The Launceston Golf Club is facing a hefty repair bill after a young person allegedly damaged several greens on the course overnight.
Club president Tony Wilks said the incident occurred right in the middle of a two-day state junior amateur championship being hosted at the club.
Wilks said a neighbour called the club around late on Sunday evening to report a motorbike riding around the course.
“There are a couple of greens where the damage looks like they’ve been doing doughnuts and they’ve dug quite deeply into a couple of them, which is very sad,” he told Pulse.
“The riders undertake tight turns and skid the wheels and spray the surface of the grass and tear it.”
Wilks said incidents like these affect the whole community.
“These greens cost a lot of money to build and they’re community assets. Everybody in the community is welcome to come and use them,” he said.
“For the sake of one impetuous act by a young person … there’s all of this inconvenience and costs that now have to be met.”
“We live in a place where we’re fortunate where our kids can have time on their hands to enjoy themselves, but unfortunately some of them see fit to just destroy other people’s property without any regard to the cost.”
He says “all have been on deck” trying to repair the “significant” damage to enable the state’s players to be able to compete in the second day of the junior amateur championship today.
The club is looking at options to recover the costs of the repairs from the person responsible.
“I’ve been at Launceston since 2010 and I’ve not seen it here before. I know that both Mowbray and Riverside have experienced vandalism in the past,” he said.
“It’s very disappointing and it means we’re just going to have to up the ante on course security, fencing and the like to try to keep the place secure, which just adds more inconvenience for people.”
Despite the incident, Wilks said the junior amateur championship is going well.
“We’re very proud to host these things … It’s a good thing for golf, it’s a good thing for the community.”
