From the highest highs to the lowest lows

Yesterday was one of those golf days you dream about. After committing to more dedicated practice in 2015, I have spent the better part of the last 4 weeks working on some things @mvmac showed me last Spring. Everything finally "clicked" yesterday. I hit 13 greens, 29 putts and shot the round of my life - a 2 under par 70. For a guy who has been hovering between 8-10 index for years now and wasn't sure whether he would ever break par, I can assure you there is no better golf feeling in the world. I was looking forward to carrying my progress forward into a fantastic 2015.

Then comes this morning... My wife, son and I are returning home from a nice breakfast when we pull up to the front of our house. As we approach my car, I ask my wife "why is my trunk open?" as a sinking feeling rises in the pit of my stomach. I get out and run to my trunk where my fears are confirmed. Someone opened my trunk and stole my golf bag while we were away.

First and foremost, shame on me. We live in a pretty safe neighborhood (or so I thought), so I've been pretty lax about locking my car over the last few years. Whoever stole my clubs didn't have to work very hard to do so, as my front door was unlocked. Fortunately, nothing else was stolen that I am aware of.

Secondly, F*** me. I've spent the last 3 years getting my set exactly where I wanted it. I loved my irons, my driver, my hybrid, my Scotty Cameron putter. I just put a new shaft in my Driver and capped off the set by getting all of my irons and putter re-gripped in December. The total dollar value of my bag probably pales in comparison to some of the guys on this site, but it was my bag. A bag I had finally grown comfortable with after years of tinkering. A bag that had just delivered a 2 under par round from a guy who never dreamed that was possible.

Even if I get some sort of reimbursement from our Homeowners Insurance, the idea of building a new set from scratch holds zero appeal to me right now. I'd trade a $3,000 check right this moment if I could get my old clubs back, even if they aren't worth half of that. If nothing else, hopefully those of you reading this can use me as a cautionary tale. If you leave your clubs in the trunk often, don't be an idiot. Lock your car.....

100% safe neighborhoods are non existent. I have a home (leased out) is a very nice part of the Vegas Valley. Satellite cop shop, and fire dept just down the road. Not me personally, but numerous neighbors have been burglarized over the years. This is why I prefer to live out in the desert. Just as comfortable, but much more safer.

I am of the belief that the safest neighborhoods in any area are the lower income areas. Seems that's where most of the bad guys live, and up scale neighborhoods are where they apply their illegal trade.

Why we have never been invaded is probably because of my wife's hobby. She raises a very large breed of  American Bull Dogs. We have always had two or three running around watching out for us.

Sorry for your equipment loss. Hopefully you have your swing/clubs specs written down some where, which will be a great help in your replacement process.

I agree with Patch's opening statement, there are no safe places to live, unless you live in a security gated city, like Rolling Hills here in so cali.

Sucks for you Big C, will keep an eye out of CL for your clubs, in L.A. and surrounding cities, hope you get em back, and they catch the scumbags who stole them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big C

Yesterday was one of those golf days you dream about. After committing to more dedicated practice in 2015, I have spent the better part of the last 4 weeks working on some things @mvmac showed me last Spring. Everything finally "clicked" yesterday. I hit 13 greens, 29 putts and shot the round of my life - a 2 under par 70. For a guy who has been hovering between 8-10 index for years now and wasn't sure whether he would ever break par, I can assure you there is no better golf feeling in the world. I was looking forward to carrying my progress forward into a fantastic 2015.

Then comes this morning... My wife, son and I are returning home from a nice breakfast when we pull up to the front of our house. As we approach my car, I ask my wife "why is my trunk open?" as a sinking feeling rises in the pit of my stomach. I get out and run to my trunk where my fears are confirmed. Someone opened my trunk and stole my golf bag while we were away.

First and foremost, shame on me. We live in a pretty safe neighborhood (or so I thought), so I've been pretty lax about locking my car over the last few years. Whoever stole my clubs didn't have to work very hard to do so, as my front door was unlocked. Fortunately, nothing else was stolen that I am aware of.

Secondly, F*** me. I've spent the last 3 years getting my set exactly where I wanted it. I loved my irons, my driver, my hybrid, my Scotty Cameron putter. I just put a new shaft in my Driver and capped off the set by getting all of my irons and putter re-gripped in December. The total dollar value of my bag probably pales in comparison to some of the guys on this site, but it was my bag. A bag I had finally grown comfortable with after years of tinkering. A bag that had just delivered a 2 under par round from a guy who never dreamed that was possible.

Even if I get some sort of reimbursement from our Homeowners Insurance, the idea of building a new set from scratch holds zero appeal to me right now. I'd trade a $3,000 check right this moment if I could get my old clubs back, even if they aren't worth half of that. If nothing else, hopefully those of you reading this can use me as a cautionary tale. If you leave your clubs in the trunk often, don't be an idiot. Lock your car.....

