Range balls leave in buckets and most of them come back on the picker — but not all. Some go in the pond, some go home in a golf bag, some crack. The share that vanishes is small, but multiplied by a hundred buckets a day for a month it is a purchase order. This recipe turns your loss rate into the number of cases to reorder, rounded up because nobody ships 14.4 cases.
120 buckets a day at 60 balls with a 2% loss over 30 days is 4,320 lost balls — 14.4 cases of 300, so order 15.
The example
Three ranges with different bucket sizes and loss rates. The pond range loses more; the netted short range loses almost nothing.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Range | Buckets/day | Balls/bucket | Loss % | Days | Balls lost | Cases |
| 2 | Main range | 120 | 60 | 2.0% | 30 | 4,320 | 15 |
| 3 | Pond range | 80 | 75 | 3.0% | 30 | 5,400 | 18 |
| 4 | Short game area | 150 | 45 | 1.5% | 30 | 3,038 | 11 |
The formula
Balls lost first, so you can compare it with what the picker actually brings in, then cases:
How it works
Four multiplications and one rounding decision:
B2*C2is balls sent out per day. 120 buckets of 60 is 7,200 balls through the dispenser.*D2applies the loss share. Two percent of 7,200 is 144 balls a day that do not come back.*E2extends it across the period. 144 a day for 30 days is 4,320 balls.ROUNDUP(F2/300,0)converts to cases of 300 and rounds up. 14.4 cases becomes 15, because the 0.4 case is balls you would otherwise be short.
Change the 300 to match your supplier's case size, or put it in its own cell so the purchasing sheet is not hiding a constant inside a formula.
Try it: interactive demo
Enter buckets a day, balls per bucket, the loss percent, days in the period and balls per case.
Variations
Measure the loss rate instead of guessing it
Count the balls on hand at the start and end of a month and add what you bought. The loss rate is what disappeared divided by what went out.
Reorder point in days of stock
Divide balls on hand by the daily loss to see how many days you have before the dispenser runs thin.
Pitfalls & errors
Loss percent is per bucket dispensed, not per ball in inventory. A 2% loss on 7,200 balls a day is very different from 2% of a 30,000-ball stock.
Track the pond range separately. Water hazards in front of the tee line can double the loss rate, and one blended number will under-order for that range and over-order for the netted one.
Enter the loss rate as a percentage cell (2%), not as 2. Typed as 2 it becomes 200% and the order jumps by a factor of 100.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
What is a normal range-ball loss rate?
Should I round up or round to nearest?
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