Would You?

[steve8820]

Honestly, no.

Karma my friend....... it could be why you are still a 20+ Hcp. All joking aside, with the equipment in your bag I can see why you try to pick up some freebies...........

[murphmjm]

Karma my friend....... it could be why you are still a 20+ Hcp. All joking aside, with the equipment in your bag I can see why you try to pick up some freebies...........

if it wasn't a golf club say a $10 bill with no idetifying marks as to ownership would you run around asking folks if they lost $10?

If it had contact information I would definitely contact them and let them know I've found it and I'll usually call the pro shop and ask if anyone has called asking about it.

I think the moral of the post is to put your contact information on your club and then you'll get it back but without it there is no way to tell true ownership. The pro-shop will just end up selling it for a profit after nobdoy claims it anyways, so perhaps

his viewpoint is exactly that, why should the pro-shop profit when the owner could not be found. Do you truly depsise the pro-shop for selling all the "found" clubs like you do this poster, seems the same to me, one is theft the other is theft for monetary profit according to the posts I've read. He wont get the club back if nobody claims it at the pro shop, yet the pro-shop will benifit not the person who found the lost club. So the pro shop is just as evil, no?

[senorchipotle]

if it wasn't a golf club say a $10 bill with no idetifying marks as to ownership would you run around asking folks if they lost $10?

all the pro shops i know of donate them to the first tee, and other such non-profits. and even if they do sell them, it gives the person who lost the club ample time to reclaim it.

[pxc]

if it wasn't a golf club say a $10 bill with no idetifying marks as to ownership would you run around asking folks if they lost $10?

You can't describe a $10 bill. You can describe a lost sand wedge. "A 2006 56* Vokey with a scratch on the toe, rifle shaft, and blue Golf Pride grip". And there are lots of people in this very thread who said they've called a pro shop and were told their club had been turned it. So your assumption that someone will profit and it might as well be you because "the pro shop will just sell it anyway" is not true. It sounds like you're just trying to justify your actions (or potential actions if you find yourself in that situation) to yourself.

[FHopper]

In every instance I've been involved in the group in front of me has come and asked me if I found their lost club or I will ask them.

People, he is 16, he has never bought anything for himself, what difference does a 16 year old see if manna comes from dad or from the bunker. He will get eventually. Remember, at 16 you are the only victim in the world.

[sean_miller]

People, he is 16, he has never bought anything for himself, what difference does a 16 year old see if manna comes from dad or from the bunker. He will get eventually. Remember, at 16 you are the only victim in the world.

Most of us knew that theft was wrong at a much younger age than 16. There's just a difference of opinion on whether or not this is theft - a difference of opinion between the 1.3% of people who voted "no" and the 98.7% of people who voted "yes".

Maybe he doesn't believe removing a club lost and found on golf course property, without permission, is theft (regardless of whether the original owner can be found). The example of $10 is a tricky one - it likely has no sentimental value, and at best is worth $10. If somebody lost a $100 bill, I'd report it. That could be somebodies groceries for the week - or worse - the money they need to pay off their golf bets.

[Elvisliveson]

I will always turn lost items into the clubhouse unless of course the owner finds me first. I always remember how distressed I was when I lost the PW to my Arnold Palmer Standard set and no one turned it in. I stopped a golfing relationship with a guy who found a club and refused to turn it in, despite my urging. Never played with him again.

[murphmjm]

You can't describe a $10 bill. You can describe a lost sand wedge. "A 2006 56* Vokey with a scratch on the toe, rifle shaft, and blue Golf Pride grip". And there are lots of people in this very thread who said they've called a pro shop and were told their club had been turned it. So your assumption that someone will profit and it might as well be you because "the pro shop will just sell it anyway" is not true. It sounds like you're just trying to justify your actions (or potential actions if you find yourself in that situation) to yourself.

They aren't my actions

[Leftygolfer]

Of course. I have been tempted to not too but I had to turn it in. I had left two clubs on the course, one turned in, one not. Really, who wants a LH cleveland TA 4 PW? It is worth maybe 15 dollars.

[Cussin hacker]

Yes I would!!! I've had 3 or 4 of my clubs turned in over the years and have turned in about the same. Anyone that would keep your club is the same guy that cheats all of the time. NO CLASS!

[sean_miller]

Yes I would!!! I've had 3 or 4 of my clubs turned in over the years and have turned in about the same.

I wonder how many found clubs Tiger has in the garage?

