We named this site Golf Takes Balls. We meant it as a metaphor.
William Yixin Pu, a 40-year-old San Jose man, apparently took it as a business plan.
Between March 25 and May 5, 2026, Pu allegedly hit retail stores across San Jose, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara — 28 separate times — walking out with golf balls and reselling them online. Total haul: approximately $8,000 worth of merchandise.
Eight. Thousand. Dollars. In golf balls.
That’s somewhere north of 150 dozen Pro V1s, depending on where he was shopping. The man had range.
The Operation
Pu wasn’t just pocket-stuffing a sleeve here and there. This was a retail theft ring with a resale operation — a one-man grey market for dimpled spheres. The San Jose Police Department’s retail theft unit took notice, teamed up with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s retail task force, and spent weeks building a case.
On May 6, they executed search and arrest warrants at his San Jose home. Stolen golf balls were recovered. Pu was booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail on felony grand theft charges.
The Ballsy Part
Look — we’re not endorsing theft. Obviously. Don’t steal golf balls.
But there is something objectively audacious about a man who looks at the premium golf ball market — $55 a dozen for a Pro V1, $50 for Chrome Tour, $48 for TP5 — and decides the real opportunity is on the supply side. Twenty-eight trips. Multiple counties. A dedicated online resale channel. This wasn’t a crime of opportunity. This was logistics.
The retail golf ball market is apparently lucrative enough to build a criminal enterprise around. Make of that what you will.
The Lesson
Golf takes balls. Getting caught with $8,000 worth of stolen ones takes something else entirely.
If you have information about the case, contact Investigator Moody #1617N at 408-277-4166.
And if you’re in the market for golf balls — the legal kind — we’ve got you covered.
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