Finding golf gear on the course...

[AmandaJR]

Alway amazed how much stuff people manage to drop or leave behind. Clubs, headcovers, hats, mittens etc etc and I always pick them up and check with the group in front if possible or hand them in to the pro shop afterwards.

I'm also always amazed how many golfers walk past said articles or, in one case, they stuck a woolly hat on the flag stick (like the owner would be back tracking to that green to find it)?! Is it so much trouble to pick it up and stash it until the end of the round and I'm sure they'd expect such behaviour if they lost something.

So today I'm walking up the 18th and see what looks like a bit of rubbish or plant pot or something which must have been caught in the wind and desposited there. Got closer and though it may be a putter cover but turned out to be a Bushnell Scope in its case. Thought "the owner will be gutted when they next go to use it and it's not clipped on their bag" but then as I walked up the hole was unsure whether to check in the clubhouse for the owner. I'm a trusting person but imagined someone who fancied it claiming it as theirs! So then thought bad of myself for being such a cynic BUT also wanted to be sure the rightful owner got it back. Then thought I could hand it in and mention it in the clubhouse so those with a Bushnell could check if theirs was still in their bag and if not check the shop.

Anyway, in the end I handed it in and didn't mention it although couldn't help but wonder how the owner will feel as they turn their bag upside down looking for it. Still seems the best course of action as in due course they're surely bound to check if it's been handed in ... what would you have done??

It must be a slow Saturday as I'm still debating with myself!!

 

[Robobum]

No dilemma - just hand it in.

 

[AmandaJR]

No dilemma - just hand it in.

Agreed and that wasn't the dilemma - whether to hold it up in the clubhouse and say "is this yours" was the dilemma...

 

[fundy]

Id go into the bar and say Id found a laser on the back 9 and handed it in, if youve lost one then you can go and get it from the pro shop (and tell them what type it is)

 

[Robobum]

Agreed and that wasn't the dilemma - whether to hold it up in the clubhouse and say "is this yours" was the dilemma...

I know, that's why I'd just hand it in.

 

[AmandaJR]

Id go into the bar and say Id found a laser on the back 9 and handed it in, if youve lost one then you can go and get it from the pro shop (and tell them what type it is)

That's what I kind of decided on but left it to the pro shop in the end! If it were me I'd ransack the house trying to find it and then check in the faint hope it had been handed in!

 

[PhilTheFragger]

The problem with not asking around is that if the golfer is a visitor or has traveled a fair distance, it may be a right hassle to drive back and collect it when he discovers it missing later. I once had to do a 60 mile round trip to pick up my shoes I left in a locker room

If its a regular player, then its not an issue

I doubt that anyone would have put their hand up if it wasn't theirs

 

[AmandaJR]

The problem with not asking around is that if the golfer is a visitor or has traveled a fair distance, it may be a right hassle to drive back and collect it when he discovers it missing later. I once had to do a 60 mile round trip to pick up my shoes I left in a locker room

If its a regular player, then its not an issue

I doubt that anyone would have put their hand up if it wasn't theirs

I'm sure I used to be more trusting - I blame HID Wouldn't have been a visitor on a weekend that early plus it was bone dry so can't have been there more than an hour tops.

Edit - actually it's not HID's fault although I do wear the rose tinted specs. Very early on in my golfing life I was out with a committee member/club stalwart who found a newish putter cover and with delight put it on his putter in place of the tatty one he had with a "finders keepers" - I guess that stuck!

 

[Sponge1980]

I found an i-phone on our course once. I handed it in behind the bar and I also phoned the local police station to say I found it and where it was in case anyone came in asking. Turned out to belong to a young boy who had been out with the school. His mum left a thank you card with £20 in it for me behind the bar.

 

[Oddsocks]

Edit - actually it's not HID's fault although I do wear the rose tinted specs. Very early on in my golfing life I was out with a committee member/club stalwart who found a newish putter cover and with delight put it on his putter in place of the tatty one he had with a "finders keepers" - I guess that stuck!

