Vandals have dug up several greens at Willingdon Golf Club in East Sussex in what has been described as an ‘extreme’ and ‘premeditated’ attack.
The incident, which happened on October 9, between the hours of 10pm and 5.30am, resulted in three greens being dug up with a spade or shovel, with four to five square metres of damaged turf on each putting surface.
Course manager Luke Turner described it as the ‘worst vandalism’ he’d experienced in his decade at the club, and says it could take until early next year to fully repair the damage.
Speaking to the Eastbourne Herald, Turner said: “We put in a lot of work and time and effort into creating excellent surfaces and some person decides to come along and vandalise and create damage. This is about the most severe I’ve seen in 10 to 11 years. It’s very extreme and premeditated.
“They have come equipped to do it, and they have walked almost a kilometre to get to the greens in questions. It took about 25 hours to get the surfaces repaired enough to play on again, but to get it back to the required high standard it will take most of the winter and into the spring.”
So far it has cost around £1,500 to repair the damage, and has put greenkeeping team at the club behind schedule with their other work on the course.
Turner added: “It affects our visitors and members that come to play here. We work so the greens are in fantastic condition all year round. The amount of work that goes into repairing mindless vandalism.”
Willingdon is open for member and visitor play, to book a tee time, visit www.willingdongolfclub.co.uk.