Golfer Asks Bear to Stop — It Takes the Whole Bag Anyway

Quick Take

• A BC black bear ignored its victim's pleas and dragged off an entire golf bag, though its motive had nothing to do with golf. See the theft unfold →
• The owner desperately wanted to stop the bear, even though doing nothing was actually the smartest move he could have made. Why not intervening was smart →
• Something stored in that golf bag is why bears at this course are more dangerous than most golfers realize. What attracted the bear →
• The bear eventually surrendered the bag, though not because anyone stopped it. How the bear dropped the bag →

Black bears are known for attempting some crazy heists. One bear in particular decided it wanted to play a round of golf. But one club was not enough for the bear. It stole an entire golf bag instead.

Black Bear Steals Clubs Off the Back of Golf Cart

Black bears are not uncommon in British Columbia. However, encountering one while playing a round of golf may be unusual.

On or around July 12, 2026, a black bear blatantly stole golf clubs from a group of golfers enjoying a day at the Golden Eagle Golf Club in Pitt Meadows. A video, which has since gone viral across multiple platforms, shows the bear ripping the clubs from the cart.

“Hey bear! Hey bear!” the owner says to the bear in the video. “…Get off my golf clubs, please!”

The bear pays the owner of the clubs no mind. Instead, the bear does not hesitate to take the entire bag once it is removed from the cart, and runs off toward some trees.

Along the way, the bear drops some clubs due to the bag’s awkward shape. However, the bear is not deterred and eventually takes off running—still carrying the bag—toward a different hole. The bear even seems to show off its ill-gotten gains to a companion as it scampers off.

Why Would the Bear Steal the Golf Clubs?

At first, it seems the bear is stealing the clubs just for fun. However, as it turns out, the bear picked up a scent it wanted to explore further. When the bag proved too difficult to open, the bear simply took the entire set of clubs.

According to one of the golfers, when they got to the 12th hole, the black bear immediately came out behind them.

“We noticed behind us that a bear had come out of the bush to our right and was wandering over to our cart,” the golfer explained via USA Today. “It must have picked up a scent of some trail mix in the bag of clubs attached to the golf cart.”

This is why, on golf courses where black bears are common, it is important to keep food in bear-resistant containers to prevent attracting bears.

Golf Club Owner Did the Right Thing By Not Interfering

Golf clubs are not cheap. Therefore, it likely crossed the owner’s mind to try to scare the bear off or even take the clubs back. However, by doing nothing, the owner did the right thing.

Black bears tend not to be aggressive toward people. This means that as long as black bears are not provoked or do not feel threatened, they generally avoid people and are only interested in items that may contain food.

The owner of the golf clubs and the rest of the golfers did the right thing by simply letting the bear take the clubs. Had they attempted to intervene, the bear may have attacked. Could some of the golfers have kept a greater distance from the bear? Absolutely. But as evidenced by a second video of the incident taken by golfers on a nearby hole, the entire situation went about as well as possible.

The bear realized the bag was too cumbersome to drag along. Therefore, when its companion caught up to it, the bear dropped the bag. Shortly thereafter, the golfer likely retrieved his golf bag—perhaps a bit worse for wear—and left with an interesting story to tell.