Bally Haly blues: Vandalized green frustrates manager, golfers leading up to Canada Games
Caption: The green on the seventh hole at the Bally Haly Golf and Country Club in St. John's was badly damaged by one or more off-road vehicles over the weekend. (Terry Roberts/CBC)
A grounds crew is scrambling to repair the green on the seventh hole at Bally Haly, after someone on an off-road vehicle damaged the delicate putting surface over the weekend.
It's a costly setback ahead of this summer's Canada Games, with the course scheduled to host the golfing competition.
"They came in here and they were just doing doughnuts; tearing up the sod. It's a big mess," said Mike Curran, general manager at the Bally Haly Golf and Country Club in the east end of St. John's.
Sometime Saturday evening or early Sunday morning, one or more off-road vehicles drove onto the delicately manicured putting surface and repeatedly did 360s, with spinning tires shredding the closely mowed grass.
It could be a month before golfers are back on this green, and the damage will cost thousands to repair, said Curran.
"It's going to be a lot of work for us over the next couple of weeks to get this back to where it should be. We also need the co-operation of the weather to help us with that, too," he said.
"Growing grass and Newfoundland is not the easiest thing in the world. So between myself and the rest of the staff, we're going to do everything we can to get this back to where it should be in the next couple of weeks."
A temporary green has been set up on No. 7, and longtime golfer Joe Lake made an impressive shot off the tee on Monday morning, rolling to within six feet of the hole, even with some snow falling.
But like many who play at Bally Haly, he's not impressed with the vandalism.
"There's a small element that they get a charge out of doing stuff like this. We're the people that got to suffer," said Lake.
It appears the joyriders entered through a path off the No. 8 hole, and did doughnuts on the teeing ground.
Police officers visited the club on Monday to investigate the incident.
It's not the attention Bally Haly was looking for as employees prepare to host the Canada Games in August.
"We want to have this place in pristine shape and this is going to set us back a bit. We'll get there, but it's going to set us back," said Curran.
The damage will be be fixed, but will the vandals be back? Curran said that's a real worry, so there's a plan to install barriers at some access points, though it's impossible to barricade the entire course.
"Hopefully the community will help us keep these people away," he said.
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