Police Hunt For Golf Vandals

First and second hole greens were ripped up by vehicles which were deliberately driven across the golf course.

This is a blow for a volunteer workforce who maintain the course and its 200 members and visitors.

Golf Club treasurer Hal Rickard-Bell estimated that the lost revenue and repairs would amount to thousands.

“How many people does it put off?,” Mr Rikard-Bell asked.

“If you lost ten golfers a week that’s $500 a week, for a small club that’s a lot of knock-on effects.

“For a small business, $50 could be the difference between being a profitable day and a not profitable day.”

The damage was discovered by golf club members on Saturday morning after teeing off at 8am.

“They spun the wheels here [the first green] and drove off and then done circle work down at the second.”

“It’s happened before, but it’s been a long, long time since.”

Every Saturday a competition is held with up to 40 golfers in attendance.

“We touch on a fairly big part of the community in some way or another. There’s a lot of vested interest for a lot of people,” Mr Rikard-Bell said.

The greens director, Tim Reid, will work overtime to have the course ready for upcoming competitions.

“It’ll be a big job for them to solve the problem and have it playable.

“Is it going to be really, really bad in three weeks? I don’t know. It’ll probably be a bit bare.

“Twice a year we core the greens, it’ll take that time to get rid of it.”

Mr Rikard-Bell said the club would happily press charges. “If they’re on their watch list they’ll slip up somewhere, it’s not like they’re super smart.”