Abstract: This invention relates to an improved golf ball retriever of the type which may be lowered directly over the ball. The retriever has a telescopic handle for reaching into water hazards and the like. The handle is pivotally connected to a body member which has a pair of lower forwardly extending curved arms and a retaining ring pivotally connected at its rear to the body member at a point above the plane of the curved arms. Thus the retaining ring normally slopes forwardly downward and rests on the ends of the curved arms. The ring is slightly larger in diameter than a golf ball and when the retriever is lowered over a golf ball, the ring pivots slightly upward to increase the effective size of the opening between it and the curved arms to allow the ball to pass therethrough. When it has, the ring drops down past the outside of the ball, and the retriever is then lifted upwards with the ball engaged by the ring and the curved arms.