Finding Clubs on the Course

[JohnEB]

I completely disagree, they are not even close to same. If you have or I have or anyone has reasonable suspicion that the some has your club, I see nothing wrong with a quick peak.
I have done it and I was right. The guy was speechless and his buddies apologetic. IMO of logic is on your side then nothing wrong with double checking. And it seems that more often then not you or I would be right.

^ Completely agree with this. Walking to random people and checking their bags -- I agree that is unacceptable. But in this situation, the group that was most likely to have found the club -- the group right behind them -- is fair game. Golf is, ideally, a game of honor -- but honor is not blindly given, it is earned. If I'm playing for something besides pride, and I see my opponent drop a spare ball when he cannot find the one in play, darn right I'm not going to accept it if he denies doing it. I won't fight about it, will even accept the outcome if he's insistant -- but I'll never wager with him again. In the mother and three sons case -- well, the apple didn't fall far from the tree, did it?

Back to the general topic -- everything I find (except lost balls and tees), gets turned into the golf shop. And before that, if I catch up to a group ahead, or pass them on back-and-forth fairways, I always ask " did you lose ...?"

 

[wallaby]

I found A G20 sand wedge one day, turned it in. month later I lost my putter and someone turned it in.

 

[mastapp]

So does that mean when someone comes into my shop, I have a fair incling that they have pocketed something, I confront them about it and they say no they haven't I should take that at face value because I know the guy also plays golf?
This actually happened. A guy from the local club pinched something from my shop, I confronted him he said he hadn't I asked him to empty his bag and sure enough it was in there. Should I have taken him for his word because I knew he was a golfer and therefore bound by some gentlemans honor?

Two completely different scenarios. You didn't leave your stuff laying around irresponsibly for starters. Secondly, I would assume your shop has security cams or other methods to check to see if they did indeed steal it.

 

[JohnEB]

Two completely different scenarios. You didn't leave your stuff laying around irresponsibly for starters. Secondly, I would assume your shop has security cams or other methods to check to see if they did indeed steal it.

I'm a little confused by this statement. Are you saying that if you "irresponsibly" leave a club on the course, you deserve what you get (or lose, in this case)? I hope you never irresponsibly leave your car keys sitting around somewhere. Presumably you wouldn't want the police to insult someone by demanding proof of ownership.

 

[Wake]

Two completely different scenarios. You didn't leave your stuff laying around irresponsibly for starters. Secondly, I would assume your shop has security cams or other methods to check to see if they did indeed steal it.

If I irresponsibly leave my car running at 711 while I run in, and it goes missing. I shouldn't be able to look into what happened to it?

By law, if someone decides to keep a club that is left on a course, this is theft. If all signs point to the group behind having picked up the club. I fail to see how it is "dishonorable" to look in their bag at clubs that are in plain sight.

 

[Tadashi70]

Two completely different scenarios. You didn't leave your stuff laying around irresponsibly for starters. Secondly, I would assume your shop has security cams or other methods to check to see if they did indeed steal it.

You are correct they are different situations but the context is the same. You would not look and would be upset if someone looked in your bag after you said no. We get that, but some of us feel differently. Being a game of honor has nothing to do with it. I have seen it time and again where guys lose their clubs and never get them back. Those clubs are in other peoples bag. It's not like the earth opened and swallowed them.
I very seldom had guys drop off lost clubs to the shop so I know they are in someone else's bag. If I don't know you I'm going to assume you are one of those guys. It's not personal it's human nature.

 

[fairband]

If I irresponsibly leave my car running at 711 while I run in, and it goes missing. I shouldn't be able to look into what happened to it?

By law, if someone decides to keep a club that is left on a course, this is theft. If all signs point to the group behind having picked up the club. I fail to see how it is "dishonorable" to look in their bag at clubs that are in plain sight.

If you leave your car running in front of 7-11, that is against the law and you would be at fault for someone driving away with it. At bare minimum you would get a ticket. That is quite a bit different from finding a club on the course, which I have done numerous times and have always turned them in.

