The Lampman Golf Course is dealing with a major blow after six of its rental golf carts were stolen just after midnight on Saturday, August 2nd, right at the start of the Saskatchewan Day long weekend.
According to course president Blaise Fornwald, the carts were locked and chained outside the clubhouse overnight, but the suspects cut through the chain and loaded the vehicles onto a trailer.
“Friday night around midnight, someone came in and stole our six rental carts that we had sitting out front of the golf course that we had locked up for the night,” said Fornwald. “They loaded them on a trailer and hauled them away.”
Surveillance cameras from nearby RM offices and businesses captured a truck and gooseneck trailer pulling into the property and leaving with the carts. The footage also shows the truck driving through the area with the carts loaded up.
Later that morning, tips came in from citizens on patrol in Alida, who had seen the truck passing through town at around 1:30 a.m.
“We got a call from Alida and they said, ‘We saw your golf carts going through town last night,’” Fornwald said. “They put us in touch with a couple people who had doorbell cams and they have video of the truck going by with the carts on.”
The stolen carts are clearly marked, including stickers that say “Lampman Golf Course” on the back. Despite the markings, none of the carts have been recovered yet.
The theft is also creating a major financial headache for the course. With all six rental carts gone, Fornwald says they’ve been forced to suspend cart rentals entirely, at the worst possible time.
“Weekends are our busy time out there, being a long weekend and a nice weekend, yeah, we lost a fair bit of revenue by not having them there,” he said.
Fornwald estimates the course is out between $500–$800 per day in lost cart rentals and green fees, not including the cost of replacing the equipment.
“We have insurance on them, but you know how insurance is, it's still going to cost us money.”
The course is asking the public to come forward with any tips that might help the RCMP investigation.
“If anyone has any information, we’d be gratefully happy to take it.”
While the course does have a shed where carts are sometimes stored, Fornwald said they’re often chained up outside overnight due to convenience. The club operates on an honor system, with no full-time staff on-site and payments made by e-transfer or dropbox.
“It’s just an honor system we have out there... and they just broke the chain and took the carts.”
The Estevan RCMP are asking anyone with information to contact them at 306-637-4400 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.