Pebble Beach Golf Links is known for its scenic views overlooking Carmel Bay in California.

But two young freediving conservationists found that the sights are not so pretty underwater. Embedded among California’s kelp are boatloads of golf balls, which can turn into a problem for local marine life as they break down. The course, which hosts the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February and thousands of other golfers each year, is known for being right on the coast. But that appears to be a problem when golfers hook or slice their balls into the ocean.

Alex Weber and Jack Johnston, two local teenagers with an interest in marine conservation, recorded a video of the sea floor bordering the golf course (above), catching the eye of The Pebble Beach Company, which owns the course and manages the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

One of the troubling things Weber and Johnston found was the stringy debris created by the deteriorating balls that looks much like seagrass. Aside from the plastic debris from the outer shell of the balls, this string could entangle marine life or be confused for edible grass.

“It was surprising because no one before these two intrepid teenagers had brought that two our attention,” executive vice president of real estate at The Pebble Beach Company Mark Stilwell told CBS San Francisco.

You can't fix every golfer's swing, but The Pebble Beach Company says it will assess the situation and sponsor annual golf-ball cleanups.

Weber and Johnson say they removed more than 4,000 golf balls from the ocean and beaches bordering Pebble Beach Golf Links this summer. In the video, they’re shown kayaking out to the site and freediving for the balls with collection bags. The duo hopes to continue their studies and research on marine debris at The Island School and have set up a GoFundMe campaign titled Fore the Ocean to help support their research and education.

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