Two young boys may have thought they had hit the jackpot after gathering hundreds of golf balls from a fairway at the Balmacewen golf course in Dunedin at the weekend.
However, their scoop has not impressed police, who are appealing for information about the theft.
Constable Tracey Bransgrove, of Dunedin North, said golfers spotted the two boys - aged about 11 or 12 - filling plastic shopping bags with golf balls left on the course's practice fairway between 3pm and 4pm on Sunday.
An older male was spotted leaving the course near Jason St, between 6pm and 6.30pm the following day, carrying a large mesh bag with about 200 golf balls visible inside, Const Bransgrove said.
Club officials estimated between 400 and 600 of the Top-Flite Tour Range balls - each worth $1 - had been taken from the practice fairway in two days, she said.
The balls were normally regularly collected by course staff, but had not been on either occasion, she said.
Police wanted to hear from anyone who saw suspicious activity, particularly around Jason St, or from parents whose children had acquired a large number of golf balls, she said.
The stolen balls were fluorescent yellow and should be "very easy to spot", she said.
