Honesty in golf - stolen rangefinder
 

In the movie, The Legend of Baggar Vance, the young boy gives a speech about The Greatest Game there is..."it's the only game where you call a penalty on yourself, if you're honest, and most people are".

Well, at the Sarasota practice range, some golfer who fits in that minority of dishonest golfers stole my trusty Leupold Laser Rangefinder from my golf cart while I was practicing on Monday Dec, 5th, 2016.

If one of your regular playing companions is suddenly using a Leupold rangefinder he/she didn't have before and doesn't have the matching nylon carrying case (I still have the case!!!), you might not want to play with that person again.

Furthermore, I wish that person more shanks, lost balls, and duffs than they've ever had before. You shouldn't get to enjoy this wonderful game if you're not honest.

I bet you just put it somewhere else. OR it fell out of your cart.

I have been playing golf for 40 plus years and can honestly say I never had anything stolen from me. I have misplaced items and left clubs etc. and they always were returned.

Golfers, as a group, are very honest and if there is a thief among us it is as rare as a cold day in July in The Villages. If "something" is stolen it would be rare if they played golf. Good luck in your search. Fore!

I hope you find it, however I hate to tell you that was where a friend's driver was stolen from his bag. Some people can't resist a five-finger discount. It's a terrible feeling to be the victim of any crime. Until you've experienced it, you can't relate. I like to think the best of people, but not everyone is deserving. Best of luck locating it.

Not necessarily a fellow golfer. Many items have been stolen by non-Villagers or in some cases troubled children or grandchildren of Villagers looking to steal these expensive items. Been here 10 years and with 100,000+ unfortunately it is has happened many times and is bound to happen again. Best to be safe and secure your clubs with a lockable cover, available in the pro shops, and don't leave valuables loose in your cart. Sad we have to do this but it's the world we live in now.

I remember about 5 years ago at Sarasota Driving Range when you teed off on the opposite side of the lake, where the practice green area is and a woman had her purse stolen out of her cart. I also remember a person had their golf bag and clubs stolen off their cart in the parking lot of Havana Country Club. That's why I never park my cart in the car parking lot, easy to throw our clubs into someone's car trunk. I remember other incidents in that area, like another poster wrote, probably non-villagers using 466A make a quick trip through a parking lot looking for goods to sell.

Again, we do sell those lockable bag/club covers at all the golf shops. Anywhere we go in the cart after playing, my wife and I put the covers on, put the lock on it and not worry about it. Less than $60 investment (cover and lock) for peace of mind. With 100k+ people here, there are going to be thieves and we're going to do our best to dissuade them. :boom:

Because no one steals in The Villages? I have some ocean front property in Arizona for sale...wink and jk!

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For sure !! Even if you did trust every soul in the Villages anybody can drive in here.

Nein Frau. Don't be goofy. I have read far too many posts on here accusing folks of stealing their nine iron or pitching wedge and then it magically reappeared. It annoys me when someone yells thief without some real evidence.

When the Sarasota course first opened, I would take my daily walk down the cart path on Morse and sit across from the 9th hole on a bench to watch the golfers. As I sat there one day, I noticed a club, obviously left on the edge of the green by someone. The next set of golfers teed off and then drove their carts down the to the green. I observed one of the golfers, after they were done with the hole, pick up the club, look it over and put it in his bag. I carefully watched to see if he would stop at the starter shack to turn it in and he did not. He stole the club. So, you see it is quite possible that there are thieves who play on our courses, drive around the driving ranges and acquire things that don't belong to them.

I have my telephone number on each of my clubs.
Is it possible the golfer who picked up the club saw the owner's phone number and decided to call the owner himself?

You all have me so paranoid leaving my clubs on my cart.

Thanks.

/wrists

The OP spoke of golf as a game played by the rule of ethics and honor. Bobby Jones famous penalty call on himself in tournament play because he believed he accidentally moved his ball ever so slightly is a prime example. I agree its one of the reasons many people are attracted to the game that and its civility.

Golf digest once did an informal study and scattered 25 expensive pitching wedges along greens on various golf courses. Of the 25, 21 came back to the club house. I have never played with anyone who found a club on the course and didn't immediately turned it over to an ambassador.

Executive course play here for all the obvious reasons is a little more relaxed but still many players abide by the rules. Championship play is more formal-stricter to the rules of play

Stealing is beneath contempt and those individuals victimized by such thefts feel very much violated

I never leave anything in the cart period unless I have done my best to protect it, e.g., a lockable bag over my clubs. That is far from fool proof, by maybe they go to the next cart.

Even when I do that I will take my laser range finder into the bar with me as it is the most expensive thing in my bag :)

PS. I have had a set stolen from the parking lot at Mallory (before I locked them). The perpetrator, a grandchild of a Villager. I read/heard from detective he was a pretty good golfer. He would get gramdpa's cart, sneak on a course, when he got kicked off he would leave through parking lot and take a club or set (back and front lots). He did this 18 times before he was caught.

I have had the same set of clubs and golf accessories for years.

I try to be careful of them, because they are expensive, but never in my forty plus years of playing golf at many courses around this country and the world has anyone in our family had items stolen from them while on or near a golf course.

That is not to say that there aren't sticky fingered golfers or toe nudgers or ball kickers and those that plain out lie about their scores.

My POINT was, that before I smeared the sport, I would try to see if I was careless and somehow lost it, or misplaced it. Too many errant clubs and expensive devices have been lost and found.

We look at life with our own experiences coloring our view.

How do you know the OP hasn't already retraced his/her steps to confirm it wasn't a mistake. You are guilty of of what you accuse the OP. You are assuming the OP is posting irresponsibly. Three posts now, inferring the OP did not have his/her item stolen. How about some empathy instead of marginalizing the OP?

