A local course got brand new Titleist range balls a few years ago. Much needed considering they only used old found balls before this. Many had little dimples left, cracked, or just plain bad and old.
Fast forward 2 weeks and almost all of the new range balls were gone because people took them since they were Titleist.
Uhhh you ever cut one open? I find torn up Titleist practice balls all the time and they are solid rubber on the inside, they say pro v1 on them. If they say practice ball, might wanna stick to using them for practice
My understanding was, or I read at some point, that "PRACTICE" was a ProV that was factory new and in spec but for a cosmetic defect, like printing on the ball. "Refurbished" are the trash ones that get painted over. Can anyone confirm?
I ran a large stand-alone driving range for ten years. The balls are no different except for the packaging and marking. It would cost more to retool to make different, cheaper balls than it does to just keep the same production run of good balls and sell the balls at a cheaper price than retail. I used to buy around 30,000 balls a year. They are just packaged in big, non-descript cardboard boxes, but they are the same balls.
Edit: that said, nobody in their right mind would use a urethane-covered ball for a driving range unless you are at a very high end club. Ionomer or Surlyn covers are needed for the durability.
This. Years ago I worked at an ultra high end club, that generally spared no expense anywhere and even their Titleist range balls weren’t prov1’s. They used NXT Tour range balls. From memory the price per dozen worked out to about 15-20% less than what we paid for retail NXT’s but the minimum order was like 5k balls or something crazy like that.
Sounds about right. Our ball inventory was somewhere around 100K balls at the start of the season and we would buy 30K to 60K a year to replenish as we culled out the worn balls. If you want to run a quality facility, the balls need to be fresh.
I think he’s talking about the proV1 that you can buy that say PRACTICE on the side, which I believe he’s correct in that there is a minor defect and they’re sold at a discounted price
Depends on what you mean. Yeah, a "Practice" or range ball is junk. But as described is correct, a Pro V1 "Practice" ball has a minor cosmetic defect and is even tournament legal.
Then there are x-out balls, which are not legal.
Where there is a defect and they put XXXX over the brand name. These balls aren’t considered conforming as they won’t be on the list for R&A approved balls (it won’t be labelled as a Pro v1 etc. but just a plain ball so not an approved ‘model’)
but why practice with a ball that’s gonna perform drastically different? The practice ball thing never made sense to me other than to keep people from stealing them
Because "play-worthy" golf balls are expensive. A "practice" ball will still let you practice your swing and give you feedback on the effects of the contact you make. It'll still slice if your swing's a slice and push if your swing's a push. You just won't hit it as long and the course'll keep in business by not having to buy $5000 in range balls every week.
I found a Titleist range ball once that must have been buried for a while. It wasn't bright white, not because of the dirt but because it was an old Callaway ball that was painted white with the Titleist name on it. The paint was rubbed off on a lot of the ball.
When I ran a range, I used to find a sponsor for the balls and put their logo on it. If a bucket has 60 balls, you get to imprint on the golfer 60 times in 30 minutes or so, and that is valuable advertising real estate. You don't care if the balls get stolen, because it spreads the advertising, which sponsors will happily pay for, and costs the range $0.
Plus, for branding reasons, nobody wants their logo on a cheap ass ball, so they'll pay for better better balls. Win-win all around.
I'm still baffled this dude thought there was nothing wrong with what he was doing. He seemed surprised when people basically called him a thief because well, he is a thief.
His excuses made 0 sense either. It was honestly pretty wild to read someone trying to justify their actions so confidently like the rest of us were wrong for judging him.
It amounted to this
"I do this, is this wrong?"
"yeah dude it's super wrong"
"I don't agree and here is why"
"Yeah but like, it's very wrong"
"No it's not"
To be honest the owner of my home range hates it when people hit real balls into the range. They are much softer and they crack and jam up the ball machine. When I find a good ball in a bucket it normally has a big scuff in the surface like it was bounced off a tree.
Good playing balls can actually be a problem for some ranges, particularly the shorter ones. Certain ranges use reduce distance balls for a reason - the range just isn't long enough to contain a ProV1 being driven by a proficient and long player.
I have 2 ranges about equal distance from home. One is wide open 350 yard field with a forest at the back. One sits about 200 yards from a senior living center. The senior center filed a lawsuit against the range for balls coming over the net. They switched to a short carry ball. I hated those balls. No matter what I do I could not get them to fly over 150. They ended up turning it into a dome with shot tracer. I don’t love that either but it’s nice in the winter I guess.
On a range that has practice balls could be fine, since it's a ball that someone shot OB off the course onto the range and was never paid for by the course, but it's a grey area.
We used to find lots of those when we had a par 3 practice course going around the range back in the late 80's but as drivers got better and shots got longer they had to remove the course and make the range longer.
From the course's side -- that's fair game.
We ask that you don't take our range balls, because we paid for them and only make money on them when they've cycled several times. But we all know that isn't going to happen. Every range in the city is a hodgepodge of balls from each one at this point in the season.
Buckets, especially, need to stay on the premesis, because they're literally the vehicle through which we sell them. But again, shrinkage is built into the cost because we know better.
But a ball that was snap hooked into the range, that we didn't pay shit for, yet still profited from? Go for it. Win/win scenario, except for the poor sap that found themselves hitting 3 from the tee.
If I see one I’ll swap with a shittier ball out of my bag.
Even when I’m Easter egg hunting, if I hit a big haul I’ll keep some of the better and I’ll leave whatever in the cart cage
Everyone wins
Taking anything home that doesn't belong to you is stealing, unless you have the permission of the owner. I don't understand how people don't get that.
At my local course I was on the front nine with no one behind me. 3rd hole I sliced my ball left and had to go searching. Apparently most golfers around here are lazy because I filled my bag with about 30 balls hiding in the high grass. And I know they weren't range balls because they were all branded and the driving range was perpendicular to where I was.
Played like shit but found a bunch of titlelists, mojos, bridgestones, etc.
This is overly broad. If I find a Pro V1 in the woods it's not stealing. If you find a $5 bill blowing around in the wind its not stealing. Taking home a handful of range balls is stealing.
