I thought it was christmas!

[Fozcycle]

Every now and then, I'll grab a bag of "finders" from my garage and hit them at the range......thereby replacing anything i find in the range bucket.

[Shorty]

So ........you're walking out of WalMart (or wherever "you people" shop) and you're heading for your 1997 Hyundai.
Nearby is a 2010 Bentley. Noone is around. Do you say to yourself. "I found a Bentley"? Of course you don't.
A driving range covered in golf balls is the same as a car park full of cars.
It's a not a smorgasbord where you just help yourself.
If that Penta ball did not have the owner's phone number clearly marked on it, it is the finder's responsibility to take reasonable steps to locate the owner after the professional has confirmed that it is not a range ball.
This means asking around the clubhouse and in the carpark. Eventually, you lodge it at the nearest police station and place an ad in the local paper's Lost & Found.
Guess what guys? It's called being CIVILISED.
And it's the same with tees guys. If you find one you leave it the hell alone. The guy who lost it is bound to come back later that evening when he remembers he's left one out on the course.

[B-Con]

I love rationalization of questionable behavior. If the ball was found in a rented bucket of balls at a range, then one thing is certain, it wasn't yours to take.

You're can't just dismiss the argument as "rationalization". You are free to not pick up such balls, but that doesn't mean you can condem someone who does. A lost ball that happens to have been lost on a driving range is not necessarily the property of the course. If they pick up the ball and it doesn't match all the rest of their balls and they haven't claimed it, you're assuming they even want it. If a course has a couple thousand of a specific brand, specifically marked ball, they may not be looking to add a random hodge-podge assortment of other balls to it.

But I would view taking such a ball as weeding out the ones that don't belong. You're picking up someone else's lost ball that got jumbled up with the course's range balls. Replacing the ball with another is always a good idea. And, again, if the ball has range markings on it, they've claimed it and it's not open for picking.

More rationalization...yet we're appalled when someone bags the club you left behind and didn't notice for 4 or 5 holes. While the crime is greater, the rationalization process is the same. No one came back for it, and it doesn't belong to the course....must be mine.

That comparison doesn't make sense.

A golf ball has little value (most golfers play with what, $2 balls?), is indistinguishable from many others of it's kind, easily replacable, and a product that is expected to be turned over. A lost golf ball is expected to not be returned to the owner, and no owner expects to have their ball returned to them. If you find a penny on the ground, do you turn it into lost and found? Of course not. We all lose golf balls, and it is commonly accepted that we will not get them back. Picking up a lost ball on a course (a ball that is clearly lost, obviously) is accepted behavior by everyone, regardless of whether they actually do it. However, a golf club is expensive, not easily repacable, easily identifyable, and a product that is not expected to be turned over. If you lose a golf club, you have a right to expect someone to be honest and return it to you because temporary lack of control over a valuable is not the same thing as relinquishing it. If conditions where different, maybe it would be reasonable to return someone's ball to them, but it's not. Conversely, it is reasonable to return someone's club.

[pittpanther]

If that Penta ball did not have the owner's phone number clearly marked on it, it is the finder's responsibility to take reasonable steps to locate the owner after the professional has confirmed that it is not a range ball.

Isn't the owner of the course/range at fault also, for not sorting through their balls and separating range balls from lost balls? They should not have the right to take my ball and add it to the pile of range balls, just because I mishit my drive...

LOL!

[pittpanther]

Frankly, I have a bigger problem with the guy I saw a few months ago. He was your typical slicer - he either hit the ball 10 feet in the air and dead left or he started the ball pretty straight and sliced the bejeezus out of the ball 40 yards right... right over the netting that separates the right side of the range from some trees and wetlands from which ball recovery is near impossible.

Whay are you blaming the hacker? It's the courses fault for not having their netting high enough! If he really hit that many over the net, then the net is substandard.

LOL!

[James_Black]

you guys are funny.

I guess looking in the trees for golf balls is a crime nowadays, bad karma to take a golf ball that went OB......

Whay are you blaming the hacker? It's the courses fault for not having their netting high enough! If he really hit that many over the net, then the net is substandard.

my range doesn't have a net and it borders the tenth hole.

[clg82]

I would have no problem sticking that Penta in my bag. In fact, I wouldn't have a problem telling the owner/operator of the range that I had done so. It's not the range's property anymore than the unbroken tees lying around are range property. That ball could have been accidentally hit, or a stray ball from the course.

