Six months jail for diving for golf balls

[Hawk]

I agree, Pete. This was a bit off course. He was probably green at being a thief. They may have been a bit rough on him. They should have slapped his putter, and made him cart around the shame. To send him to the clubhouse for this probably teed off a lot of people who now have to pay his dues.


Later, Hawk.

 

[The Chairman]

would have been a wedgie. They could have ironed this out, putt I think he got the shaft instead. Well, I thought I would take another swing at this anyway!

 

[socaldiver]

I believe I read about this thief a few weeks ago when he was first arrested.

If you can believe everything that is printed by the media this "gentleman" had been caught previously at the same golf course and was warned to not do it anymore. If that is the case, then he got what he deserved, and furthermore, even if this was his first offense, he was still tresspassing on private property.

The penalty, if this was his first offense then a stiff fine might have been more appropriate.

I really think people should know the whole story before they "pass" judgment.

 

[Scubaroo]

I don't disagree that he was not a thief - anyone who chooses to do this sort of thing in the middle of the night without permission obviously realises that they're up to no good... and they were definitely trespassing... and even if the balls are "abandoned property" ownership of the balls probably falls to the club on whose land they were on (or under?)... but 6 months imprisonment??? I've pulled golf balls out of the ocean before (don't ask me how they got there - Kramer maybe?) - guess when I move to the UK in about 2 years I'd better leave any I find where I find them!

 

[jbd]

This thread came to mind yesterday while I was diving. I found 14 golf balls during the course of the dive. Three were found just when I had decided to surface. When I got to close to the shore I was putting them in my BC pocket and looked up and the was the Fish & Wildlife officer in uniform waiting to talk to me. Fortunately he is a diver and instructor(NAUI) and had seen my dive flag and stopped to ask about viz etc and chat.

 

[Chrismac]

Lol I was looking to do that here one summer because the amount of golf courses here and I call one course here and the lady said I could if i wanted but the man that lived next to the course already does it
she said it would be in my best intrest to stay away because he carrys a shot gun and watches his little money hole lol

So then I figured that mabey i would be better off doing somthing else with my time off lol.

 

[Welshman]

It was reported on Divernet today that the diver, Mark Collinson, has been released on bail pending an appeal. See:

www.divernet.com

 

[Hooligan]

I go diving for golf balls all the time, It's fun to have a couple hundred and just hit them back into the lake with a baseball bat

 

[ScubaStan]

I went diving a few weeks ago off Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara. I was about 100 yds off shore and about 35 fsw when I came across a brand new Titleist golfball sitting on top of the sand in the midst of a bed of sanddollars. Guess one of those boat owners had to tee-off on his brand new yacht. Kept it as a souvenir.

 

[scubad]

Maybe they should jail the golfers for littering!