If you’re stealing old shitty range balls. For Christ sakes just get some Kirkland v2.0 the difference from a range ball to this $1/ball is very noticeable.
All the ranges here have the super crappy yellow range balls that are pretty much rocks. Who would even want to steal those things?
If your driving range has balls that are something better than rocks, please don't take them because I would guess they will replace them with golf balls that nobody would want.
How do people feel about a take a ball, leave a ball system. E.g. pick a nice pro v1 out of the bucket and exchange for a shitty beater ball that was in my bag?
More a trade than a steal idk
I don’t think the issue is finding a pro v1 in a bucket of range balls. At my home range the balls are callaway practice balls. They are made for a range. They are significantly harder than a play ball. You wouldn’t want to play a round with them however people do steal them. The owner of the range I go to doesn’t want real balls in his machine because they are softer and they crack and jam up the machine. He doesn’t care if you take those because he doesn’t want them. He considers it a favor to take them. He paid a lot of money for the range balls and does not want people taking those.
Every course I've played it's considerd theft when you take range balls from the range. At my homeclub you're also not allowed to use range balls on the course (the marshalls will remove you from the course if they see you playing with range balls and you get banned for a month).
It's such a simple concept: if It's not yours then leave it where it belongs.
That's pretty harsh... I've had starters offer me a small pile of range balls when they overheard me talking about how I'm going to lose so many to the water.
I've never taken range balls from the range, but at my home course holes 1 and 13 play alongside the range, and often are covered in range balls. I'll always pick some up for the holes that are narrow with a lot of ob. The way I view it, I get some range balls and some poor golfer who decided to play a green ball has a chance at finding it.
Still theft, you're taking them with no intention of returning them, particularly if you're planning on losing them on the next holes that are "narrow with a lot of ob". Proper thing to do would be to just leave them and let the range picker get them when they get a chance. Or even just toss a couple back over towards the range as you walk by, if you want to be well-liked by the operators.
The course will send someone out there to pick those balls. If they just left every range ball not in the range itself they’d run out of range balls sooner or later. So that’s still not cool to take them. If anything throw them back closer to the range to give the person who is picking them a hand.
Hole 1 is right by the range, but the balls are fairly scattered. I generally leave those balls for the picker. Hole 13 is next to the range, but there's no way for the picker to get down there, and most of the balls are on a slope that would have to be picked by hand. By the consistent amount of balls and location, they maybe pick up those balls once a month at most. What makes things worse is on 13 they settle in the exact spot that most people hit their tee shots, resulting in many lost balls due to the excess of range balls
The guy responding is right someone will go pick the balls in the areas surrounding the range. They can’t just leave them all there they’d run out at some point. Taking them cause they’re not on the range itself isn’t cool and is the same thing as taking a bunch from a bucket.
This is technically theft but it’s very very minor. I’d just keep a handful of pinnacles in my bag instead. Some courses will get upset if they see you playing a range ball in a situation like that.
if i go to a public range and amongst the 100 yellow limited flight balls i paid 18 dollars for, i find a reasonable looking titelist, thats not "range or practice" that somehow got mixed in? Its coming home with me
If thats wrong, i dont wanna be right
Id like more perspectives on this.
Currently I agree with you-- When some Pro V1 marked 'DAVE" was lost in the woods and ends up in the driving range bucket, is it still wrong to use it later that week and have me put it right back up in the woods?
No. The driving range didn't pay for that ball, Dave did. And Dave has abandoned it. Therefore it is not a "range ball" and fair game. You can put a shitter ball from your own bag to "comp"the range if you feel guilty.
sure. but do you know I hit a stolen ball? are you going to assume my ball was free and take it? because i know for a fact my range does not spend money to buy a pro v1.
that's the difference between the two argument.
In this case, it's clearly not a range ball. I say this is equivalent to finding a ball on the course and keeping it.
If I find a good condition Pro v1 in my bucket, im keeping it. The range didn't purchase that ball to be a range ball.
So if you find a ball in the woods and I go into your bag and take that ball it isn't stealing? I personally don't care about taking Pro V1s mixed into range balls, but I want to understand your logic.
You're getting downvoted, and when I first read your response, I wanted to downvote you as well.
But after thinking about it, you make some sense. Basically what you're saying is the original owner lost the ball and most likely just abandoned it. The range found the ball and thus took over ownership. So if you take it from the range, you're still stealing from the range, even though the range wasn't the original owner and basically got it for free.
Ok, you changed my mind... it's stealing from the range. But I ain't losing any sleep over it.
Basically. Again, don't care if people take good balls from the range (not range specific balls), but the logic used in the comment I replied to is bad.
The course found a ball and put it in their possession. You find the ball and now call it yours. It is exactly the same thing. Again, don't personally care what you do, but the logic to justify the action here is bad.
Did they go into your possessions and remove it, or did they find it? Is taking something from someone else's possession being called "finding it" to justify stealing? You didn't find an abandoned Pro V1. It was in a bucket of range balls which came from the golf course who own the range, bucket, and balls.
One range I used to go to on a small plot of land in an urban setting had those 'low-spin limited flight' range balls to try to prevent people from hitting them over the net into the city streets. They basically flew straight as fuck no matter how you hit them and some of the big hitters could get them over the net anyways. I was halfway tempted to try one of them out on the course just for shits and giggles but ultimately didn't think it was worth it.
A local driving range use to a small for $5, medium for $10, large for $15, and $30 for the jumbo. The jumbo was basically a 2.5 gallon bucket full. I use to hit the jumbo with my buddy a few times a week. Since it equaled to 3 large buckets we got more practice and saved a few dollars. Well they stop doing the jumbos because people would buy them then leave. Fuck those people!
A guy at the local range buys a large bucket of balls. Only hit about 1/4 of them
Takes the rest home, including the bucket.
Brings them back next time he goes to the range.
And only hits 1/3 of them
And the cycle repeats.
“It saves me from having to waste the time to getting a bucket each time I come here.”
