×

Teed off about booze ball

Terry Robard’s Wines and Spirits Co-owner Tim Robinson stands beside a giant tee on Monday that once held a Tito’s branded golf ball. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

LAKE PLACID — A theft at a local liquor store has left a hole in one businessowner’s display.

April Kirschman, who works at Terry Robard’s Wines and Spirits in Lake Placid, was surprised to come into work on Saturday to find that an enormous Tito’s Vodka-branded golf ball was missing from the store’s entrance off of Saranac Avenue.

“We’re not 100% sure that it was stolen,” Terry Robard’s co-owner Tim Robinson said Monday, “but the signs point to yes, it was taken by somebody.”

The golf ball, which was about the size of a basketball and glued to a tee that was about three feet tall, was displayed outside of the liquor store behind a Tito’s-branded doghouse for Robinson’s dog, Caymus, who was one of the first dogs to be featured in the liquor company’s “Vodka for Dog People” calendar in 2017. He occasionally gets special merchandise because of it.

The ball was only on display for less than two weeks before it went missing, according to Robinson.

People around town have different theories for what happened to the ball. Mike Foote, a local insurance agent, told Robinson that he’d spotted the ball in a nearby forest, but neither Robinson nor Foote was able to locate it when they looked there, according to Robinson.

Robinson says it’s unlikely that the ball was caught up in the wind and blew away. Where it was displayed, there’s little to no wind, and it was glued to the tee.

Kirschman had a conversation with a customer the day before the ball went missing that makes her believe it was stolen.

“Earlier that day (Friday), a gentleman came in. If you asked me to point him out, I couldn’t tell you, because it was such a busy day,” she said. “He said to me that I should not be surprised if I was to come in one day and the golf ball was missing. He said, ‘That’s my father’s favorite vodka, Tito’s.’ I said, ‘No, you wouldn’t do that. Don’t be silly.’ He said, ‘You would be surprised.’ I came in the next morning, and sure enough, it was gone.”

Kirschman left the tee the ball was glued to outside the shop over the weekend, just in case the person decided to return it. They didn’t.

“All I can say to the people who took it, you had your fun. Just simply return the ball,” she said.

Robinson posted about the missing ball on social media on Saturday.

“Is it wrong all I could think is ‘maybe they shanked it and it’s in the rough?'” commented Matt Peglow.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.75/week.

Subscribe Today