Do you pick up a club someone has left behind?

[jsgolfer]

11 hours ago, CCC said:

I played a round in Oak Island NC a couple of weeks ago.

At some point I looked for my 58 wedge for a shot to the green and it was not in my bag. My brand new Titleist Vokey SM6.

I tell my playing partner we have to go back and look for it. We're in a cart. There is a single playing the hole right behind us. He's playing an approach shot from just off the green. I wait for him to hit and then I start to walk around the green looking for my wedge. I tell him that I left a wedge behind behind.

He says, 'Oh yes, I saw it on the last hole. On the green.' Because he did not bother to pick it up, we now have to drive back yet another hole to find my wedge. And there it was. For all to see.

One time on the second hole I found a wedge just off the green. Couldn't miss it. I picked it up. After I hit my shot to the green, I got in my cart and rushed up to the next hole where the father and son had just teed off. I said I found your son's wedge. His son said that it was not his club. So, they saw the club on the green and did not pick it up. I turned the club in at the Pro Shop after I finished the front 9.

Back to the topic.

When I find a club on the course, I always pick it up. Usually, someone always comes back down the cart path looking for their missing club. I'm always glad to say, Yes, I have it for you. Otherwise, at the end of my round I'll turn it into the Pro Shop so the owner can find it there.

It just gets to me that golfers will just leave the club lying there. Ignore it, step around it. I think it helps to pick it up and carry it forward so you can return it to it's owner - when we finally discover it's missing from our bag.

I always pick up a club if I find it and then ask the group ahead if it belongs to them.  If not, I will turn it in when I finish.  I'll do the same for anything I find, head covers, range finders, etc.

However, I've left my club on a hole before and had the person a couple holes behind me said they had seen it but left it.  Very odd, not sure why someone would not pick up an errant club.  Does it make their bag too heavy?

[Club Rat]

Yes and then I'll make the following attempts to return it to the owner.

• Give it to a Marshal if he's around.
• If we catch the group ahead of us, give them a shout.
• Give the club to the staff after the round.
• Call the person if the club has a "Shaft Label" with a contact name.

I do find it interesting that many people will not pick up a club that they find.... 

On the other hand, sometimes a club is left in areas which no one would see it unless
they happen to be in the area.

[Slowcelica]

If I find a club I'll also check with the group ahead of me, if it's not theirs or no-one is around I'll turn it into the clubhouse. I've found all kinds of things, I found a phone one day on the cart path even.

[Kalnoky]

I also pick up clubs I find, and headcovers too. People are very grateful. If I see someone looking for a ball in my fairway and I find it later, I've even handed those over. Some of those are $3-$4 ea.  

When I started playing I was so bad the least I could do was be polite.  

[mcanadiens]

Where I play, you can't count on people to return a club if you leave one behind. I lost a wedge one time and I have a buddy that lost one as well. With that in mind, we always pick up clubs and, if we don't find the owner during the round, we take it to the pro shop.

I hope the $10 that whoever pawned my old PW probably got was worth it.

 

[RussUK]

Here's a question. Lets say you are in a comp and a group a few holes in front leaves a club, you pick it up but there is no course marshall to hand it to so you stick it in your bag in case you catch them up or to hand in at the pro shop.

If this extra club takes you to 15, how would that effect you?

Would it be down to the discretion on the officials to decide your "fate"?

Just wondering if any would stoop that low and punish a good deed.

[Kalnoky]

15 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

 

I hope the $10 that whoever pawned my old PW probably got was worth it.

 

Makes you wonder where all those headcovers on eBay come from. I know people hunt for balls, what's to keep them from keeping a club?

[RussUK]

1 minute ago, Kalnoky said:

Makes you wonder where all those headcovers on eBay come from. I know people hunt for balls, what's to keep them from keeping a club?

Nothing really, but they hopefully have a conscience and the common decency to do the right thing. Maybe a tall order to some people in the world though.

[colin007]

8 minutes ago, Kalnoky said:

Makes you wonder where all those headcovers on eBay come from. I know people hunt for balls, what's to keep them from keeping a club?

i left a mizuno wedge behind once, i went back every week and checked the clubhouse lost n found, wasnt the until the end of the year. some dingus played with my wedge for an entire summer and then returned it at the end of the season.

