Abstract: A device for picking up balls, such as golf balls, is in the form of a tube, preferably of a translucent plastics material, having at one end a ball retainer in the form of a pawl which is loaded resiliently towards an operative position projecting inwardly of the tube and which can pivot, against its loading, in a direction away from the said one and, into an inoperative position not obstructing the interior of the tube, so that a ball can be picked up by pushing said one end over the ball which deflects the pawl as it enters the tube, the pawl then returning to its operative position to retain the ball in the tube.