Sucks a whole lot.  Same thing happened to a friend of mine about a year ago.  he was bummed at the time but has since used it as an opportunity to revamp his set.  Best of luck to you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patch

100% safe neighborhoods are non existent. I have a home (leased out) is a very nice part of the Vegas Valley. Satellite cop shop, and fire dept just down the road. Not me personally, but numerous neighbors have been burglarized over the years. This is why I prefer to live out in the desert. Just as comfortable, but much more safer.

I am of the belief that the safest neighborhoods in any area are the lower income areas. Seems that's where most of the bad guys live, and up scale neighborhoods are where they apply their illegal trade.

Why we have never been invaded is probably because of my wife's hobby. She raises a very large breed of  American Bull Dogs. We have always had two or three running around watching out for us.

Sorry for your equipment loss. Hopefully you have your swing/clubs specs written down some where, which will be a great help in your replacement process.

going to go ahead and disagree with you on this one.  i work in several low income areas in several different cities on the east coast and can tell you that they are anything but safe.

Congrats on the two under. Condolences on the theft.

I was going to leave my clubs in the trunk. My neighbor walked up and said, "You sure you want to take that chance?" And I live in a nice neighborhood. I take them in the house.

I know just how you feel. I had a very similar experience a few years back. I was living in an apartment at the time and went down stairs to find my car window smashed in with my clubs and XM radio missing. I had renters insurance, and they covered everything for me. It was actually a pretty smooth process for me, I hope that it goes as smooth for you.

Congrats on the round though. That must be a great feeling; I hope to get there one day!

What kind of person would steal someone's clubs?

Really bad luck, but I have faith that you can find some new clubs and shoot under par again. After all it was you who shot under par, not your clubs.

Congrats on the score, sorry to hear about the robbery.  It appears there are no safe neighborhoods left in America, I too would have thought the area I live in was safe, but when my kids were at home, both of them had to learn the hard way, that you always have to lock your car.  Both of them had money and CD's stolen and every one of our neighbors have commented that if they forgot to lock a car and had it parked outside, something got stolen from them.

It's a said day when this is what we have come to expect in America, no one can be trusted, no one is honest.  I grew up not even owning a key to my parents house, we never locked the house and we left the car keys in the car.

My brother had a similar incident two summers ago, he had left his clubs in the trunk overnight, which he never does.  In the morning, clubs were gone, he was sure he locked his car, but might have hit the unlock by mistake at some point.  After we did an inventory of what was in his bag, his total came to over $5000.  Of course, this is replacing all that was stolen at MSRP, not the price that he actually paid for the items.

Just to reassure you that you're not a complete idiot - or at least not alone in your idiocy ;) - I've had my car "broken into" in my driveway as well.  And the quotes are there for the same reason - I forgot to lock it. Luckily there were no golf clubs in there though - they just stole my ipod-to-radio adaptor and my freaking owners manual.

Seriously ... who steals a car owners manual??

Hopefully, you'll get some decent help from Homeowners insurance, and I'll bet that if you do, you'll change your mind and have some fun putting together a new set.

Great round! The odds of an 8 handicap shooting under par are low, so could be the round of a lifetime. Or you are trending quickly lower!

They left the trunk open? And they knew you had left for breakfast? Hate to say it, but I bet it was one of your near neighbors, within a block at most either way, since they would see you putting clubs into and out of your car before, and knew that you had left. Moreso, I bet it is one of your teenage neighbors, one that is always getting into trouble perhaps? I think you can narrow it down from there

Maybe your clubs are already gone and sold, maybe not. But keep your eyes peeled around the close neighborhood.

Congrats on the round!!!

Sorry to hear about the loss though.

Sorry to hear about the theft, it sucks. But then again, if you can remember all the specs of your clubs, you can re-create them again. We're not talking about building a rocket ship, they're golf clubs. Get the same clubs, same lie, same grips, and there you go. But yeah, the getting robbed thing is horrible. Sometimes I wish we had the same laws as other countries when you get caught stealing. Theft would be down 99% if we did.

Keep an eye out on Craigslist for your clubs. Call the cops if you see them.

Thanks all for the feedback. Unfortunately, the deductible on my Homeowners Policy is $2,000, which is essentially equivalent to the replacement cost of my set. Looks like I'm gonna have to eat it, but perhaps I can turn it into a positive. I had been thinking about getting fitted for custom clubs for a couple years, but never had a reason to pull the trigger. Maybe this will be the kick in the pants I need to do so.

Then again, if anyone has a set of Cleveland CG7 Black Pearl Irons that they're looking to part with, I'm willing to listen!

That sounds like just material cost. Fitting and finding a suitable replacement can add up to a lot more. Insurance should cover those costs to help out a bit.

Sorry for you loss, Big C.

I went to eBay and found several sets of CG7 Black Pearls, but here was the only new set....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cleveland-CG7-Tour-Irons-4-PW-Black-Pearl-Iron-Set-N-S-Pro-950GH-Stiff-Steel-NEW-/400772686699?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash;=item5d4fe9e36b