 

[Bullfrog]

I say turn it in. I find clubs all the time as well as covers. And I always turn them in. If I left one behind I would hope that who ever found it would turn it into the club house.

 

[Snypa13]

I worked at golf course and I will always turn it in.

 

[TheHeez]

How,is this a tough decision ? It's not yours,it was accidently left on the course.the only course of action is to turn it into the pro shop.what happens after that,who knows. I can't believe you played with another club.

BLIA, read a little further, I did say that in the original post but in later posts acknowledged that I didn't actually use the club. I was playing well and had found the club on the 17th green, heck, I didn't even put the club in my bag.

 

[coughlin03]

One of the happiest moments o a golf course is when you find a club and put it in your bag/cart to turn in and you see the panic riddled golfer who lost the club come riding up to you and you ask him what they lost. He says, CG15 wedge." You say, "I have it right here for you."

Golf is a gentlemen's game. Be honest and gentle and you will enjoy golf more.

In 1990 I was coming home from work on a wintery Friday night. Before cell phones so I stopped at a pay phone about a mile away from home to see if my wife needed anything. There was a wallet on top of the phone booth. It had over $200 in it, credit cards, ID., etc. 22 year old woman.

Now, at the time we were starting out and I had less than $10 in my pocket until payday in 10 days.

Took the wallet home and tried to find the owner. We did even though her last name was different than the one listed for her home phone. When she picked up the wallet, she was so grateful and explained that she too was pretty cash strapped. We did not get a reward. You do not return things for a reward. You return them because it's the right thing to do and hope that if the shoe was on the other foot, someone would return your club, wallet, etc.

 

[Rusty]

I don't think it is wrong to peek even after someone has said they don't have it. This may come as a shock but sometimes there is some drinking or other things going on during a round of golf. I have seen people in the same foursome put other peoples' clubs in their bag without realizing it.

^^^This^^^^

Whether drinking is involved or not, what if someone picked up your club on the green, thinking it belonged to one of his playing partners? He puts it in the other guy's bag and no one realizes that your club is in their bag. I sometimes play with my neighbors, and they are not very avid golfers. All wedges pretty much look the same to them, and this could honestly happen. If you don't look through everyone's bag, then how can you know?

About 20 years ago, I left my 8 iron on the 9th green after chipping with it. I needed it for my approach on the 10th, and I could see the foursome behind me leaving the 9th. They were headed for the parking lot. I stopped off at the 9th and checked where I had chipped from, and sure enough the club was gone. I chased those guys down in the parking lot and asked if they had seen the club, and they denied it. They were pretty adamant about not seeing it, which actualy made me suspicious. I tried to peek in their bags, and then they got pretty threatening towards me, so I dropped it. Never found the club.

Also, that is when I quit using address labels as mentioned elsewhere in this thread. The club never came home, so I figured every time those guys pulled out my clubs at the range, they actually had a name to laugh at.

 

[Dogman]

You do not return things for a reward. You return them because it's the right thing to do and hope that if the shoe was on the other foot, someone would return your club, wallet, etc.

Exactly...good post.

 

[JohnEB]

You do not return things for a reward. You return them because it's the right thing to do and hope that if the shoe was on the other foot, someone would return your club, wallet, etc.

Absolutely on target.

 

[Perkins Rooster]

Honestly, I don't think I'd have the balls to peek in someone's bag after they told me they didn't have it. I don't think it's necessarily wrong to do though. I could see myself glancing at the bag as I walk by but I don't know if I could stop and stare.

 

[Rusty]

I just assumed the guys had picked my club up by mistake, because I really didn't think some golfers would knowingly pick up someone's club and then deny it. I just said something like "Are you SURE you didn't pick it up by mistake? Let's just check your bags...." They were putting their bags in their trunk, so it wasn't like it was some big inconvenience. They were either really offended by that, or really embarrassed at getting caught red-handed, but I wasn't about to get in a fight at a golf course (or anywhere else).

 

[jitzy]

If that had happened to me I would have "discreetly" checked out their bags on the groups behind me as they came in. That's really crappy....

