I was playing my local coarse at Addlethorpe  ( Nr Skegness ) Sunday ,When 
playing off the  6th hole hit a terrible drive all of 100 mts Pulled out my 
5 Iron and hit it sweet has a nut down the fairway good 200 mts feeling very 
happy with myself I noticed a couple of crows approaching my nice new golf 
ball I stood there in amazement one of the crows picked up my ball  twice 
and dropped it  a little down the fairway then he or she had another go and 
managed to hold the ball and flew about 80 feet and dropped it into the 
drain that runs parallel with the fairway...
All the best from Chris

wrote in message 
news:SrmdnVI3iaa1fLvanZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
>I was playing my local coarse at Addlethorpe  ( Nr Skegness ) Sunday ,When 
>playing off the  6th hole hit a terrible drive all of 100 mts Pulled out my 
>5 Iron and hit it sweet has a nut down the fairway good 200 mts feeling 
>very happy with myself I noticed a couple of crows approaching my nice new 
>golf ball I stood there in amazement one of the crows picked up my ball 
>twice and dropped it  a little down the fairway then he or she had another 
>go and managed to hold the ball and flew about 80 feet and dropped it into 
>the drain that runs parallel with the fairway...
> All the best from Chris

Chris,
While it is quite a thrill to watch it happen, the picking up of golf balls 
by crows in not that uncommon.

I once saw one pick up a fellow-competitor's ball and fly with it to the 
green, dropping it there.
He thought he was helping but unfortunately did not know the Rules of Golf 
well enough!

The ball has to be replaced from where the crow lifted it (Rule 18-1).
If either the spot from where the ball was lifted or the lie of the ball at 
the time is not known, the ball has to be dropped instead of being placed 
(Rule 20-3c)
If the ball is not readily available another ball may be substituted. ;-)

Malcolm

On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:45:10 -0000,  wrote:

>I was playing my local coarse at Addlethorpe  ( Nr Skegness ) Sunday ,When 
>playing off the  6th hole hit a terrible drive all of 100 mts Pulled out my 
>5 Iron and hit it sweet has a nut down the fairway good 200 mts feeling very 
>happy with myself I noticed a couple of crows approaching my nice new golf 
>ball I stood there in amazement one of the crows picked up my ball  twice 
>and dropped it  a little down the fairway then he or she had another go and 
>managed to hold the ball and flew about 80 feet and dropped it into the 
>drain that runs parallel with the fairway...
>All the best from Chris 

I saw a video of a course here in the US where there was a prowling
fox who would regularly steal golf balls.  There was a hole with a
blind landing area off the tee and often balls right down the middle
would turn up missing.  The story said that a lot of the regulars
switch to cheap balls on that hole so the fox doesn't steal their
expensive ones.  :-)  
-- 
jvdp
http://www.rsgcincinnati.com

g4lop@btinternet.com wrote:
> I was playing my local coarse at Addlethorpe  ( Nr Skegness ) Sunday 
> ,When playing off the  6th hole hit a terrible drive all of 100 mts 
> Pulled out my 5 Iron and hit it sweet has a nut down the fairway good 
> 200 mts feeling very happy with myself I noticed a couple of crows 
> approaching my nice new golf ball I stood there in amazement one of the 
> crows picked up my ball  twice and dropped it  a little down the fairway 
> then he or she had another go and managed to hold the ball and flew 
> about 80 feet and dropped it into the drain that runs parallel with the 
> fairway...
> All the best from Chris

My encounter was with a seagull.

Invitation Day, 17th hole at Waterton Park, lovely down hill par 3 with 
a Nearest the Pin prize, my ball finished a makable put's distance from 
the flag well inside the previous best. Down swooped the gull ignoring 
our shouts and clapping and flew off with it's new egg. Being about 180 
yards away I found it a bit tricky choosing where to actually place the 
ball accurately and erred probably a bit too cautiously, fortunately 
someone else got to a couple of feet later in the day.

As for crows, on the 12 and 17th at Wike there used to be a crow which 
regularly crawked on golfers' back swings, it often sound like a chuckle 
as it saw many a duffed shot as a result. It happened too often to be 
accidental.
-- 
Durram