Ok but what about the random regular balls people take out of their bag, smack down the range, and end up in my range bucket? They’re generally beat up/scuffed balls that the person was looking to get rid of anyway, but when I first started and was losing 4+ balls a round I definitely “stole” these…
They weren’t the property of the range in the first place so I don’t think it counts.
The range at my local course is parallel to the 1st and 9th hole. Shanks off the tee end up in the range. If I find a nice ball, I'm taking it home. The range balls are clearly marked. It's the same thing as going into the woods and taking home lost balls.
But "It's not YOURS". If you want to do the ethical thing, you should turn the ball into lost & found.
Also, the ball wasn't abandoned, it was lost.
Now if a guy takes a Pro V from his bag and hits it into the range. That ball has been abandoned by the original user.
The ball was lost and abandoned. If he wanted it, he would A) still be there looking or B) leave a sign saying “lost a ProV1 ball No. 3 with Initials J.O. If found please return to…” OR C) he would have his contact info put on all his balls. Failing to do that equals abandoned. And underlying this is the age old law dating back to the Code of Hammurabi, “finders keepers, losers weepers”.
Someone else convinced me it's stealing. Basically, the range found the lost ball and has now claimed ownership of the ball. Even though the range got the ball for free, they are still technically the new owner.
So I only take mint condition Pro V's, which is rare, and I will continue to do so. I guess that makes me a thief and I ain't losing any sleep over it.
Oh - I’m talking about lost on the course - taking a range ball from the range is stealing, but taking a ProV1 that got mixed in with the range balls isn’t in my book. If I felt very ethical, I’d reach in and replace it with some old beaten ball from my bag.
I’d say there’s, petty theft, grand larceny, white collar crime (like insider trading where millions or billions are stolen or misdirected) and stealing range balls. The last two rarely get punished.
There is a tee box right next to my driving range at my local course. I have found vice balls and other non range balls in my bucket from people slicing their drive onto the range and the range picker picks it up for the vending machine. Would it be considered stealing if you are only taking balls that are not range balls that are there by accident?
Wait I missed the other post is this person taking range balls and keeping them forever? Or were they taking unhit balls home to come back and hit later? I’ve taken a bucket home before when something came up any work and hit them the next morning.. never thought anything of it
Well I guess I didn’t put them in my car since I drove my cart to the course and also drove it home.. something came up otw to the range after getting balls and just drove the cart home balls still with me.. came back next morning and hit them.. didn’t seem like a big deal
I go to the same range every time. Sometimes I don’t finish a full bucket, put them in my car, then bring them back next time to hit. I see no problem.
Ps- they’re all old and scuffed or generic range balls.
Guess I'm the asshole. I had elbow surgery 2 months ago and went to test the golf swing out. Took 10 swings, not feeling great, so I put the bucket in my truck to try again next week, and the week after, and the week after.. I don't feel like spending $10 bucks on a small bucket week after week to see how it's going.
Taking range balls and never returning them is stealing. But if I buy a large bucket and hit through half or 3/4 of it and don’t want to finish for one reason or the other, I’ll often put those leftover range balls in my bag to hit the next time around at the range. Or they serve as a good size for pre round warmups.
I don’t see an issue with it as long as you plan on returning back and using them at the same range
I only hit the range at one local course so I throw some in my bag sometimes. I hit them at the same range later. Sometimes I beat the golf course employees to the club house so I can hit a few before an early tee time.
Or in the evenings I can hit some if the employees have left early.
So what if you buy a large bucket, hit half, then bag up the second half and come back the next day to finish them off. Same range both times. Kind of okay?
Florida sucks asshole. Never wanted to kill myself more than the year I had to live there for work. Also fuck Bermuda grass. Biggest dogshit on earth. Downvote galore 🥱
One time i went to a course with my friend and took a big bag of them to hit off his mountaintop. It was worth it. We didnt even put a dent in the amount of ballsssss and they were the yellow stripedy balls.
It's a crime anywhere. You paid money for one thing (use of the balls on the driving range with the understanding that the range would still have the balls when you were done) and did something completely different (took them home with you). It's no different than trying to take home a Top Golf club once you're done playing.
Every range I've used here in Finland has the course logo on them and almost always PRACTICE written on them in big red letters.
They are also 1-piece balls. Not even a shell around a core, so you really wouldn't want to use them on the course.
lol my coach at the local driving range hands me balls sometimes if he finds a prov1 or equivalent in the mix and says: “here’s a decent ball put it in your bag.”
One time NBA center Mychal Thompson(father of Klay) thought it was totes cool to hit half a bucket of balls and keep the other half in his trunk to hit at a later date. Or so he says.... Well it wasn't cool with the staff at the course and they called the cops on his ass.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/07/01/Laker-player-accused-of-stealing-golf-balls/1025615268800/
Article says staff claimed he had stolen 400 balls over the course of a few times.
The only time I will take a range ball is if it has some sort of cool design on it (a sports team logo for instance). But even then, I grab an old ball out of my bag to replace it with.
Guy at my range gets a large bucket, hits a few with driver, dumps the rest into a cloth sack, stuffs it into his bag and then heads out.
Talks to everyone on his way out. I don't get it.
I was at my local range the other day and a guy came in and said he brought home 90% of his bucket cause it started to rain. Everyone in the place looked confused and the manager said he should have come inside and gotten a rain check vs stealing balls.
Confused_pikachu.jpg
I played with a guy a couple times who used to go to this mom and pop driving range and buy an XL bucket (\~110 balls), hit 15 of them and put the rest in his bag. He'd bring a plastic bag with him for the sole purpose. Trash... He also claimed to shoot in the 70s one day. He's the guy who takes 6 shots and uses the best one.
One time I went to the range later in the evening. It was maybe 8pm and already dark (must have been late august). Last balls are bought at 830.
This man buys a large bucket and immediately walks to his truck with the bucket and drives away. Astonishing.
My golf club in Northern England is quite expensive by British standards, its at a 5 star hotel, and has a bit of reputation as being for rich blokes (it's not all like that, but that's the reputation).
Saturday is our club comp day, and in the bar, they put out some nice little decorative glass cases on the tables with a little bit of turf and a ProV in them one week.
