Golf carts are disappearing from Ontario golf courses. Course owners think it's the work of professionals
CBC
The security footage is clear. It's the middle of the night. A man pushes a golf cart out of frame. The other, wearing a hoodie and medical mask, follows behind driving another cart as quickly as it will go.
In the early hours of April 19, the thieves load 11 carts onto a trailer attached to a heavy-duty pickup truck, then drive away from Settler's Ghost Golf Club about 20 kilometres northeast of Barrie, Ont.
"It's that violation feeling," said David Graham, general manager at Settler's Ghost, who noted that the stolen carts were outside in the brightly lit parking lot with their keys removed. "Then you have that anger or sadness and wondering, 'Did I do something wrong that someone came and took all the carts?' "
This incident is just one of at least 18 similar thefts at golf courses in Ontario in the last few years, course owners say. In many cases, a large number of carts are stolen from courses that park them outside where they're easily accessible, though thieves still have to find a way to start them and get them off the lot. The number of thefts and the level of organization required to pull them off has course owners convinced the incidents are linked, and the work of professionals.
According to a list provided by the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada (NGCOA), at least 192 golf carts have been stolen from 18 Ontario golf courses since 2021, with the majority stolen in 2022 and 2024.
In one instance, 44 carts were stolen from Rockway Glen Estate Golf Course and Winery near St. Catharines, Ont., in November 2022.
The latest known incident happened on May 30, when 12 carts were stolen from Wolf Run Golf Club in Janetville, Ont., about 40 kilometres west of Peterborough, Ont. It's one of many cottage country courses that have been hit.
The carts at Wolf Run have since been found by police, according to general manager Stephen Kostoff.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) for the city of Kawartha Lakes said they worked with local police to search a property in the township on June 1. They found the stolen golf carts, arrested a 44-year-old man and charged him with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
Golf course owners are convinced the level of organization it takes to transport a fleet of golf carts means professionals are behind the thefts.
"To move one golf cart, some guy can do that with a pickup truck. To move six golf carts, you need a flatbed [truck]," said Blair Breen, regional director of the central Ontario chapter of the NGCOA.
"You need to be working as a team."
Golf course owners and distributors suspect there is a thriving black market for golf carts ever since prices shot up during the pandemic. According to the University of North Carolina Charlotte Urban Institute in Charlotte, N.C., a parts shortage in the U.S. resulted in higher prices.
"It's quick and easy money," said Rob Davis, sales manager with Turf Care Products. The golf-cart distributor says he provides golf carts to about a third of all the golf courses in Ontario.
Almost once a month for almost a year, Kathleen Toman has left her home in Balsam Lake, Ont., for Mont-Tremblant, Que. This weekend, she’ll make the 500-kilometre trip again, meeting her ex-husband, Chris Toman, there.
A charity in Chase, B.C., has secured funding that it hopes will improve child-care services in the community by training new childhood educators.
Ontario is seeking feedback on a potential amendment to the Coroners Act that may replace mandatory inquests into jail deaths with coroner-led annual reviews.
Paul Myllyniemi takes the bus to work in Thunder Bay, Ont., every day — except when it doesn’t show up.
Residents in the Greater Toronto Area are digging themselves out and going back to their regular weekday schedules a day after a major snowstorm.
Commuters hoping to escape the cold by travelling on Line 6 will need to think again, as train service is down Friday morning.
Halim Rahim has lived in Canada for almost four years, but says he’s never experienced a winter like this.
For Lindsay Gillan, walking her dog, Daisy, twice a day in Charlottetown’s Victoria Park is a treasured routine that benefits both her physical and mental health.
Whitehorse city council has postponed its decision on an overhaul of its zoning bylaws that would, among other things, introduce short-term rental regulations in the city.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says he has reached a deal with China to allow tens of thousands of Chinese electric vehicles into the country in exchange for lower canola duties.
The Federal Court of Appeal is expected to give its decision Friday morning on whether the Liberal government unlawfully invoked the Emergencies Act to clear the convoy protests that gridlocked the capital city and border points nearly four years ago.
WARNING: This article describes allegations of sexual assault.
The average time for a 911 caller to connect with an operator is down to three seconds so far this year, according to Toronto police.