THUNDER BAY – Whoever's stealing from the Swinger’s Driving Range sure has a lot of balls.
Tania Corbin was driving by on Aug. 21 at 11:45 p.m. when she saw someone with a flashlight at the far end of the range.
Corbin, the groundskeeper, said she approached the man, who is in his mid-20s, while he was trying to hide.
When he finally ran by, Corbin was able to rip from his hands a cloth grocery bag filled with around 100 balls.
Swinger’s has had roughly 5,000 golf balls go missing this summer, which is a huge chunk considering they only had roughly 30,000 in stock.
Corbin has no idea if it has been the same person who has taken their balls, but she's definitely not happy about it.
“The guy that I caught said his friend told him about it . . . I have no idea (if he has stolen all of them) – unless he was just blaming someone else.”
Police said they received a report from Swinger’s about the missing balls.
Corbin said they plan to press charges.
The person probably stole the balls to "sell them, to use them, or just to be bad," she said.
She doesn’t think the thief is smart enough to start his own driving range since “he’s stealing the balls in the first place.”
Corbin described it as “very frustrating” as a small business owner to have these thefts. People have also stolen around 12 of the plastic buckets that the balls go in, she said.
Swinger’s plans to install more lights and more security cameras to deter thieves.
Located at 240 Owen Dr. off Oliver Road, Swinger's opened in 2012.