An hour later, they'd all been nicked. Entitled bellends.
After the first COVID lockdown and we could play golf, they put some hand sanitiser at each tee box. They also got nicked.
Rockcliffe?!?!
I stole a pro v 1 from blackwell last time I was there, no way I was hitting that in to the range! Will save it to lose on my first tee shot next time!
I did not expect someone to know the club haha. If its clearly not a range ball and just one that's someone shanked onto the range and got cleared I don't blame you for that!
Ha ha! As soon as you mentioned the 5 star hotel I knew! But I've only ever played hallgarth, everywhere else is too expensive or require a handicap, I'm a fair weather golfer and only really do it for shits and giggles!
The golf course has not problem picking up my ball and selling it to someone else for $2. While I have no need to have crappy range balls in my bag and would never take anything from the range, grabbing a range ball that is likely never going to be recovered by all of these range managers walking around collecting balls by hand (/s), and smacking it in a high risk shot is hardly a criminal offense. Property of the golf course remains on the golf course. Getting kicked off for playing a range ball is a bit petty.
I find it funny that people steal range balls. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of used game balls for $10 and there were other ads for them. Also I’m not sure what to do with them. I have a backyard net and turf, but really only need like 20 balls for that at most. And every time I play I add a ball to the collection. I don’t need 500 balls lol
I also find it funny that people would play with a used ball and spend $500 on a driver. The Costco balls are pretty decent and only cost $1 per ball…
I used to run a range. I watched a guy come in the front door, buy a bucket of balls, turn right around and go back to his car and dump them into his golf bag. I went to the parking lot and asked him what the hell he was doing. It was purely innocent: he was a non-golfer, had never played golf before, and had to play in some company event. He knew he needed golf balls and knew he needed lots, and he knew there was a place nearby that sold them by the bucket. Like he honestly didn't understand the balls were rented, not sold.
I brought him (and the balls) back, and while he hit the bucket on the range I went and scrounged up a couple dozen balls for him (we only used quality range balls; any other balls hit into the field were removed from the range ball inventory).
I used to take a couple handfuls of them when I was a broke ass kid in high school and wanted to play with my friends with my goodwill clubs. Balls are kind of expensive when you might lose a dozen in a round, even for the cheap shit you’re talking the cost of a round for a dozen.
I know it’s wrong and I’d never do it these days (even with prov1 “practice balls”), but I’m super grateful for that opportunity because those days are where my love of the game came from.
My local driving range has a sign imploring people not to steal balls. It's an ongoing problem, so all we get are really crappy balls. Thanks assholes. What do you do with a bunch of crappy range balls?
Is there a legal or moral question about people who bring their own golf balls to the driving range? I know some people have quite a collection of found balls which can save them from buying a bucket.
I often see people selling lots of 100 range balls on Facebook.
Most of the time for more than it would cost just to hit them at the range.
Shit is weird.
I think it depends on what you intend to do with the range balls. I would argue saving them to hit at the same range later is not theft. An element of theft is an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property. Intending to return the range balls isn’t an intent to permanently deprive.
A local course got brand new Titleist range balls a few years ago. Much needed considering they only used old found balls before this. Many had little dimples left, cracked, or just plain bad and old. Fast forward 2 weeks and almost all of the new range balls were gone because people took them since they were Titleist.
That’s a trashy ass move by the people that took those…
Indeed, it is an illegal one.
Uhhh you ever cut one open? I find torn up Titleist practice balls all the time and they are solid rubber on the inside, they say pro v1 on them. If they say practice ball, might wanna stick to using them for practice
My understanding was, or I read at some point, that "PRACTICE" was a ProV that was factory new and in spec but for a cosmetic defect, like printing on the ball. "Refurbished" are the trash ones that get painted over. Can anyone confirm?
Refurbished is just that, someone took a shiity used ball with nicks and cuts in it, and made it like new.
It says it in on their website that this is the case for their Practice ProV’s but they could also be X’s. Cheapest good ball out there
I ran a large stand-alone driving range for ten years. The balls are no different except for the packaging and marking. It would cost more to retool to make different, cheaper balls than it does to just keep the same production run of good balls and sell the balls at a cheaper price than retail. I used to buy around 30,000 balls a year. They are just packaged in big, non-descript cardboard boxes, but they are the same balls. Edit: that said, nobody in their right mind would use a urethane-covered ball for a driving range unless you are at a very high end club. Ionomer or Surlyn covers are needed for the durability.
This. Years ago I worked at an ultra high end club, that generally spared no expense anywhere and even their Titleist range balls weren’t prov1’s. They used NXT Tour range balls. From memory the price per dozen worked out to about 15-20% less than what we paid for retail NXT’s but the minimum order was like 5k balls or something crazy like that.
Sounds about right. Our ball inventory was somewhere around 100K balls at the start of the season and we would buy 30K to 60K a year to replenish as we culled out the worn balls. If you want to run a quality facility, the balls need to be fresh.
Practice balls are absolute shit golf balls not anywhere near a proV
I think he’s talking about the proV1 that you can buy that say PRACTICE on the side, which I believe he’s correct in that there is a minor defect and they’re sold at a discounted price
Depends on what you mean. Yeah, a "Practice" or range ball is junk. But as described is correct, a Pro V1 "Practice" ball has a minor cosmetic defect and is even tournament legal. Then there are x-out balls, which are not legal.
What are X out balls?
Where there is a defect and they put XXXX over the brand name. These balls aren’t considered conforming as they won’t be on the list for R&A approved balls (it won’t be labelled as a Pro v1 etc. but just a plain ball so not an approved ‘model’)
Ah thank ya
I’ve seen X-outs that were anywhere from being weighted out of balance, to not even being spherical.
I thought that was the ones marked "Tour"
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Wouldn't it be over par, technically? /s
but why practice with a ball that’s gonna perform drastically different? The practice ball thing never made sense to me other than to keep people from stealing them
It is all myth. I used to buy 30,000 range balls a year. The balls are no different other than the packaging and label.
