| How is it Golf Digest's Senior Editor of Equipment, Mike Stachura, recently found himself drinking coffee at 6 a.m. in a Los Angeles park with 15 police officers fully loaded with automatic rifles and bulletproof vests? Participating in this dawn raid was the culmination of an impromptu conversation months earlier at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, when Stachura learned about the rise of organized retail crime in golf. Yes, a lot of storefront windows have been getting smashed lately, and it's probable any online auction site listing you see for a new TaylorMade or Callaway or Titleist at a cut price is actually linked to mafias and cartels who move illegal drugs and other stolen goods.
"It was clear I was in the middle of something that seemed more important than golf clubs," Stachura told me after he returned safely. "As these officers from the California Highway Patrol mapped their final plan on a whiteboard a few blocks from the suspect's house, they were not ready for me to pop off with wisecracks." Though Stachura proved his worth later and was "unofficially deputized" at the warehouse when the police needed help assessing the value of the seized goods–which included about $50,000 in drivers through putters, and $15,000 in cash.
No other word than shocking can describe what's going on in the background of our game. As always, we're committed to deep reporting, and we'll be following this story as the arrests happen. Golf Digest+ subscribers can be the first to read Stachura's feature: "Busted: How a surge of smash-and-grab robberies is upending golf retail" here. |