[NJpatbee]

Like most have said I will pick up the club and if I cannot get it to the owner I turn it in to the pro shop.  My only bad experiences involving people keeping or outright stealing equipment has been at large charitable outings - I have lost two wedges and a few umbrellas, head covers, etc.  Please note that I referred to "people" and not golfers since I know of no true golfer that would act in that manner.

[DaveP043]

1 hour ago, RussUK said:

Here's a question. Lets say you are in a comp and a group a few holes in front leaves a club, you pick it up but there is no course marshall to hand it to so you stick it in your bag in case you catch them up or to hand in at the pro shop.

If this extra club takes you to 15, how would that effect you?

Would it be down to the discretion on the officials to decide your "fate"?

Just wondering if any would stoop that low and punish a good deed.

Decision 4-4a/8 specifically addresses this, the player picking up the club did not breach the rule.  Of course, if he uses the club he picked up, its a different story.

[sjduffers]

I do like everyone here, pick it up and either return it during the round or leave it at the pro shop.

But this reminds me of a recent round, where we found a putter left on the green: who the hell forgets their putter? Maybe he chipped it in, but still, I had never seen a putter left behind... Sure enough, this young man came back looking for his putter on the next hole, and we gave it back to him along with some (gentle) grief.  Fast forward to the next hole and we find a wedge green-side. Like clockwork, the same guy comes back looking for his wedge! We said something to the tune of, "by the end of the round, we could have had a whole new set of clubs for free!"  The guy was laughing it off, with not a worry in the world. Millenials! :)

[MNGopher]

15 hours ago, David in FL said:

If I find a club, I pick it up.  At least half the time I eventually run into the owner working his way back to look for it.  Failing that, I turn it into the clubhouse.

This

[Dave2512]

Yes I know I will return it but can't assume the same for everyone else. I once forgot to grab a few clubs I took to the range while I waited for a friend to show. We were nearly late for our time and that course is kind of weird, range is 50 yards from the cart path that leads to it and not near anything else with the first tee a good 500 yards away, it's actually on the other side of a residential street from the club house and down a path at that. 

I treated my parents to a round at a pricey local course when GolfNow was doing the deep rewards discounts ca. 2012. My step-dad had just bought new hybrids and fairways and left a couple on the range by accident with this silly ancient wedge he loves that's ready to be thrown away, it actually has a bent shaft. When he saw the empty slots in his bag on the first tee he darted back to find a guy walking off the range with his new hybrid and fairway but not the old beater wedge. He stopped the guy and said those were his clubs and the douche replied oh I was turning them in to the clubhouse. He left the wedge behind, still learning on the bag stand where all 3 clubs were.

[jkelley9]

As many others have said, I always pick it up. I know that if it were mine I would want and honest person to pick it up and either drop it off at the clubhouse or if I walk back from it to just hand it back.

I'd rather do that than assume the person is going to go back for it, only to have it picked up by a dishonest person before then who doesn't return it. Especially with a vokey, I'm sure a lot of basshats out there would bag it without returning it. 

[Hacker James]

happened today. Following a group of ladies day gals. I picked up a sand iron that was laying on the previous green. I was not really in  hurry and just hung back. On one hole, they were driving around, back and forth, not sure why. They waved me up, but I was a little aggravated by that time, It would have been better had they just kept moving, but no. As I reached them and was about to hit 2nd shot, one drove close to me, and I said "Sand Iron"?  I was still about 200 yards out. She looked at me strangely and said "I really don't think you can make it that far". They  had no clue that one of their group apparently had left the sand iron behind.

[billchao]

I always pick up a club if I find it on the course. If I don't run into the owner while playing, I'll turn it into the pro shop.

[dave s]

Yep, I always pick up the stray left-behind club.  And yes, someone usually back tracks asks and gets the club back.

Here's one you DON'T want to do.  I left my Bushnell Range Finder on a tee box at one of the RTJ courses in Mobile.  Teed off next hole and reached for it from the fairway.  Uh-oh.  Gone!  Two seconds later I realized I'd left it on the par 3 tee box.

Get in cart, drive half mile back and see a band of 4 college-age guys with three more girls tagging along in carts.  They're all on the way to the par 3 green.  Without saying a word, one of the girls holds up the range finder and says 'I think this is yours?'

Nice kids.  Really appreciated getting that valuable tool back in such a kind way. That could have just as easily not been returned. Thanks to some honest young adults, I got it back.

dave