WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – Joe Highsmith’s spring season hasn’t even begun yet and already the Pepperdine junior is off to a tough start.
Highsmith will have to play this week’s Southwestern Invitational, which begins Monday, just two days after his golf clubs were stolen out of his vehicle while it sat in his driveway. Highsmith believes the clubs were taken from his trunk sometime after 9 p.m. Friday, when he arrived home from an MRI on his back.
“I went out to get something from my car Saturday morning and all the stuff from my trunk was in the backseat, and normally my back seat is empty, so I knew I didn’t put it there,” Highsmith said. “And then I go to the trunk, and my clubs are gone.”
Among the items stolen were Highsmith’s gamer set, including his trusty Scotty Cameron 009 putter, and his blue Pepperdine golf bag, which has his name stitched on the front.
“The putter was the biggest thing,” Highsmith said of the flatstick he’s had since 2017. “I had totally fallen in love with that putter.”
With limited time to find an alternative set, Highsmith had to scramble. He dusted off his old Pepperdine golf bag. Titleist was able to build him a new driver, 3-wood and 3-iron. He’s borrowing the irons and wedges from mid-amateur Nick Geyer, who works for Scotty Cameron.
Highsmith also has Geyer’s putter, though it’s a completely different feel from what he’s used to.
“It’s a little longer, the neck is longer, it’s lighter and the ball comes off the face differently,” Highsmith said. “As soon as I got to the course today, I knew I was going to have to find another putter.”
So, after completing his practice round Sunday at North Ranch, Highsmith headed to Roger Dunn, a golf shop in nearby Thousand Oaks, to find something that would work. He settled on a Toulon Design putter.
“I feel good about this putter,” Highsmith texted GolfChannel.com.
Now, he just has to put his makeshift set to the test.