[ET-Taylor]

I wonder how many found clubs Tiger has in the garage?

I think it is 14 enough to make a whole set

[Shorty]

Honestly, no.

The correct procedure is to hand it to the pro shop. The person who lost it would expect it to be there - at least, hope it would be there.

You are living proof of the belief that golf reveals character. I know you don't like people writing it, but you have, sadly, revealed yourself as a dishonest person. You say you "usually" call the pro shop. Except when it's a club you'd prefer to keep? Shame on you.

[ET-Taylor]

The correct procedure is to hand it to the pro shop. The person who lost it would expect it to be there - at least, hope it would be there.

He can be the only one on this forum that keeps clubs at least he has the guts to admit

[Shorty]

He can be the only one on this forum that keeps clubs at least he has the guts to admit

It takes "guts" to admit that you're a thief?

[Cussin hacker]

I wonder how many found clubs Tiger has in the garage?

From the look of his pick ups it would be cheap clubs the owner would be glad to be rid of anyway. lol

[RCF]

Honestly, no.

Considering you would return it if you had contact information or the club house reported a missing when you made an inquiry, I think calling you a theif is a bit too harsh. But you did say you "usually" call the club house and I think you should always call the club house. Kindly note that the standards of ethics are higher on the golf course than off.

Once you call the club house and declare you have the club you are in the clear. I'm assuming you do not want to give it to the clubhouse because if no one asks for it, then it would be given to or taken by someone who had less right to it than you. I don't think comparing it to finding money is a good analogy, though. I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not up on lost & found issues, but I think if you found an abandoned boat on the water, you legally own it. That may be true with finding finding a case of money and reporting it to the police (if no one claimed it after a certain period of time. Getting back to the golf course, the next time you find a club, ask them if you can keep it if no one claims it. At the very least, please report to the club house exactly what you found every time you find a club. One anecdote and I'll get off the stump: At my regular bank's ATM I tried to withdraw $60 and got 6 hundred $ bills instead of 6 20 $ bills. Knowing a teller responsible for the ATM would be responsible for the mistake, I went inside and asked to see the manager who was not there at the time. So I asked for the head teller and the gal said she was the head teller. I told her what happened and that in return for the $600 I wanted my $60 (my account was charged for the $60) and a receipt showing I had returned the $600. For all I knew, I was probably taped while using the ATM. That head teller who was not very friendly to begin with, did not even have the where with all to say "thank you." I was a regular at that bank. That was five years ago and I'm still pissed. Not because I returned the money, (I'd do it again) but because I did not write a letter to the bank complaining about the head teller's attitude and to request a simple "thank you." Sorry for the rant guys.

[zeg]

Considering you would return it if you had contact information or the club house reported a missing when you made an inquiry, I think calling you a theif is a bit too harsh. But you did say you "usually" call the club house and I think you should always call the club house. Kindly note that the standards of ethics are higher on the golf course than off.

Agreed, playing finders keepers is sketchy, but not the same as actively stealing an item. If you can't see this, wake up---the world is not black and white. I disagree that ethics on the course are any different than anywhere else, though.

Once you call the club house and declare you have the club you are in the clear. I'm assuming you do not want to give it to the clubhouse because if no one asks for it, then it would be given to or taken by someone who had less right to it than you.

I'm not a lawyer either, but my slightly-sorta-kinda researched opinion is that you do have a duty to attempt to find the rightful owner. Generally an item is not yours by virtue of your finding it; I know in the case of cash, this is because the assumption is that no one would intentionally abandon cash. For a club in playable condition left where the obvious conclusion is that it was inadvertently dropped, you can't assume it was intentionally abandoned, so you do need to make an effort to notify its owner. In these cases, after some reasonable period of time for the owner to claim it, ownership then becomes the finder's. I'm not sure, legally, how this would work for a club, but for cash the mechanism is that you must report it and sign the found cash over to the police who will then (in principle) return it to you if no one comes looking for it. If you don't go through this process, then you are on the hook to return the money.

That's why I don't think it's fair to say you MUST turn it in at the pro shop. I'd do it because it's the easiest, but there are other reasonable actions to take. If the pro shop is "too busy" (!?) to find a way to let you leave contact info and a club description, you could make and post a note or something. IMO you DO have an ethical duty to attempt to return it, but you don't have any duty to donate it to someone else if the original owner can't be found. I probably would, but no one but the original owner has any actual claim to it other than the finder.