finding clubs

[DJYoshi]

we've all done it or know someone who has. The worst is reaching in your bag to get your wedge & it's not there.

I've seen cell phones, clubs, scotty cameron divot tools, and did I mention cell phones (keep the cells on mute and in your bag/cart!).

I've always called the clubhouse to send someone to pick up the club whenever i find one.

[roverT7]

I've left a club before, but had it returned...definately gave me a warm fuzzy. I've also found clubs and turned them in. But what really burned me was the loss of a mizuno visor that I'd worn for about 6 months...almost had it perfectly broken in. Dropped it somewhere on the course and never saw it again:( But on a positive note, I did the same thing with my current Titleist visor about 4 weeks ago. After a few days of checking with the pro shop, I figured it was also a goner, but what do you know I ran into a kid from the club at a local bar, and it turns out someone had turned it in. He recognized me and figured the visor was mine. I bought him and his party a round of patron silver, just to say thanks to good people in general.

[Dub]

exactly, it's not finders keepers losers weepers......turn it in regardless

agreed!!!!

[Divot]

Can you tell me what is morally wrong with keeping the club if no one comes looking for it given you have left your name and number with the pro shop?

And frankly, how would this be different than donating the clubs if no one comes looking for their club? Because donating is "good" it rights the "wrong" of keeping it?

[swingsmooth]

The moral answer is to hand it in, but I would be tempted to keep it in the bag - but then again, it is

It's only someone else's golf club at the end of the day....

[four1seven]

I would definitely turn it in. It's a simple answer really....put yourself i their shoes =]


Saturday I was on the #9 tee box at a course nearby, 335yd. I drove the green, and my father laid up, there was water about 40 yds before the green. We were driving to our ball and a man wanders over from the first tee box and picks my ball up.

We forget my dads ball and drive up to the guy, yelling as we approach "wait wait, that's my ball!". He turns around as we're about 30 yards away, pulls four balls out of his pocket and throws them on the ground and acts like he is practicing chipping (on the number 9 tee?). He then "sees" us and picks his balls up and walks off.

As we approach he turns around and says these are all my balls....and walks off mumbling that he wouldn't take my ball....

why would someone do that?! there was nowhere to lose the ball on that hole!

oh well...Dad gave me a free drop on the fringe and I birdied....but damn it was just such a good drive to ruin like that....

so clubs aren't the only things taken....purposely.

[packerfan1]

As one who has had a driver stolen from his bag...at a country club, no less, hell yes I would turn the club in to the pro shop.

Even if I hadn't been on the other end and had a club stolen, it is just morally right to turn the club in, in hopes of finding the rightful owner. The found club isn't mine, and I should do everything reasonably possible to reunite the club with its owner; reasonable is to turn it into the pro shop or clubhouse, as that is the first place most golfers will try when they have lost a club on course. Maybe leave a note with the clubhouse saying, " if nobody claims this club in 6 months or by the end of the season, is it possible that you could call me and I could have the club, in lieu of my honest attempt to reunite club and owner?" Chances are if nobody claims the club after 6 months or by seasons' end, it is a 'lost club'. Even then, if the clubhouse refuses you still did the right thing.

As for the ludicrous straw man argument about picking up lost balls, well, if there is someone hitting in the adjoining fairway, don't pick the ball up, it might be theirs. If it is indeed a lost golf ball, feel free to keep it, when was the last time you stood even a remote chance of reuniting the lost ball with the golfer who lost it, let alone heard of a golfer calling the clubhouse looking for their lost ball from the rough of the 7th hole?

Simple basic morals and ethics, anyone reasoning that they are allowed to keep the club and not attempt to return it to the clubhouse is just plain wrong. Then again, there is often a alot of dishonesty by a select few people on the golf course.

[Fourputt]

Can you tell me what is morally wrong with keeping the club if no one comes looking for it given you have left your name and number with the pro shop?

I can tell you that at the course where I work, we get as many as 30 or 40 turned in a week sometimes. No way we are going to try and manage a telephone calling list for that much traffic. As far as I'm concerned, if a person is so destitute that he would feel hesitant about just turning in a lost club for fear that someone else (besides the owner) might get it, then he probably shouldn't be spending money on playing golf either.

I was raised that when you find something of value in a situation where there is a chance that it will get back to the rightful owner, then you start that process by turning in to the appropriate person. You don't take it with you and make difficult or maybe impossible for the owner to find it.

[easygrip]

I would definitely turn it in. It's a simple answer really....put yourself i their shoes =]

That Sucks!! Do you mark your balls? If you do/did, you could have demanded to see the ones he was allegedly "chipping". If he refused, you could have reported him to the marshal. I know that many courses do not allow people to just walk on and start practicing. I have friends that live on courses, and they will go out and practice in the evening, but they tell me that its frowned upon.

