The greens of a Hobart golf course have been repeatedly terrorised by supposed e-bike hooligans, pushing the club closer to shutting down parts of the course for repairs that could take months.
The Royal Hobart Golf Club took to social media to ask the public for information regarding multiple acts of vandalism on the course green.
The course appears to have wheelie marks hollowed deeply into the grass, suggesting involvement of bikes or e-bikes.
“Unfortunately last night [Saturday] and Thursday night we have had some damage on the course but what we estimate is someone on a bike,” the post from Royal Hobart Golf Club read.
“If anyone could assist in knowing who is the cause that would be grateful.”
General Manager Nathan Sharrock described the incident as “devastating”.
“Over the last week we’ve had quite a few kids coming down to the golf club on electric bikes, essentially riding around the course, tearing up the greens,” he said.
“Quite a lot of work goes into green maintenance and due to that it’s quite devastating to see the damage to the course because of the huge amount of work that goes into that.
“It’s always a lot of hard work to get the golf course up to the standard that it’s at.
“To fix it we have to sand the greens to try and wear it down over time or we actually have to replace a lot of the turf.
“This could take anywhere from three to six months to repair.”
Mr Sharrock discussed the setback an incident like this is, as “golf tourism in Hobart is booming with the addition of the Seven Mile Beach golf course opening”.
“We’re seeing a lot more visitors come through, they expect to be able to play on a quality playing surface and now there potentially will be areas where they can’t,” he said.
Mr Sharrock couldn’t guarantee that the entire course could continue to stay open if incidents like this continue, with security measures and shutdowns looming.
“At this point we’re just trying to pin golfers away from where there isn’t damage but obviously if the damage continues, we’d have to shut down and redo certain areas,” he said.
“It’s a difficult situation, there’s discussions around what the security looks like going forward, but obviously we will be lodging this to police and hopefully it deters them away from doing it.”
A Tasmania Police spokesperson said: “Police have received reports of the grass being damaged at the Royal Hobart Golf Club this week.
“Anyone with information in relation to the damage is asked to contact Bellerive Police on 131 444 and quote escad 411-29032026”