Golf clubs are valuable, and not just to the person who cannot hit a drive straight without the latest whizz-bang driver or sink a 3-footer without a $200 putter.
Club theft is an increasing problem as unscrupulous people realize that golf clubs can be resold for a decent amount of money.
In one case, a Louisiana foursome were arrested for breaking into members' storage lockers at courses in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, taking their clubs and trying to resell those clubs on eBay, an Internet auction site. In other recent reports, golf equipment has been stolen from cars, from unattended golf carts and from areas around the clubhouse.
Seems your clubs aren't safe anymore.
What to do? First, a common-sense tip: Never leave your golf clubs unattended, anywhere. Used to be you could set your bag down outside the pro shop and mosey on up to the grill for lunch. Now, law enforcement officials recommend that you stow your bag in your locked vehicle first. If possible, put the clubs where they can't be seen so they don't tempt thieves to break into your car.
Likewise, don't leave bags strapped to carts and rely on the pro shop guy to remove them and put them in a safe place. Take your bag off yourself and keep it where you can see it, or where it's locked up.
Lockers should have sturdy locks, such as padlocks - for better security, don't rely on a simple combination lock built into the locker. There have even been reports of hidden cameras used to pick up combinations, so don't chance it - get a lock with a key.
Golf club insurance is another consideration. For most players, the easiest way to insure your golf equipment is through a rider on your homeowner's insurance. In many cases, homeowner's insurance will cover the current value of your set if it is stolen from you, but that might not be enough to replace the set. So a replacement cost endorsement on your policy will take care of that.
Don't forget to put your contact information on your clubs. Sure, it detracts a bit from the beauty of the club to have a label on there, but it can help you track your clubs if they are ever lost or stolen.
Big-time golf club thieves don't have time to remove all the labels from all the clubs they take - so if more people ID'd each club, that would act as a stronger deterrent to theft.
As well, golfers are being sold on products that protect their clubs.
Golf bag manufacturer Burton has a nifty set up - a golf bag that prevents individual clubs such as expensive drivers from being taken.
The Club-Lok bag looks like it has a normal club organizer top, but actually has clamps for each club (don't worry, they won't hurt your graphite shafts). When activated with locking levers, the clamps prevent removal of a single club. To protect the entire bag, wrap its steel retractable cable around a pole or other immovable object and stick the end into the combination lock. The bag can be found for about $150 - not much more than the cost of a regular high-end bag. Other types of bag locks are also available.
Several kinds of alarms are available for golf bags, too. Alarms clip to your bag and alert you if the bag is moved or jostled. However, most of these have failed to catch on because, after all, you don't want to be standing over that clutch putt and hear the sound of a siren from someone else's bag.
To fix that, the Clubsavr alarm system has a master control unit that clips to your bag and sensor tubes that protect your most valuable clubs. When a club is removed from the sensor tube, a clock starts to count down. If the club is not returned in a specified period of time, the alarm will sound. To make it better for golf course use, the alarm is just loud enough to alert you if there's a problem - it covers a range of about 10 feet. This may not be enough to help if you've left your bag - but it will tell others that the person trying to take your driver and run probably doesn't own the bag.
Golf equipment is expensive, and the options for protecting it from a determined thief are not perfect. But by taking some precautions and utilizing locks and alarms if necessary, your odds of hanging on to your clubs are increased.
