A Northport family is thankful after a stranger returned a beloved golf club set that was found along Highway 43 last week.

Jessica Hall knows all too well of her father Jim Hall's love for golf. She said Jim visits Ol' Colony Golf Complex weekly to play with friends, but due to a local golf tournament, Jim decided to travel to Birmingham on September 23 to play when the unexpected happened.

"Dad was having a bad day," Jessica said. "He kept forgetting things as he prepared to go to Birmingham and had to come back home several times to get his stuff."

Hall said her dad finally was prepared to leave and needed to get gas before hitting the road. While at the gas station, Jim realized his golf bag was missing. Jim drove back and forth on Highway 43 to retrace his path to see if he would find his clubs but had no luck.

Tuscaloosa Thread logo
Get our free mobile app

"He thinks the tailgate on his truck didn't latch properly and the whole bag fell out onto Highway 43," Hall said.

Jim returned home and told Jessica what happened and she decided to jump into action to get her dad's golf bag back. The Hall family was eager to find his prized clubs, which she said were worth around $4,000.

"I called Northport Police Department and made a report. I was praying that we would be able to get them back, but I had a feeling that we wouldn't," Hall said.

Jessica's fears at first seemed to be well-founded. During the course of the search, she found several men cutting grass at a Northport storage company, who told her they saw a man grab the bag out of the middle of the road and drive away.

After returning home with no luck, she decided to post about the missing golf bag on various Facebook groups. She posted in a "Northport Garage Sale" Facebook group when she began to see an immediate response from local members who wanted to help.

"A bunch of people were sharing [the post] and dad said 'watch it be someone who doesn't use Facebook who found them,'" Jessica said.

Jim, coincidentally, was correct. Darrell Pike was the man who was seen picking up the golf clubs, but fortunately, he was actively working to get them back to their owner.

Pike is not a Facebook user so he solicited his friend, Randy Hughes, to post about the golf clubs on his behalf. Karrah Noland saw Hughes's post and sent a screenshot to Jessica, who was able to contact both Hughes and Pike and ultimately got the golf clubs back to her dad.

Jessica Hall
Jessica Hall
loading...

 

Jessica Hall
Jessica Hall
loading...

Jessica said the reunion was an act of God and sincerely thanked everyone for helping with getting her dad's golf clubs back.

Tuscaloosa Thread logo
Get our free mobile app

"I felt like God was doing some work in this," Jessica said. "We all were able to come together and used Facebook to get them back. We are very thankful to Darrell because we offered him a $50 finder's fee and he didn't take it. I want to buy him a pizza or something to show how much we appreciate him. It was a blessing in disguise."

Top Stories from the Tuscaloosa Thread (9/19 - 9/26)

20 of the Top Stories published by the Tuscaloosa Thread during the week of September 19th, 2022.

More From Tuscaloosa Thread