Yeah, I started out with rubber balls and tennis balls. They'd wear out way to quickly, plus the golf balls came at me harder. I was prepared for anything that anyone hit at me. Hard hit baseballs were a can of corn after golf balls.
We had plenty of baseballs when I was a kid. We would bike over to Jack Russell Stadium where the Phillies Spring Trained and they would knock them over the wall by the dozens. We would scoop them up with a paper sack.
I had a foot locker full of them. Some of them like new since they were only hit a couple of times. The park was small so you would get a lot of foul balls too. Fun times.