Golf club crime is estimated at £10 million a year with stolen goods often coming back into the marketplace through trade-ins and the second-hand club business.
So American Golf, with help from Immobilise and GolfClubs4Cash, is leading a new initiative designed to combat this. The scheme, called Immobigolf, will ask golfers to to register their equipment for free on a national database.
“In 2019, American Golf suffered an unprecedented amount of organised crime,” explains John Mantle, American Golf’s loss prevention manager explains. “We met with GolfClubs4Cash and Immobilise and between us we identified a solution that would tackle crime from the bottom up. With the help of our partners, including Golf Care insurance, we hope that we can reach a situation where all golfers are using this free system to protect their clubs.”
So how does it prevent golf club crime?
At the moment, although every golf club has a unique manufacturer’s serial number, it is very difficult for stolen goods to be returned because these numbers are rarely registered to an owner.
But once they’re logged on the Immobigolf system, the database will also allow retailers and traders to track the full ownership history of any piece of registered equipment and determine immediately if something is stolen or counterfeit.
Les Gray of Recipero, the company that operates Immobilise, said: “If the entire golf community gets behind this initiative then stolen golf clubs will become too hot for criminals to handle.”
Murray Winton of GolfClubs4Cash added: “We are seen by thieves as an easy target to sell stolen merchandise. Using this software puts an end to that.”
For more information visit the Immobigolf website.
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