Alfred Hoffart (left) and Miriam Busby, of Ohio, America, search for a lost ball with a Geiger counter. A small amount of radio active material under the ball’s cover, causes the Geiger counter to click when the ball is approached.
Newcastle Morning Herald, 10 June 1950

ATOMIC GOLF BALLS
Australian golfers, especially the less skilful ones, should welcome news from the United States of a new application of atomic energy. U-S. scientists recently demonstrated a new ball that has minute radioactive materials embedded under the cover. These make it possible for a golfer carrying a small, portable detecting de vice to find the ball even when it is hidden in dense woods, The Journal of Commerce reports.

Approximately 25,000,000 golf balls are sold each year in the Nation, and about half of these are lost at one time or another, The Journal notes.

The ‘atomic golf ball’ was developed by the B.F. Good rich Research Centre at Akron, in the State of Ohio Company officials say that the radioactive material inside the ball is so small that there is no danger of radiation. They also point out that a low-price, 10/- ounce Geiger counter, which detects radioactive objects, is now being marketed. The new ball is not being sold yet because its development is still in the experimental stage, the company says.
North-Eastern Advertiser, 4 August 1950