i wanted to punch a guy on the course

[jamesj]

ive only been playing golf for about a year but ive never been so mad on the course. and it wasn't because i was playing bad. i was on the 10th tee and hit a shot into the adjacent fairway. i hit another one off the tee just to see what happens and the same thing happened. these balls should be pretty close to each other. i drive over there and the guys behind us are coming down the fairway and i think i see him picking something up and walking forward. i didn't think too much and kept looking for either of my balls. i found nothing and he said something and i said i was playing a titleist so he points to a ball on the ground. i go over there and its some shitty HP distance ball and i was playing new nxt tours. and then hes just staring at me all nervous and fidgety. i knew something was up and i searched that entire area for 10 minutes and found nothing. its not like the rough was so high or there was some other reason i couldn't find my ball. im POSITIVE he took both my balls. a few holes earlier, the play was super slow and we were just talking in the shade and the group ahead was on the green when they rolled up and they made a smartass comment about us driving the green. i wanted to call him out but i didn't really have any evidence but everything about the situation told me he took both of my balls and dropped the shitty titleist ball right in front of him. i wanted to fight this guy for taking my ball. i know thats stupid but why would you just steal my balls? i played terrible after that cause its all i could think about. plus the entire afternoon was ridiculously slow. it took us 2 and a half hours to play 5 holes. this anger is probably silly but its so ridiculous that he sat there a lied to my face about my balls and even dropped a decoy ball to try to fool me.

[flomarilius]

I would have asked him to clear out his bag and see if he truly had your balls. Especially after the incident that just occured I would have called the ranger on him.

[VtDivot]

gotta learn to let those ones go... it's not worth it.

[clemsonhacker]

its hard to let it go but you got to...

[jamesj]

yeah i thought about asking him to show me his pockets but ive never been in that situation and wasn't 100% sure he had taken it until i walked away from him. i told myself it wasn't worth it for a couple balls but the principle of what he did infuriated me. he could have just been like "oh my bad i didn't know these were yours" and gave them back i would have been fine. he tried to deceive me and flat out lied to my face.

[warbirdlover]

Why didn't you tell him you saw him pick up your balls?

[jamesj]

well what i saw was him bent over and he had balls in his hands and then walking away. this was when i first drove over there so i hadn't begun looking for my balls yet. after searching for a few minutes the conversation and encounter began that my original post detailed. like i said, after i walked away from him, everything clicked and i was certain he had both of my balls. it was only a couple balls so i didn't feel like pursuing it any further. i also wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt because every golfer ive met in the last year has been polite and helpful in terms of finding balls. this is the first time ive encountered an ******* on the course. ive learned my lesson.

[Tenn-Driver]

I'm sorry but haven't you heard of using a sharpy and writting your name on the ball ?

A thief isn't going to want a ball with someone elses name on it

[jamesj]

well im still fairly new to the game and no ive never marked my ball. for me, it is always easy to identify my ball. i can just remember every mark or scratch on it. i don't normally play new balls but ive learned my lesson and will start marking all of my balls.

[chemboy2]

Originally Posted by Tenn-Driver

I'm sorry but haven't you heard of using a sharpy and writting your name on the ball ?

A thief isn't going to want a ball with someone elses name on it

Well, a "thief" wouldn't give a rats arse as to who's name is on the ball. However, marking your balls will keep honest men honest...

[SilverUberXeno]

Sounds to me like the only balls he had were the ones he picked up of yours :\

I feel for you though, bro. Honestly, if I knew a guy picked my ball(s) up, I'd be livid. My physics teacher told me once about how a guy walked into HIS fairway and picked his ball up out of it. Mind you, he walked FROM and adjacent fairway to swipe a ball that landed within its own bounds.

That'd end bloody for me. Homie don't play.

[SiberianDVM]

Always mark your golf balls.

And try to stay in your own fairway. That part isn't always easy.

[Sandy]

I think I told this story before, so somewhere on here is the tale of how my ball was picked up twice by people in the group I was sent out to play with! And on top of that they played my ball two more times because I hit better approach shots than them, and at no point did they even consider an apology might possibly be merited...

Seriously, this kind of thing - though wrong - is something you'll have to learn to live with, and you'll probably encounter much worse as you continue playing. Just accept they're idiots and resign yourself to being better than them.

[JEFF4i]

Sorry bud,

There are just that sort of people out there, nothing really you can do but mark your balls and hope for the best.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Get in a fight over golf balls? Oh my lord what is this world coming to.

They make new balls every day.

Resorting to violence over something so unimportant is complete nonsense.

Happy golfing,

JS