Police Say Suspected Golf Ball Thief Is Caught Wet-Handed

IRVINE —  A Santa Ana man allegedly had just fished 322 golf balls out of a lake at the Rancho San Joaquin Golf Course before dawn Wednesday when police moved in.

Brad Sanders, 30, was arrested on suspicion of grand theft for allegedly pilfering the golf balls from one of the lakes at the 18-hole course, Irvine police Sgt. Dick Bowman said.

“We assume he was retrieving the balls in order to resell them,” Bowman said. “You’d have to be a pretty avid golfer to use up 300 golf balls.”

Golfers at the course sink anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 balls a month into its three lakes, said Larry Margison, owner of Ball Hawk, a company in Rancho Santa Margarita that retrieves golf balls for five courses throughout the county.

But lately, company workers “were not finding as many balls as they normally do” at Rancho San Joaquin, said Mark Aten, assistant manager at the course. “We let the police know so they could keep a closer eye on the course.”

Neighbors who live near the course, located at 1 Sandburg Way, called police when they saw someone wandering around the course about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Sanders was booked at the Irvine police station and released on his own recognizance, Bowman said. Police would not say how the balls allegedly had been retrieved.

Officers spent part of Wednesday morning counting the balls, which filled three grocery bags.

Margison said the Irvine course has often been the victim of golf ball thieves.

“It’s a nightmare,” he said. “If we don’t have our divers go into the lakes every few weeks, we could lose up to 1,000 balls each month, because it’s a heavily played course. You can’t keep it completely protected unless you go out there every day.”

Margison’s company pays 10 cents for each ball retrieved from the lakes of the Rancho San Joaquin Golf Course. They restore the balls and sell them back to the course for 65 cents each.

Bowman said Wednesday’s incident is part of an ongoing problem at the course.

“We’ve caught people on and off throughout the years stealing balls out there,” Bowman said, “but I think this might be a record.”