No, as they don't provide the same consistency and distance as new balls with the same swing speed. Lake balls especially after sitting a long time in water don't perform as good as before. The re-coating and paint might make refurbished balls look like new, but the weight change can affect the balls' performance.  It depends pretty much on how old the golf ball is. However, used or refurbished balls are still better than practice golf balls for improving your skills by repeating shots. High handicappers could buy refurbished golf balls for practice as the performance difference between a new ball and used or refurbished ball is mostly very little or no difference for them depending on how old the ball is and how it was stored. But buying them for competitive play isn't a good idea as it is hard to determine the damage of many balls just by seeing.