — a line to putt with, dots or initials to know your ball — so every ball in your bag comes out the same.
You design the marks online and see them on the ball in 3-D. That preview is the actual file we make. Each stencil is laser-sintered in PA12 nylon on a Sinterit Lisa X — a bed of fine powder fused layer by layer, so there are no supports, no seams and no weak spots. The result is tough, slightly grippy, and doesn't care about rain.
Slots are cut 2.4 mm wide for a fine permanent marker, with a bevelled lead-in so the nib finds its way in, and we test the plate the letters come from before anything goes on sale.
Questions, ideas, a photo of your marked-up ball — email us. A person reads it.