: )
I'm pretty sure I've had something like this happen to me, albeit a while back. Starting a game an then being alarmed by the ball wear indicator not showing what I thought it was showing at the end of my previous game.
But knowing what I know now about how screwed up the ball inventory used to be, showing an incorrect number of balls for me in a multiplayer game when another player was using the same type of ball, it could well have shown his wear indicator too, instead of my own, thus completely screwing with my mind as to how my ball could have worn so much inbetween my leaving the lobby and going out onto the course, lol.
It seems to be okay for me now, but not for everyone I guess.