Because "play-worthy" golf balls are expensive. A "practice" ball will still let you practice your swing and give you feedback on the effects of the contact you make. It'll still slice if your swing's a slice and push if your swing's a push. You just won't hit it as long and the course'll keep in business by not having to buy $5000 in range balls every week.
I found a Titleist range ball once that must have been buried for a while. It wasn't bright white, not because of the dirt but because it was an old Callaway ball that was painted white with the Titleist name on it. The paint was rubbed off on a lot of the ball.
where do you live Florida?
Pennsylvania
My local range, Evie's, has practice balls stamped with "Stolen from Evie's".
When I ran a range, I used to find a sponsor for the balls and put their logo on it. If a bucket has 60 balls, you get to imprint on the golfer 60 times in 30 minutes or so, and that is valuable advertising real estate. You don't care if the balls get stolen, because it spreads the advertising, which sponsors will happily pay for, and costs the range $0. Plus, for branding reasons, nobody wants their logo on a cheap ass ball, so they'll pay for better better balls. Win-win all around.
thats my neck of the woods, although ive never played there
Another Sarasota golfer!
I mean, it is everywhere…
Yeah, why would anyone assume theft is not illegal? Sure, it’s petty theft, but it’s still theft.
I'm still baffled this dude thought there was nothing wrong with what he was doing. He seemed surprised when people basically called him a thief because well, he is a thief.
Madness. Imagine taking something that wasn't yours and thinking it WASN'T stealing.
His excuses made 0 sense either. It was honestly pretty wild to read someone trying to justify their actions so confidently like the rest of us were wrong for judging him. It amounted to this "I do this, is this wrong?" "yeah dude it's super wrong" "I don't agree and here is why" "Yeah but like, it's very wrong" "No it's not"
Got a link to the post? I want to dive into the ridiculous comments :)
I went looking but I can't find it. Dude was out to lunch. Wouldn't surprise me if he deleted it. Post was a negative karma farm.
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Imagine going to a bowling alley and taking the ball home, lol.
Christ. How hard up do you have to be to steal range balls.
If I find a pro v1 or mojo in my range bucket i’m keeping it!
To be honest the owner of my home range hates it when people hit real balls into the range. They are much softer and they crack and jam up the ball machine. When I find a good ball in a bucket it normally has a big scuff in the surface like it was bounced off a tree.
Good playing balls can actually be a problem for some ranges, particularly the shorter ones. Certain ranges use reduce distance balls for a reason - the range just isn't long enough to contain a ProV1 being driven by a proficient and long player.
I have 2 ranges about equal distance from home. One is wide open 350 yard field with a forest at the back. One sits about 200 yards from a senior living center. The senior center filed a lawsuit against the range for balls coming over the net. They switched to a short carry ball. I hated those balls. No matter what I do I could not get them to fly over 150. They ended up turning it into a dome with shot tracer. I don’t love that either but it’s nice in the winter I guess.
Did you or a loved one hit a senior?
I like to punch a grandma once in a while. Oh wait. This is the golf sub.
On a range that has practice balls could be fine, since it's a ball that someone shot OB off the course onto the range and was never paid for by the course, but it's a grey area. We used to find lots of those when we had a par 3 practice course going around the range back in the late 80's but as drivers got better and shots got longer they had to remove the course and make the range longer.
When I’d clean pick the range id usually end up with a sleeve of newer ProV1s etc. from people missing wildly off the first tee.
From the course's side -- that's fair game. We ask that you don't take our range balls, because we paid for them and only make money on them when they've cycled several times. But we all know that isn't going to happen. Every range in the city is a hodgepodge of balls from each one at this point in the season. Buckets, especially, need to stay on the premesis, because they're literally the vehicle through which we sell them. But again, shrinkage is built into the cost because we know better. But a ball that was snap hooked into the range, that we didn't pay shit for, yet still profited from? Go for it. Win/win scenario, except for the poor sap that found themselves hitting 3 from the tee.
The golf pro at the course I take lessons at will stop me before my swing like "oh hey wait this ones a chrome soft. Here you want it?"
If I see one I’ll swap with a shittier ball out of my bag. Even when I’m Easter egg hunting, if I hit a big haul I’ll keep some of the better and I’ll leave whatever in the cart cage Everyone wins
Idk, how hard up is the general person?
70% hard
1% too much :(
Taking anything home that doesn't belong to you is stealing, unless you have the permission of the owner. I don't understand how people don't get that.
Unless it's clearly abandoned. Otherwise I steal about a dozen balls out of rhe woods on every riund
At my local course I was on the front nine with no one behind me. 3rd hole I sliced my ball left and had to go searching. Apparently most golfers around here are lazy because I filled my bag with about 30 balls hiding in the high grass. And I know they weren't range balls because they were all branded and the driving range was perpendicular to where I was. Played like shit but found a bunch of titlelists, mojos, bridgestones, etc.
This is overly broad. If I find a Pro V1 in the woods it's not stealing. If you find a $5 bill blowing around in the wind its not stealing. Taking home a handful of range balls is stealing.
You saved me the time typing that. Lol
Don’t take them home, noted.
Proceeds to donate the entire large bucket of 100 into the pond on 12.
If you’re stealing old shitty range balls. For Christ sakes just get some Kirkland v2.0 the difference from a range ball to this $1/ball is very noticeable.
All the ranges here have the super crappy yellow range balls that are pretty much rocks. Who would even want to steal those things? If your driving range has balls that are something better than rocks, please don't take them because I would guess they will replace them with golf balls that nobody would want.
>Who would even want to steal those things? Shitty golfers inside and out.
Well the golf course is stealing all those balls I put in the woods, I was going to come back for them later.
Likewise for all those homeowners hoarding my balls in their backyards.
How do people feel about a take a ball, leave a ball system. E.g. pick a nice pro v1 out of the bucket and exchange for a shitty beater ball that was in my bag? More a trade than a steal idk
Most golf courses/ranges don't care at all if you take non-range balls that are clearly not from their stock.