That is one of the problems with this sport too many snobby people. It wasn't the ranges ball to begin with som technically if the tractor picks it up isn't he stealing it? It was just one golf ball, it wasn't a dozen, it wasn't a driver.....get over it.

[clg82]

The analogy would work even better if you planned on eating the TM Penta. BTW - if you use a ketchup that isn't even from the same "restaurant" you're risking your life.

That's what YOU sounded like when you first posted about him stealing....rediculous if you ask me...

[sean_miller]

I sounded like ketchup? "Rediculous" indeed!

I was stating my opinion of what I'd do - throw an old dud ball into the bucket to replace the good one. You guys can make this as serious an issue as you want to. You can take as many range balls as you want. I don't really give a flying F what you or the OP would do.

[Jell0b0y]

my range doesn't have a net and it borders the tenth hole.

One of the local courses here is the same. The range is between the 9th and 10th fairways and its heatbreaking when you see a ball in the middle of the fairway after you think you have a decent drive and when get to it theres a pretty red stripe around it. then i have to go on a easter egghunt through the range balls to find mine.

[alo1984]

So ........you're walking out of WalMart (or wherever "you people" shop) and you're heading for your 1997 Hyundai.

Soooo....I'm not sure if you are serious here. There is absolutely no comparison to the OP picking up a Penta at a range and a Bentley. Do you really expect someone to speak to a club pro about the ball, then talk to the police, and then place a lost and found ad in the paper? You would be laughed at and ridiculed every step of the way. That is a complete waste of time and resources for a $3-$4 item.

And I know that you can't be serious about returning to find a lost tee. LOL I don't even know why I'm responding to this except that I find it so utterly absurd that I need to get it off my chest.

[Koth]

I was stating my opinion of what I'd do - throw an old dud ball into the bucket to replace the good one. You guys can make this as serious an issue as you want to. You can take as many range balls as you want. I don't really give a flying F what you or the OP would do.

Sorry, but your first two posts in this thread have nothing to do with you stating your opinion.

What kind of ball did you slip into the bucket to take its place?

That's not an opinion of what you would do. That's you coming off as being high and mighty.

At worst, it's theft (as indicated by signage all over the place at most ranges) and at best you're tempting karma which means you're either gonna miss an important putt with that Penta or spray it back onto the range.

That's not you opinion of what you would do either. That's you projecting your beliefs onto another person.

If you just want to state your opinion of what you would do, it would have looked something like this: "I would have taken the Penta, but I also would have replaced it with a ball so I wouldn't feel like I was cheating the driving range." I think your first two posts are what caused everyone else to start taking this seriously as opposed to just shrugging it off and saying "to each his own".

[clg82]

Sorry, but your first two posts in this thread have nothing to do with you stating your opinion.

Best post in this thread so far.

[alo1984]

Best post in this thread so far.

Gisele Bundchen and a Ferrari - Now this is the best post so far. I win.

[sean_miller]

Sorry, but your first two posts in this thread have nothing to do with you stating your opinion.

I think you're absolutely right. It feels good know that my sarcastic post (the harsh punishment he was likely to receive was a three putt or peeling that ball back onto the range) can get people up in arms.

I'd like to get further into this, but I have to help Shorty return a carton of broken tees to their rightful owners.

[Koth]

You might want to work on your sarcasm if everyone else takes it as truth.

So ........you're walking out of WalMart (or wherever "you people" shop) and you're heading for your 1997 Hyundai.

Now THAT'S some

fine sarcasm.

[alo1984]

I'd like to get further into this, but I have to help Shorty return a carton of broken tees to their rightful owners.

That will be sure to get you some good Karma points!

[newtogolf]

Last post I'll make in this thread. It's not about being high and mighty, it's about basic ethics. The range rents buckets of balls, if you take a ball out and keep it, it's stealing. When I go bowling I use "house balls" which are sometimes marked house balls and other times just regular balls donated or left behind by patrons. Using the same analogy I should feel free to take any ball that's not marked as a house ball home with me if I want to.

Understand, I'm not saying this is the crime of the century, nor even a big deal, but it is theft. Just man up and say I stole a ball from a range, and be done with it rather than rationalize it. I'm not so concerned about the taking of the ball as I am the manner in which it's been rationalized by people who are supposed to follow the rules of golf when they keep score.