[Divot]

1. ...No way we are going to try and manage a telephone calling list for that much traffic.

1. Wow...I guess Microsoft Excel has not made it's way into your pro shop yet. It would be a really simply process...Type of club/make/contact name/number...done.

2. Oh, do I loathe myself for the $20 I found and kept when I was 15 because I did not run it down to the police station. Please... You are not destitute if you keep a club as long as you have given the owner a reasonable chance of retrieving it. Frankly, I consider leaving my personal contact information very reasonable. 3. The appropriate person? You just told me your pro-shop will donate clubs if they are not claimed...how is that appropriate? If anything, I can assure the owner the club was stored and kept properly...not tossed in a bin of clubs. When I find something of value, I make a reasonable attempt to return it to it's owner, but I do not consider turning said item over to someone else reasonable in this case...I am simply "handing" off my responsibility. Frankly, I still believe some shops sell these clubs as used after awhile.

[Fourputt]

1. Wow...I guess Microsoft Excel has not made it's way into your pro shop yet. It would be a really simply process...Type of club/make/contact name/number...done.

Like the course staff has nothing better to do than run a lost and found department. You have a very skewed idea of the budget that a typical public golf course runs on. Every year we are forced to scramble just to maintain the status quo and offer a good golfing experience to our customers. Adding in unnecessary and unproductive chores does nothing to further that goal. As a starter, I'm already managing the flow on two courses, including golfer check-in, calling to the tee, recording turn time and finish time, and handling call in reservations for all 3 of our courses for up to a week in advance. And oh yeah, if I'm on the opening crew in the morning, I also have to get the carts out of the garage and lined up before the first tee time. I don't even have time to scratch my butt from the time I clock in, and it's the same for everyone who works there. Last year we were a month and a half into the season before the head pro got to play his first 18 hole round of golf.

Yeah, we might as well add in a non value added task just so people like you can have a chance to pick up a few free clubs and any blame for failure to contact the owner falls on us, not on you. That makes sense...

[StrmStlkr]

Haha, we had this happen 5 times to us on our round on Friday. Needless to say the group ahead of us was drinking a bit (which I have no problem as long as they still keep pace) and the same guy left club after club on the course. He even left his driver on a tee box. Needless to say, as if it was a decision, we caught up with them and gave it back everytime.

[QWKDTSN]

I found a putter leaning up against a tree on the 17th today. I turned it in to the pro shop after the last hole. We had a laugh because it was a well-used old putter and the guy working the shop commented that maybe its owner had put it out to pasture.

[Divot]

Like the course staff has nothing better to do than run a lost and found department. You have a very skewed idea of the budget that a typical public golf course runs on. Every year we are forced to scramble just to maintain the status quo and offer a good golfing experience to our customers. Adding in unnecessary and unproductive chores does nothing to further that goal. As a starter, I'm already managing the flow on two courses, including golfer check-in, calling to the tee, recording turn time and finish time, and handling call in reservations for all 3 of our courses for up to a week in advance. And oh yeah, if I'm on the opening crew in the morning, I also have to get the carts out of the garage and lined up before the first tee time. I don't even have time to scratch my butt from the time I clock in, and it's the same for everyone who works there. Last year we were a month and a half into the season before the head pro got to play his first 18 hole round of golf.

I have some cream that may make things more comfortable for you...

[M2daRizzle]

I found a callaway 4 heavenwood at the driving range and when I tried to turn it in the proshop wouldnt take it. they said that they didnt have a lost and found and just told me to take it. I gave them my name and number to call if anybody came looking, but the call still hasnt happened 3 monthes later. I still havent used it though, I dont even want it really, i knew if i just put it back on the range either somebody would be put in the same situation as me or would just take it. I really do feel bad about taking the club.

I also found a wallet that had a lot of cash in it one time. I didnt even hesitate to trackdown the marshall on the course and turn it in.

[cwcaesar]

Definitely turn it in to the club house. I am not a thief.

[ks8829]

I always turn in the club.

I once lost my first putter while practicing on the putting green waiting to be called on the waiting list. The mistake I made was that I left the club out of my bag and leaning it on my bag. When they called my name to check in and go to the first tee, I lifted my bag and walked towards the club house, only when I got to the first hole did I realize that I dropped my putter on the practice putting green.

I ran back but it was gone and no one turned it in to the pro shop. I don't want anybody else to feel what I felt that day.

I believe that I would turn in the club even if I did not go through that experience, it the only right thing to do, just like counting a stroke on yourself for a penalty that only you knew you did.

golf and the itegrity of the game and its players

[AlCzervik]

I would turn it in because if i lost my club i would want somebody to turn it in too.

But, what if you lose your club then you see it for sale in the proshop?