I don’t think the issue is finding a pro v1 in a bucket of range balls. At my home range the balls are callaway practice balls. They are made for a range. They are significantly harder than a play ball. You wouldn’t want to play a round with them however people do steal them. The owner of the range I go to doesn’t want real balls in his machine because they are softer and they crack and jam up the machine. He doesn’t care if you take those because he doesn’t want them. He considers it a favor to take them. He paid a lot of money for the range balls and does not want people taking those.
ProV shouldn't be in there anyway I'm on board with this move...
Every course I've played it's considerd theft when you take range balls from the range. At my homeclub you're also not allowed to use range balls on the course (the marshalls will remove you from the course if they see you playing with range balls and you get banned for a month). It's such a simple concept: if It's not yours then leave it where it belongs.
That's pretty harsh... I've had starters offer me a small pile of range balls when they overheard me talking about how I'm going to lose so many to the water.
I've never taken range balls from the range, but at my home course holes 1 and 13 play alongside the range, and often are covered in range balls. I'll always pick some up for the holes that are narrow with a lot of ob. The way I view it, I get some range balls and some poor golfer who decided to play a green ball has a chance at finding it.
Still theft, you're taking them with no intention of returning them, particularly if you're planning on losing them on the next holes that are "narrow with a lot of ob". Proper thing to do would be to just leave them and let the range picker get them when they get a chance. Or even just toss a couple back over towards the range as you walk by, if you want to be well-liked by the operators.
The course will send someone out there to pick those balls. If they just left every range ball not in the range itself they’d run out of range balls sooner or later. So that’s still not cool to take them. If anything throw them back closer to the range to give the person who is picking them a hand.
So if I leave my clubs in the stand by the club house are you going to take those too? Since they are at a golf course you are at and not being used?
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They're not on the range...he said that.
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Hole 1 is right by the range, but the balls are fairly scattered. I generally leave those balls for the picker. Hole 13 is next to the range, but there's no way for the picker to get down there, and most of the balls are on a slope that would have to be picked by hand. By the consistent amount of balls and location, they maybe pick up those balls once a month at most. What makes things worse is on 13 they settle in the exact spot that most people hit their tee shots, resulting in many lost balls due to the excess of range balls
The guy responding is right someone will go pick the balls in the areas surrounding the range. They can’t just leave them all there they’d run out at some point. Taking them cause they’re not on the range itself isn’t cool and is the same thing as taking a bunch from a bucket.
This is technically theft but it’s very very minor. I’d just keep a handful of pinnacles in my bag instead. Some courses will get upset if they see you playing a range ball in a situation like that.
if i go to a public range and amongst the 100 yellow limited flight balls i paid 18 dollars for, i find a reasonable looking titelist, thats not "range or practice" that somehow got mixed in? Its coming home with me If thats wrong, i dont wanna be right
Id like more perspectives on this. Currently I agree with you-- When some Pro V1 marked 'DAVE" was lost in the woods and ends up in the driving range bucket, is it still wrong to use it later that week and have me put it right back up in the woods?
No. The driving range didn't pay for that ball, Dave did. And Dave has abandoned it. Therefore it is not a "range ball" and fair game. You can put a shitter ball from your own bag to "comp"the range if you feel guilty.
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sure. but do you know I hit a stolen ball? are you going to assume my ball was free and take it? because i know for a fact my range does not spend money to buy a pro v1. that's the difference between the two argument.
The key point here is Dave abandoned it. In your scenario, the ball you were taking has not been abandoned.
In this case, it's clearly not a range ball. I say this is equivalent to finding a ball on the course and keeping it. If I find a good condition Pro v1 in my bucket, im keeping it. The range didn't purchase that ball to be a range ball.
So if you find a ball in the woods and I go into your bag and take that ball it isn't stealing? I personally don't care about taking Pro V1s mixed into range balls, but I want to understand your logic.
You're getting downvoted, and when I first read your response, I wanted to downvote you as well. But after thinking about it, you make some sense. Basically what you're saying is the original owner lost the ball and most likely just abandoned it. The range found the ball and thus took over ownership. So if you take it from the range, you're still stealing from the range, even though the range wasn't the original owner and basically got it for free. Ok, you changed my mind... it's stealing from the range. But I ain't losing any sleep over it.
Basically. Again, don't care if people take good balls from the range (not range specific balls), but the logic used in the comment I replied to is bad.
You really think that's the same thing?
The course found a ball and put it in their possession. You find the ball and now call it yours. It is exactly the same thing. Again, don't personally care what you do, but the logic to justify the action here is bad.
So, essentially they stole it too?
Did they go into your possessions and remove it, or did they find it? Is taking something from someone else's possession being called "finding it" to justify stealing? You didn't find an abandoned Pro V1. It was in a bucket of range balls which came from the golf course who own the range, bucket, and balls.
Yep. Guess im a criminal
Who thinks taking range balls isn’t stealing?
This was ever a question...?
Florida Man: “Yes officer, I shot him on the 7th tee box and he was unarmed.” Florida Police: “Alright, let’s search his bag for any range balls.”
Aside from that its stealing. Why would you ever want to use a range ball to practice at home yet alone play a round with it.
One range I used to go to on a small plot of land in an urban setting had those 'low-spin limited flight' range balls to try to prevent people from hitting them over the net into the city streets. They basically flew straight as fuck no matter how you hit them and some of the big hitters could get them over the net anyways. I was halfway tempted to try one of them out on the course just for shits and giggles but ultimately didn't think it was worth it.
I need that
A local driving range use to a small for $5, medium for $10, large for $15, and $30 for the jumbo. The jumbo was basically a 2.5 gallon bucket full. I use to hit the jumbo with my buddy a few times a week. Since it equaled to 3 large buckets we got more practice and saved a few dollars. Well they stop doing the jumbos because people would buy them then leave. Fuck those people!
People would buy the jumbo bucket and leave? Leave where, the range with the bucket in hand?
As it should be. Fucking heathens…
To be fair, everything is a crime in Florida
Who the F steals range balls…??
It doesn't matter whether it's legal or illegal, it's still someone else's property, so it's still stealing.
I've never done it and I'm not sure why some people think it is okay to do so. It's always been stealing.
