A WEST Devon golf range, targeted by ball thieves, is stepping up security to save itself thousands of pounds each year.
Kevin Wigens, proprietor of the Yelverton Golf Driving Range at Crapstone, said they had instituted dog patrols and now had security staff on site 24 hours a day.
'We intend to take the firmest possible action,' said Mr Wigens. 'It is not a trivial offence, it really is quite serious.'
The driving range occupies some 12 acres of land, which is scoured periodically by centre staff to recover the tens of thousands of balls that might be out on the range at any one time.
'We pick most of them up, but there are probably hundreds of stragglers, worth thousands of pounds a year,' said Mr Wigens.
It appears thieves have been getting onto the site at night and stealing
the balls.
Police found almost two hundred balls last week in the adjacent industrial area, thought to have been left behind when a bag carried by the thieves split.
Mr Wigens was not sure whether the thefts could be put down to youngsters or was part of a more sophisticated operation, but he said the theft was laughable really since the balls were of little use to anyone else and were effectively valueless.
He explained the balls — labelled with the word 'range' to distinguish them from regular balls — were good quality, but designed exclusively for the driving practice area — having a range of some 70 per cent of that of a normal ball.