Heists Taking a Big Slice Out of Golf Shops

Police got the alarm call at 3:28 a.m. But by then, it was too late.

Burglars using a technique seen in golf shop heists throughout the country rushed into the Alta Vista Country Club in Placentia on a recent Monday, grabbed $11,270 worth of premium titanium clubs and made their getaway long before police arrived.

The thefts began about three years ago, reflecting the increased popularity of clubs with heads made from the strong, lightweight metal, which allows golfers to hit balls farther than traditional steel clubs do. Titanium, which is also used in airplanes and surgical tools, boosts the price of top-brand clubs to about $400 each.

ClaimCard Inc., an insurance research firm, puts the replacement value of all clubs stolen last year at $100 million to $120 million nationally. Golf stores from Georgia to Canada and from San Diego to Sacramento have been hit, with some losing more than $30,000 worth of merchandise in a single burglary.

These smash-and-grab thefts have become so commonplace that Callaway Golf, the Carlsbad-based maker of such popular clubs as the Biggest Big Bertha driver, recently wrote a letter to its 9,000 retailers offering them a lengthy packet of security tips.

Some industry sources around the country estimate that as many as 1,000 of these burglaries occurred between spring of 1997 and last summer. “You grab 25 clubs, and you get the average yield of a bank robbery,” said the security manager for a major golf equipment maker.

Golf shops are being forced to take countermeasures. At the Candlewood Country Club in Whittier, where burglars took $20,000 worth of clubs last year, the pro shop has spent more than that sum for new security such as cameras, sensors and gates.

“It looks more like a fortress than a club, which is sad,” said Mark Blakely, the head pro.

The problem goes beyond the store burglaries. At public golf courses and genteel country clubs, there are increasing reports of expensive clubs being stolen when a golfer leaves them to go to the restroom or to get a refreshment.

Others tell of golf clubs being stolen from cars’ back seats or trunks after thieves watched their owner put them inside.

Bill Lyon, project manager for a construction firm, says he had a rare putter stolen from his bag at the Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Beach, where a round of weekend play costs $210.

“You wouldn’t expect something like that to happen on a course like that,” he said.

This thievery has not only led many golf courses to post notices warning people to watch their clubs, it also has spawned new products to combat it.

One company sells a golf bag that can be locked to a stationary object with a device similar to a bicycle lock. The product also locks the clubs inside the bag so they can’t be pulled out.

“People have these big golf bags that are neon signs, gaudy and flashy because the company wants the name flashed around,” said Bob Jones, who runs the pro shops at Dad Miller golf course in Anaheim and Anaheim Hills Golf Course. “It’s a big sign that says, ‘Steal me.’ ”

A set of 14 Callaway clubs costs $2,500--compared to as much as $800 for a more traditional set. The popular Biggest Big Bertha driver, a favorite of thieves, sells for about $400. A driver with a head not made from titanium might cost about $200.

As the clubs became more expensive, crooks discovered that it was much easier to burglarize a golf shop than to rob a bank or a jewelry store, according to police and golf industry experts. There are no armed guards, no heavy glass to smash and no exploding dye markers.

Many police investigators and store owners suspect that the stolen clubs are being shipped to Asia, where they can fetch more than twice the price they bring here. Others believe that the clubs are being pawned, sold to mom-and-pop golf stores or offered on the street or at swap meets.

In 1996, San Francisco Bay Area police departments suspected a gang of pulling off 30 golf shop burglaries from Monterey to Sacramento. One suspect said the thieves would ship the clubs to Taiwan, China, Japan and the Philippines, where they would be sold for about $1,000 a club, according to San Leandro Police Det. Jerry Codde.

Police arrested four members of the group on burglary charges. They were convicted and received prison terms.

Police suspect that the gang may be at it again. At least a dozen Bay Area golf shops have been burglarized since September. A like number in the Sacramento area have been hit.

Augusta, Ga., Police Lt. Jimmy Ford said a video camera caught two burglars getting in and out of a Nevada Bobs shop in just 30 seconds.

“They knew right where to go,” he said. “They just scooped up all the Callaways,” which were worth $30,000.

Police found three clubs the burglars had discarded alongside the freeway because they were less valuable demonstration models, Ford said.

It’s not unusual for shops to be hit more than once. Alta Vista in Placentia has been burglarized three times in about three years, with thieves taking $40,000 worth of goods, said owner Ted Debus. The most recent theft netted 20 clubs.

At the Golf Emporium in Santa Ana, thieves broke the front window and took clubs worth $30,000 to $40,000.

In Sacramento earlier this year, robbers crashed their sport utility vehicle head-on into a car in which the security guard was sitting. After taping the uninjured guard to a chair, they crashed their vehicle through the door. The robbers headed straight for the Callaways, taking clubs worth about $40,000.

Although the great majority of clubs have been stolen in burglaries, robbers have marched into stores in Texas, Florida, Ohio and Missouri and pulled guns, demanding the most expensive clubs.

Many stores lock up their expensive clubs at night, if only in a storeroom, knowing the thieves don’t have time to search. Other stores have stopped stocking the expensive clubs.

After Edwin Watts Golf Shops, which has 40 shops in the southeastern United States, lost $200,000 worth of expensive clubs to burglars, the company offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the burglars.

Now, when the alarm goes off at one of the firm’s stores, a device emits a harmless fog that quickly blankets the store, making it difficult for thieves to find the clubs. In addition, the company rotates dogs among its stores to provide another obstacle.

“There’s no other way,” said Ronnie Watts, president of the chain. “It’s a little uncomfortable, but it’s such a major problem.”