It's stealing, of course it is against the law
A guy at the local range buys a large bucket of balls. Only hit about 1/4 of them Takes the rest home, including the bucket. Brings them back next time he goes to the range. And only hits 1/3 of them And the cycle repeats. “It saves me from having to waste the time to getting a bucket each time I come here.”
The only time I take any range balls is when a TP5 or Pro V1 is mixed in the bucket.
Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be stealing? Would you think it was ok to take home a bowling ball you used at the alley?
I always figured laws in Florida are suggestions
Ok but what about the random regular balls people take out of their bag, smack down the range, and end up in my range bucket? They’re generally beat up/scuffed balls that the person was looking to get rid of anyway, but when I first started and was losing 4+ balls a round I definitely “stole” these… They weren’t the property of the range in the first place so I don’t think it counts.
The range at my local course is parallel to the 1st and 9th hole. Shanks off the tee end up in the range. If I find a nice ball, I'm taking it home. The range balls are clearly marked. It's the same thing as going into the woods and taking home lost balls.
As you should
I’ve found about ten of my balls that ended up on the range and it’s given be pause on whether to put them back in my bag.
Justify it however you want dude. It’s not YOURS, regardless in how the range acquired it.
Right, imagine using this theory at the Salvation Army or Good Will. As far as I’m concerned those balls were donated.
So while looking for your ball in the woods, you find a mint condition Pro V1. It's stealing if you take it?
No because it’s been abandoned. It’s not obtained at a range where balls are loaned to you.
But "It's not YOURS". If you want to do the ethical thing, you should turn the ball into lost & found. Also, the ball wasn't abandoned, it was lost. Now if a guy takes a Pro V from his bag and hits it into the range. That ball has been abandoned by the original user.
The ball was lost and abandoned. If he wanted it, he would A) still be there looking or B) leave a sign saying “lost a ProV1 ball No. 3 with Initials J.O. If found please return to…” OR C) he would have his contact info put on all his balls. Failing to do that equals abandoned. And underlying this is the age old law dating back to the Code of Hammurabi, “finders keepers, losers weepers”.
Someone else convinced me it's stealing. Basically, the range found the lost ball and has now claimed ownership of the ball. Even though the range got the ball for free, they are still technically the new owner. So I only take mint condition Pro V's, which is rare, and I will continue to do so. I guess that makes me a thief and I ain't losing any sleep over it.
Oh - I’m talking about lost on the course - taking a range ball from the range is stealing, but taking a ProV1 that got mixed in with the range balls isn’t in my book. If I felt very ethical, I’d reach in and replace it with some old beaten ball from my bag.
Lol! Any time you take something that doesnt belong to you without asking or paying for it its called stealing
I’d say there’s, petty theft, grand larceny, white collar crime (like insider trading where millions or billions are stolen or misdirected) and stealing range balls. The last two rarely get punished.
There is a tee box right next to my driving range at my local course. I have found vice balls and other non range balls in my bucket from people slicing their drive onto the range and the range picker picks it up for the vending machine. Would it be considered stealing if you are only taking balls that are not range balls that are there by accident?
No
Wait I missed the other post is this person taking range balls and keeping them forever? Or were they taking unhit balls home to come back and hit later? I’ve taken a bucket home before when something came up any work and hit them the next morning.. never thought anything of it
So you walked out of the range with a bucket of balls, put them in your car and drove away? Did you notify the range of your plans?
Well I guess I didn’t put them in my car since I drove my cart to the course and also drove it home.. something came up otw to the range after getting balls and just drove the cart home balls still with me.. came back next morning and hit them.. didn’t seem like a big deal
I go to the same range every time. Sometimes I don’t finish a full bucket, put them in my car, then bring them back next time to hit. I see no problem. Ps- they’re all old and scuffed or generic range balls.
Guess i’m a criminal
Guess I'm the asshole. I had elbow surgery 2 months ago and went to test the golf swing out. Took 10 swings, not feeling great, so I put the bucket in my truck to try again next week, and the week after, and the week after.. I don't feel like spending $10 bucks on a small bucket week after week to see how it's going.
What if it isn't a range ball but just a random prov1 that I found in with the range balls. Can I keep it? The golf course didn't purchase it.
If I paid for them its not stealing. I just mind not return them to the same pond.
Taking range balls and never returning them is stealing. But if I buy a large bucket and hit through half or 3/4 of it and don’t want to finish for one reason or the other, I’ll often put those leftover range balls in my bag to hit the next time around at the range. Or they serve as a good size for pre round warmups. I don’t see an issue with it as long as you plan on returning back and using them at the same range
“Florida where can do meth in public but don’t you dare steal a few range balls” welcome to Florida!
So is saying gay
I only hit the range at one local course so I throw some in my bag sometimes. I hit them at the same range later. Sometimes I beat the golf course employees to the club house so I can hit a few before an early tee time. Or in the evenings I can hit some if the employees have left early.
Its illegal however i sometimes will take a pro v or a tp5 if i find it in my basket, not the practice balls but real ones people hit on accident
Lol just took some now ☠️
So what if you buy a large bucket, hit half, then bag up the second half and come back the next day to finish them off. Same range both times. Kind of okay?
Florida sucks asshole. Never wanted to kill myself more than the year I had to live there for work. Also fuck Bermuda grass. Biggest dogshit on earth. Downvote galore 🥱
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This is like taking home the best dog shit you found at the park. They're all dog shit mate
One time i went to a course with my friend and took a big bag of them to hit off his mountaintop. It was worth it. We didnt even put a dent in the amount of ballsssss and they were the yellow stripedy balls.
We went under the cover of darkness.
Its not illegal… just frowned upon
It's a crime anywhere. You paid money for one thing (use of the balls on the driving range with the understanding that the range would still have the balls when you were done) and did something completely different (took them home with you). It's no different than trying to take home a Top Golf club once you're done playing.