That's stinks especially from someone in authority

 

[rob_golf1]

You've done the decent part, and that was handing it in. Not much else you can do really tbf! Don't worry.

The only other thing you could have done once back in the clubhouse, is to ask around and tell people you've handed something in. If you've lost it, then its up to that person to state what the item is that they've lost once in the pro shop...

 

[Crow]

I'm guilty of leaving stuff on the course, so I always pick things up and check with the group in front or hand them in at the Pro shop.

I thought I'd lost my PW before Christmas, kept checking at the Pro shop and at an away course I'd played, three weeks later it was handed in.
Also lost a new Titleist cap at a nearby course, this wasn't handed in which was galling.

 

[SVB]

Our pro makes small lables with the club logo + your name on for all the clubs he supplies, a nice touch + helps anything lost to be re-united with its owner. I've taken the lead and the 'portable' / loose type stuff I'd be annoyed to lose (laser / game golf / car keys) I've put my name in on with a sharpie marker underneath.

Does feel a bit like going to school but is discrete enough not to be notices unless someone is looking over an item closely

Simon

 

[Green Bay Hacker]

On a bit of a lighter note, I found a pink castle tee today that had grey tape round it and 'Bill' written on it. I was tempted to hand it in as 'Bill' was obviously desperate not to lose it.

 

[AmandaJR]

On a bit of a lighter note, I found a pink castle tee today that had grey tape round it and 'Bill' written on it. I was tempted to hand it in as 'Bill' was obviously desperate not to lose it.

Brilliant! I see them with tape wrapped around them too and wonder how many hours they spend taping their tees and marking their balls for the avoidance of doubt...

Reminds me of my first ever mixed match and the couple we were playing weren't the youngest and he seemed to require his partner to act as his carer! He had 4 castle tees all tied together and spent ages (or she did) looking for them and retrieving them after each tee shot. It was cold and wet and a VERY long round and we were totally fed up. The 14th tee was very elevated and he couldn't locate the tees following his drive. A frantic search ensued with panic levels rising but to no avail. As we walked away with a disconsolate opponent my partner whispered "I saw where they went but no way are we ever looking for the blasted things again today"!

 

[ManinBlack]

If only the two ball playing behind me a few months ago had handed in my rangefinder which I left on the tee of a par three. It was never handed in and I never got it back in spite of the police visiting the couple who were playing behind me. A couple of weeks later I found a Sky Caddy by one of the greens. Asked a few groups on passing fairways " has anyone lost something" and one guy realised it was his. He hadn' t even missed it & may have gone home without it.

 

[Jensen]

I was playing on my own a couple of years ago when I stumbled across a GPS distance measuring device. Picked it up with the intention of handing it in. Few holes later a younger member came up asking if I'd found it, he was delighted when he got it back.
Joined him for a few holes and later came across a golf hat, turned out that was his too which he dropped. He must've really been having a bad day.

 

[chrisd]

I found an iPhone on the tee surround on the 14th at Wentworth a couple of years ago. I tried to hand it in at the clubhouse but the jobsworth security guard said I'd have to give it to him to hand in and wouldn't let me pass.

I told him that I absolutely wouldn't trust him to do so and went to the organisers office in the tented village to give it in - I just hope that the owner got it back!

 

[Bigfoot]

I was playing in a roll up last week with a friend of mine and as we got just short of the 18th, he realised he had lost his pitching wedge. He was sure he had left it by the seventeenth green. He then says, 'I hope John E does not find it ( he was in the group behind ) as he has found it once in each of the previous three weeks'

John E did find it to make it four in four.

 

[Lwatson-jones]

I have often found bits and bobs on the course, but always handed then in to the pro shop.

As one of the Junior Organisers of my club, I do always follow the junior roll up on a Saturday and check as the Juniors tens to forget their wedges, especially around the greens!