I believe that pulling the baskets when a basket is stolen is a stupid idea. The fact that it worked at Valley View is making everyone think that it will work at Brown Deer. It was a miracle that the Valley View basket was returned by pulling the baskets. Here are the reasons pulling the baskets doesn't work:
1) If a disc golfer stole a basket from a course, it probably isn't his or her home course and doesn't care about the course.
2) If the person stole the basket for scrap, then the person could care less about the course going back in.
3) By making an example by pulling the course when a basket gets stolen, you set a precedent that the course will get pulled whenever a basket is stolen. Therefore, if somebody doesn't like the disc golfers in their park, all they have to do is steal a basket and the disc golfers go away with the course.
4) Disc golfers who drive from far away are disappointed when they reach the park to see that it is closed.
I am not saying that the basket should be replaced without any action. But pulling the course and the talk of having stay out until the basket returns is going to hurt the disc golf community. Maybe pull all Milwaukee courses!!! You don't know the kind of resentment will occur if they pull all of the courses for the rest of the summer if someone stole the basket for good. I don't know if you would fill another tournament in the Milwaukee area for awhile.
There needs to be a better solution. I like some of the ideas on here about GPS and things, but that is for preventative measures or solutions for the future. What can we do NOW to satisfy the disc golf community, but make it also a harsh punishment for stealing a basket?
I have come up with one solution that might work, but it would also hurt disc golfers financially. First of all, replace the basket. Second, make the course pay to play, $5.00 per day for example, until the basket is paid off. Of course, there would have to be someone out there enforcing this until you had enough money, but this does seem like a viable solution.
Does anybody else have any other good solutions?