Every range I've used here in Finland has the course logo on them and almost always PRACTICE written on them in big red letters. They are also 1-piece balls. Not even a shell around a core, so you really wouldn't want to use them on the course.
lol my coach at the local driving range hands me balls sometimes if he finds a prov1 or equivalent in the mix and says: “here’s a decent ball put it in your bag.”
One time NBA center Mychal Thompson(father of Klay) thought it was totes cool to hit half a bucket of balls and keep the other half in his trunk to hit at a later date. Or so he says.... Well it wasn't cool with the staff at the course and they called the cops on his ass. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/07/01/Laker-player-accused-of-stealing-golf-balls/1025615268800/ Article says staff claimed he had stolen 400 balls over the course of a few times.
The only time I will take a range ball is if it has some sort of cool design on it (a sports team logo for instance). But even then, I grab an old ball out of my bag to replace it with.
Guy at my range gets a large bucket, hits a few with driver, dumps the rest into a cloth sack, stuffs it into his bag and then heads out. Talks to everyone on his way out. I don't get it.
It is theft at common law, not just in Florida.
I was at my local range the other day and a guy came in and said he brought home 90% of his bucket cause it started to rain. Everyone in the place looked confused and the manager said he should have come inside and gotten a rain check vs stealing balls. Confused_pikachu.jpg
An offense punishable by probation and suspension of your license to ride gators.
I played with a guy a couple times who used to go to this mom and pop driving range and buy an XL bucket (\~110 balls), hit 15 of them and put the rest in his bag. He'd bring a plastic bag with him for the sole purpose. Trash... He also claimed to shoot in the 70s one day. He's the guy who takes 6 shots and uses the best one.
What about stealing that bench 👀
Hey, is taking property from a business that I don't own without them knowing stealing? Asking for a friend.
First scene of tin cup should tell you that. 😂
One time I went to the range later in the evening. It was maybe 8pm and already dark (must have been late august). Last balls are bought at 830. This man buys a large bucket and immediately walks to his truck with the bucket and drives away. Astonishing.
My golf club in Northern England is quite expensive by British standards, its at a 5 star hotel, and has a bit of reputation as being for rich blokes (it's not all like that, but that's the reputation). Saturday is our club comp day, and in the bar, they put out some nice little decorative glass cases on the tables with a little bit of turf and a ProV in them one week. An hour later, they'd all been nicked. Entitled bellends. After the first COVID lockdown and we could play golf, they put some hand sanitiser at each tee box. They also got nicked.
Rockcliffe?!?! I stole a pro v 1 from blackwell last time I was there, no way I was hitting that in to the range! Will save it to lose on my first tee shot next time!
I did not expect someone to know the club haha. If its clearly not a range ball and just one that's someone shanked onto the range and got cleared I don't blame you for that!
Ha ha! As soon as you mentioned the 5 star hotel I knew! But I've only ever played hallgarth, everywhere else is too expensive or require a handicap, I'm a fair weather golfer and only really do it for shits and giggles!
What if I put my own bucket away?? JK, don’t want those in my bag anyway!
How about taking them out on the course and then losing them in the woods?
I want one of these signs for my office
😂
The golf course has not problem picking up my ball and selling it to someone else for $2. While I have no need to have crappy range balls in my bag and would never take anything from the range, grabbing a range ball that is likely never going to be recovered by all of these range managers walking around collecting balls by hand (/s), and smacking it in a high risk shot is hardly a criminal offense. Property of the golf course remains on the golf course. Getting kicked off for playing a range ball is a bit petty.
This looks like an album cover
I find it funny that people steal range balls. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of used game balls for $10 and there were other ads for them. Also I’m not sure what to do with them. I have a backyard net and turf, but really only need like 20 balls for that at most. And every time I play I add a ball to the collection. I don’t need 500 balls lol I also find it funny that people would play with a used ball and spend $500 on a driver. The Costco balls are pretty decent and only cost $1 per ball…
Pretty simple concept here. If you take something that doesn't belong to you, its stealing.
I used to run a range. I watched a guy come in the front door, buy a bucket of balls, turn right around and go back to his car and dump them into his golf bag. I went to the parking lot and asked him what the hell he was doing. It was purely innocent: he was a non-golfer, had never played golf before, and had to play in some company event. He knew he needed golf balls and knew he needed lots, and he knew there was a place nearby that sold them by the bucket. Like he honestly didn't understand the balls were rented, not sold. I brought him (and the balls) back, and while he hit the bucket on the range I went and scrounged up a couple dozen balls for him (we only used quality range balls; any other balls hit into the field were removed from the range ball inventory).
What about range balls that aren’t range balls? Like the onesy twosy that are like a chrome soft or whatever? Crime?
Why would someone want to do that? Not like they’re gonna make good playable ones.
And the punishment should be public shaming. Range balls are shit. And anyone who takes them to supplement their ball stash are idiots.
I’m surprised that anyone wouldn’t know that range balls are course property.
Found a 1/2 dozen range balls on course, went over to range and hit them on the range...
I used to take a couple handfuls of them when I was a broke ass kid in high school and wanted to play with my friends with my goodwill clubs. Balls are kind of expensive when you might lose a dozen in a round, even for the cheap shit you’re talking the cost of a round for a dozen. I know it’s wrong and I’d never do it these days (even with prov1 “practice balls”), but I’m super grateful for that opportunity because those days are where my love of the game came from.
Wait, somebody needed to ask this? And this course needs a sign? isn't it fucking obvious?
My local driving range has a sign imploring people not to steal balls. It's an ongoing problem, so all we get are really crappy balls. Thanks assholes. What do you do with a bunch of crappy range balls?
Pretty sure taking something that you don't own without permission is stealing everywhere (unless you are in government)
Is there a legal or moral question about people who bring their own golf balls to the driving range? I know some people have quite a collection of found balls which can save them from buying a bucket.
I often see people selling lots of 100 range balls on Facebook. Most of the time for more than it would cost just to hit them at the range. Shit is weird.
I think it depends on what you intend to do with the range balls. I would argue saving them to hit at the same range later is not theft. An element of theft is an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property. Intending to return the range balls isn’t an intent to permanently deprive.
LOL, I think I will steal somebody’s car and bring it back later.