This actually did happen to me once at Bethpage and when we back tracked for it (we realized it pretty quick) this group right behind us said they didn't see it and when we went to drive away we saw it in one of their bags. The guy who "FOUND" it said he thought it was his friends and was just holding it for him, even claimed it wasn't mine and refused to give it back. It got really close to fists being thrown but the yelling actually had the marshall come over and he had them removed from the course for creating a scene. They were pretty drunk and were very belligerent to the marshall.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

I would have taken them at their word, wouldn't have dared to look into their bag if they had told me they didn't have it. I'm not saying they did the right thing, but as an adult, we have a responsibility to keep up with our own stuff. The net result is good that you got it back, but I don't feel like the end justified the means. Just my opinion, no judgement here.

May be hardcore on my part, but like I pointed out earlier, in 37 years of playing, I have never lost a club. While I will always be on the "do the right thing and turn in found clubs" side, there is a part of me that has little sympathy for those that lose one. Same amount of sympathy on this subject as I have for those that get screwed buying stuff on the internet that turns out to be fake. I know people that lose clubs all the time and I know people that have been screwed over and over buying on line. Pretty simple stuff.

 

[JohnEB]

May be hardcore on my part, but like I pointed out earlier, in 37 years of playing, I have never lost a club. While I will always be on the "do the right thing and turn in found clubs" side, there is a part of me that has little sympathy for those that lose one. Same amount of sympathy on this subject as I have for those that get screwed buying stuff on the internet that turns out to be fake. I know people that lose clubs all the time and I know people that have been screwed over and over buying on line. Pretty simple stuff.

Interesting analogy: Caveat emptor and caveat golfer. I think this also means that we should expect the worst from internet deals AND expect the worst from our fellow golfers. I don't feel that way, but it's a reasonable argument.

 

[roggey]

Yesterday I was met with a very difficult decision. On the 8th green of my local course I found a brand new 60° Vokey Wedge. My next planned purchase is, you guessed it, a 60° Vokey Wedge. I asked everyone I could see if it was theirs and when I finished my round I took it by the clubhouse. The employee said he just got a call from the mildly distraught owner who said, "it's a brand new Vokey, no one is ever going to turn it in!"

So what is everyone's "karma policy" on found equipment? Should I buy a lottery ticket, expect an ace or just appreciate getting to demo a nice 60° for a few holes?

Something good will happen to you - I'm sure of it. When it does, post it up!

I found two wedges in the span of a week last summer (and turned them in). A few weeks later, I made three eagles in 2 weeks (2 were kick-in putts - one from a 242 yeard hybrid shot, one from a 5 iron) and one a chip-in from the side of a driveable par 4. Might be because I was hitting the ball really well just then, or it might have been karma.

 

[Gamma]

Turn it in.
Speaking as someone who lost the same club twice on the course, and got it back only once.

 

[SethO]

I found a new 54º Vokey on the course yesterday and I turned it in. I think I deserve a cookie.

 

[Mardin]

Something good will happen to you - I'm sure of it. When it does, post it up!

I found two wedges in the span of a week last summer (and turned them in). A few weeks later, I made three eagles in 2 weeks (2 were kick-in putts - one from a 242 yeard hybrid shot, one from a 5 iron) and one a chip-in from the side of a driveable par 4. Might be because I was hitting the ball really well just then, or it might have been karma.

Karma Police....in a good way.

 

[Badass]

I would definitely ask the group ahead after the 9th or 18th and return it to the clubhouse if I couldn't find the owner. I am guilty of leaving wedges and my putter head cover (three time this year) on the course and they were returned every time! I would be pretty mad if I lost a club, especially part of a set, and thus wouldn't do that to someone else.

 

[tdinbr]

Found a putter on the fringe of the 10th green during my round this past Sunday. Thought that was kinda weird......who forgets their putter??
Was an old Ping knockoff. Well worn. Figured it must be from the 3some in front of us but they never came back to ask us about it.
Turned it in to the clubhouse after our round. It could have been a $1000 Scotty Cameron model and I still would have turned it in.

Jot says, "Don't steal!"