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.<\/p>\n
The Royal Hobart Golf Club took to social media to ask the public for information regarding multiple acts of vandalism on the course green.<\/p>\n
The course appears to have wheelie marks hollowed deeply into the grass, suggesting involvement of bikes or e-bikes.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately last night [Saturday] and Thursday night we have had some damage on the course but what we estimate is someone on a bike,\u201d the post from Royal Hobart Golf Club read.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anyone could assist in knowing who is the cause that would be grateful.\u201d <\/p>\n
General Manager Nathan Sharrock described the incident as \u201cdevastating\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last week we\u2019ve had quite a few kids coming down to the golf club on electric bikes, essentially riding around the course, tearing up the greens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite a lot of work goes into green maintenance and due to that it\u2019s quite devastating to see the damage to the course because of the huge amount of work that goes into that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always a lot of hard work to get the golf course up to the standard that it\u2019s at.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could take anywhere from three to six months to repair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Sharrock discussed the setback an incident like this is, as \u201cgolf tourism in Hobart is booming with the addition of the Seven Mile Beach golf course opening\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re 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\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Sharrock couldn\u2019t guarantee that the entire course could continue to stay open if incidents like this continue, with security measures and shutdowns looming.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point we\u2019re just trying to pin golfers away from where there isn\u2019t damage but obviously if the damage continues, we\u2019d have to shut down and redo certain areas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a difficult situation, there\u2019s 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.\u201d <\/p>\n
A Tasmania Police spokesperson said: \u201cPolice have received reports of the grass being damaged at the Royal Hobart Golf Club this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone with information in relation to the damage is asked to contact Bellerive Police on 131 444 and quote escad 411-29032026\u201d<\/p>\n