Taking good balls from range buckets

[billchao]

FFS, this is one of the most absurd threads I've ever read. :loco: [quote name="Duff McGee" url="/t/84262/taking-good-balls-from-range-buckets/270#post_1196472"]An abandoned ball that the course finds is technically and legally the course's ball now.[/quote]I ain't no fancy law man or nuthin' but even with only two semesters of business law I know this.

[gregsandiego]

The found balls by the range were paid for by someone else, so if you want to take them go for it.  The course isn't losing any money.  It's not a range ball just because the picker grabber it.

Yeah some golfer may have paid originally. But once it is lost, and the club doing regular maintenance retrieves it,  who owns it?

[Mr. Desmond]

FFS, this is one of the most absurd threads I've ever read.

I ain't no fancy law man or nuthin' but even with only two semesters of business law I know this.

You apparently missed your calling, as did I.

[14ledo81]

I'll just take the non-range balls that I find in the bucket and hit them over the fence, then go pick them up and take them home. There, all my bases covered.

Perfect...

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by colin007

I'll just take the non-range balls that I find in the bucket and hit them over the fence, then go pick them up and take them home. There, all my bases covered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 14ledo81

Perfect...

No ... the intent was to take the balls, so you are still stuck in golf honor hell.

[Sante TwoGloves]

I don't disagree. Taking a ball lost on the range is technically stealing. Fine. The difference of opinion lies with the key words. I submit that it is "technically" whereas many are giving the impression that it's "stealing." If my dog poops in your flowerbeds and I take a few wood chips along with his poop when I pick it up, that's "technically" stealing as well, no?

So you're the one. Bring back my chips [quote name="inthehole" url="/t/84262/taking-good-balls-from-range-buckets/288#post_1196496"] uh no ... I just cant buy into that line of reasoning.   Makes no sense at all to me.    Please explain how adding a few worn out, non-course worthy balls (assuming they are not damaged & would not foul up ball retriever equipment, but would surely play better than a limited flight range ball) to a range's total ball count is hurting a range and could be in any reasonable way shape or form be considered stealing - really, you're so far over the top with that comment I really can't believe anybody said that. [/quote] I explained it before. I have been to many different ranges this year and they as you know are all different. One range I go to is machine operated. Balls are collected and dumped into buckets and into the machine. There is no sorting of the balls. As a result the bucks are about 50/50 range balls and non range balls. Does anyone seriously think this owner cares whether you hit your balls into his range? Do you think he cares if you take some non range balls you like? I go to another range where 100 percent of the balls are all marked the same, all range balls bought by the owner. Does anyone seriously think this owner cares if you hit your balls into his range? do you think he cares if you take some non range balls you like? The answer is you don't know unless it's posted or you ask. Without permission whether you are giving or taking you are stealing from the range.stealing the manpower it takes to sort out the second owners balls for example so he can continue to provide a consistent product to his customers. Ones perhaps that want unity in their balls, the balls they know are x amount shorter than the balls they game. Hurting his bottomline and we all grumble about the extra dollar they put on a large bucket this year. Of course you know why it's stealing if you take so some think. Perhaps you are helping owner number 2 by helping to weed out these scuffed up marked balls that you found on the course. Hey another ball to hit at the range. Another ball I don't have to rent? Yeah for me. Screw the range owners both ways if you are doing something they don't want to see at their range. Give or take, ask first. Otherwise you are stealing.

[gregsandiego]

FFS, this is one of the most absurd threads I've ever read.

I ain't no fancy law man or nuthin' but even with only two semesters of business law I know this.

It's actually a good thread. I think there is just enough ambiguity to make the question interesting.The items are small, the ownership transferred. But yes when you think about it the answer is obvious.

[billchao]

I think there is just enough ambiguity to make the question interesting.

Not really, IMO. If you consider the balls to be abandoned property, the range took ownership of it when they picked it up. You found it in their bucket, didn't you?

[gregsandiego]

Not really, IMO. If you consider the balls to be abandoned property, the range took ownership of it when they picked it up. You found it in their bucket, didn't you?

Agreed!

My point was that when you present the problem to a crowd, like as in this forum, you get some variation in the answer.

[dkolo]

It's actually a good thread. I think there is just enough ambiguity to make the question interesting.The items are small, the ownership transferred. But yes when you think about it the answer is obvious.

The only ambiguity is whether, legally speaking, the ball is lost, misplaced, or abandoned, but like I said way earlier in the thread, in the case of the course recovering the balls themselves, it renders that ambiguity moot.

[Duff McGee]

The only ambiguity is whether, legally speaking, the ball is lost, misplaced, or abandoned, but like I said way earlier in the thread, in the case of the course recovering the balls themselves, it renders that ambiguity moot.

Ok well if the course snatched the ball while someone is still looking for it then it would be the course actually stealing (converting) it but how often would that ever happen?

[dkolo]

Ok well if the course snatched the ball while someone is still looking for it then it would be the course actually stealing (converting) it but how often would that ever happen?

Right, I mentioned earlier that the only way you'd be on conceivably sound footing to remove a ball from the bucket was if you could tell the ball was yours. But that's getting so lost on the fringes of the analysis that it's ridiculous.

[Lihu]

Well, I left 4 abandoned balls on the course today and traded one ball (that I already took stroke and penalty) with a lady across the Barranca. I told her I had an e6 and her friend already got it, but her Titlist 4 Pro-V1 was on my side. She figured it was an even trade. I got the Titlist and she got the e6.

[Duff McGee]

Right, I mentioned earlier that the only way you'd be on conceivably sound footing to remove a ball from the bucket was if you could tell the ball was yours. But that's getting so lost on the fringes of the analysis that it's ridiculous.

Exactly. And even then, legally speaking, if the golfer abandoned the ball then he/she would still be stealing the ball they used to own lol.

[mvmac]

Not really, IMO. If you consider the balls to be abandoned property, the range took ownership of it when they picked it up. You found it in their bucket, didn't you?

Agree with this, good post.

[turtleback]

First off, I would think that you'd be alone or at least in the vast minority of people who think its stealing to collect a ball in the woods (I'm only talking about one that is clearly not possibly in play still) or a tee on the telex.  Wouldn't you agree?

I don't claim ownership of a found ball.  I may use it while in possession but I'm never saying "its mine."

The only problem with the first quoted statement is I never said that.  I said that I do not pick them up.  YOU are the one trying to use one situation to justify another.  And inconsistently so.  And using a sophistry like splitting hairs between ownership and possession doesn't change that.

[Golfingdad]

The only problem with the first quoted statement is I never said that.  I said that I do not pick them up.

I'm not following you here but it doesn't really matter anyway.  Topics dead.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by turtleback

The only problem with the first quoted statement is I never said that.  I said that I do not pick them up.

I'm not following you here but it doesn't really matter anyway.  Topics dead.

So true, but we seem to always get another 50 posts out of any thread. Even ones that sat idle for 10 years.