I play with a guy who had the exact same thing happen.

And no, he didn't "misplace" it. :oops:

I have since engraved my name and telephone number on my range finder and make sure it isn't laying on my cart or out in the open...and I have also put labels on each club.

While it won't stop someone intent on stealing them, it will hopefully increase the chance that if I actually do misplace them...of getting them back. :shrug:

Good andwer
 

Everybody who has clubs should have their name, address and phone number on them. I always have and always will. Barefoot you are correct in your assessment of the situation. The golfer could have forgot too. Imagine one of us forgetting but I would bet money the club was returned.

Good post
 

Good post. Your golfing experiences mirrors mine. Golfers as a group are the most honest and respectful people I have the privilege to be friends with. Of course, there may be a rare exception or two but as a sport golf is way ahead of whatever is in second place because of its requirement to referee yourself.

The other day we were parking our car in a country club parking lot--noticed a few Yeti mug sized coolers--they will grown legs if the wrong person sees them--don't tempt fate

Of course the fact that you have your name and phone number on your clubs won't prevent them from being stolen.
But it may help if you occasionally leave a club lying around. Which is embarrassing but it happens. :oops:

We had a golfer in our golf shop a couple of weeks ago roll up a Wisconsin towel and walk out with it. I followed him out to the parking lot (I guess it's still the State Trooper in me) by his cart and as he started to pull the cardboard cover off it, I asked him if he forgot to pay for it? He stopped and looked at me, so I asked him again if he forgot to pay for it? I then said that sometimes golfers get to talking to their friends and forget to pay for something. He said he was just coming out to see if it would fit on his cart. I said, okay, but let's go back in and pay for it first. He complied and that was the end of that.

I have no doubt that he was attempting to score a free towel. So before any of you ask what would I have done if he had decided to drive off, he had just checked in for golf so I had his name; I would have given it to my manager for them to handle.

The moral of the story - there are people that LIVE IN THE VILLAGES that do steal.

You and I have debated this before.

OF COURSE there are unethical people here. They are everywhere. I say that this place has one of the lowest crime rates anywhere. I also say that golfers who have been playing for decades and paid a lot to play are probably not as apt to pocket something as some of the shady characters you have had in your radar in your old job of police officer.

Most of the folks in TV who are 65 plus got here without any trouble with the law in their lifetime. That's how we were raised.

NO not impossible to have things stolen. Not at all. But most of us are proud of our clean records.

Use your Driver's License number
 

Anything that is valuable enough to have your name and telephone number engraved on it should also have your Driver's License number (and state of license) engraved on it.

The reason is that police have Pawn Shop details that regularly check the transaction logs in pawn shops. They pay particular attention to items that have Driver's License numbers on them. This is part of a national effort called Operation Identification.

You might decide not to bother with reporting the theft or loss of a single club. The Pawn Shop detail might decide to track you down anyway with the Driver's License number to verify that you actually pawned or sold the item.

Do not use your Social Security number. The police cannot track it down for this purpose.

The Florida Attorney General recommends you do the same with the valuables in your house, particularly the electronics.
Florida Attorney General - How to Prevent a Home Burglary

Most of us is correct; it would be nirvana if it was all of us but some people among us just love the "thrill of the chase" (stealing things from other people); they probably cheat at golf also.

kcrazorbackfan: you are so right. In my occupation I had to deal with dishonest people too ,and a number of them look right at you and say yep I'm lying and I am going to steal from you come and catch me if you can and then they laugh in your face. they never go away until they get what they came for. Its a game of wits to them. If your fortunate enough to get them in a court room its amazing to seem them perform. One would believe that perhaps they have taken drama lessons to prepare for their court room appearances

It does little good for the person who is a victim of any crime to know that the crime rate in their locality is low because since they were victimized its well 100% rate in their minds

It makes me angry when people call me naïve and think I am stupid when I choose to be positive.

Believe me, I am aware of the bad in the world and in people.

My husband and I have tried to buy our home in the safest areas to raise our children. We both traveled a LOT for business in our lives and HAD to be aware of our surroundings and our possessions and of others around us. We choose people to run with who are like minded and law abiding. We have tried to stay OUT of dangerous areas and dangerous situations and AWAY from dangerous people.

That said. There is a person or persons at this time who is stealing golf carts in The Villages. Break ins and thefts occur here or escalate in November and December and continue through the high season. The local Law Enforcement people, all of them, have been VERY successful in catching thieves around here in the past, but do not leave your golf carts with clubs parked in areas that are more likely to be stolen...i.e. in FRONT of Country Clubs...and in retail parking lots. If you see something the slightest bit out of line in your neighborhood, call someone of authority.

But don't be critical of me for my positive attitude ....EVER.

I am just like most of you and have lived through some awful and scary and overwhelming things.

I was raised in a police officers home too. My grandparents raised me and he was a police officer for 37 years. My first reading material was True Detective. HONEST!

I haven't heard of the recommendation of engraving your DL, but I can see where it makes sense in cases where such things like household electronics may end up being pawned.

For things like my range finder or clubs however, it's more likely I will accidentally leave them somewhere and am hoping the name/phone# will result in getting them back.

If these types of items are actually stolen, especially around here, the odds that the thief will just use them instead of pawning them...are probably pretty high. :shrug:

On another note, there is a huge difference between being an 'optimist' and telling someone that knows they had something stolen, that they don't know what they're talking about...and probably just misplaced it.

Well said! Don't forget our phones have cameras, so be alert and snap a few shots.

It's better to be humble than to be proud.

I like to think my glass is half full---not half empty.