Dive Team Searches for 'White Gold' at Highland Springs Country Club

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- On average, a Titleist Pro V1 golf ball costs around $3. So when you lose one in the water at the course, it can be frustrating.

That's where a group of divers -- known as Green Water Recycling -- comes in at Highland Springs Country Club.

"Some don't even know what we are doing and can't even believe we're doing it," says Derek Sloan.

Sloan and his fellow divers do what every golfer only wish they could do.

"We'd golf ball dive when we were kids and would sell them, so we just kind of went from there."

"There's thousands of golf balls deteriorating in the water, so we're basically like a recycling company," adds Derik Moffett.

No scales. No gills. But what they do have is a "hookah system."

"It's an air compressor running off a generator and we've got two 100-foot hoses running off it," says Moffett.

So they can dive deep for their version of a sunken treasure.

"White gold as we like to call it. More balls equals more money. It's good for us. It's good for the course. It's good for the golfers."

While Green Water Recycling is under water searching for what they call white gold, they tend to find more than just Titleist and Callaway. After three years of business, they have built quite the resume.

"It's nasty under there," says Sloan. "We find all kinds of turtles, snakes, spare tires, chairs, golf clubs. All kinds of things. You name it, we've found it."

"Can't really see under there, even with goggles. On an average day, we usually collect 4,000-6,000. I think the most we ever got in one day was right around 13,000."

Highland Springs isn't the only course for Green Water Recycling; they search a total of 15 courses in the area and they're always on patrol for more.