Edinburgh E-bike yobs wreck historic golf course as greenkeeper speaks of 'despair'

Edinburgh Live

07-05-2025

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A gang of E-bike vandals have ripped up a historic Edinburgh golf course.
The head greenkeeper at Braid Hills Golf Club has spoken of his despair, after around 15 riders roared across the greens. Gary Rodger branded the aftermath a 'scene of devastation' while speaking with the Daily Record.
The course has been left with deep skid marks, with members 'appalled'.
The 136-year-old municipal has come under repeated attacks from youngsters on the electronic bikes, which have marauded, along with others on high powered scramblers.
Gary said: 'One of our boys made a video of the young boys coming over a fairway and you could count around 15 of them against the skyline.
"It was a grim sight, when you know what was going to happen next. I don't know if they are setting out to cause the damage or whether they just like the hills and contours, which cause natural ramps for them.
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"But they are ripping up all our good work and it's soul destroying for us."
Gary said the greenkeepers have been working long and hard to get the course in top condition for the prestigious Dispatch Trophy - which has run for 125 years.
He said: "This is a club with such a rich history and these bikes are killing us.
"The greens were looking pretty good but when we came to work and were faced with the damage it was a hammer blow."
(Image: Supplied/Daily Record)
Gary's videos and images on X were shared worldwide, causing outrage in the USA and Australia among golf fans. He has made a complaint to police and hopes they can stop those responsible before the course suffers even worse damage.
The course damage includes two greens that were left unplayable, plus grooves caused by deep skids in other parts of the course.
Gary added: 'We have an 18 hole course that we have been focusing on and a nine hole course. They just keep coming back to the big course, which is really frustrating.'
He said that efforts were being made to identify those responsible, including analysing various videos.
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He said: 'The stuff we have doesn't make faces clear but we are hoping that police might be able to put together whatever evidence is there and get an idea of who is doing this.
'We are literally dreading this going on and on. My first thought is to appeal to the better nature of those responsible in the hope they can accept that what they are doping might be having consequences way beyond what they ever intended. But we really just need it to stop.'
In August last year a group of bikers were filmed wreaking havoc at Braid Hills, as horrified locals watched on.
Three youths on motorised bikes were chewing up turf, ignoring the protests of witnesses who berated them and demanded that they stop. A video at the time showed a resident, yelling at the group before they beeped their horns at him and took off from the scene.