Vandals damage green at Aberdeen Golf Course

In April, volunteers were forced to clean up a green after a horse trampled over it.

Then, on Monday, another hole was destroyed, much to the despair of greenkeeper Doug Dowell.

“It looks like they’ve used a pole about 20 times to dig divots into the green,” he said.

“It beggars belief why they would do it.

“The people would’ve had to carry the pole to the course; we don’t have anything similar in the area.

“I’ve fixed it but it’s extremely exasperating.”

Mr Dowell has been voluntarily maintaining the greens at Jefferson Park for years and, while he’s seen some reckless behaviour during that period, the incident earlier in 2016 topped the lot.

It was the first time he’d ever come across a horse being ridden on a golf course. 

“The club was very disappointed; and we had blokes out here fixing it so we could play the next day,” he told Fairfax Media back then.

“As you can imagine, a horse on a soft green didn’t end too well; we needed pitchforks to lift it [the green] up.

“It’s frustrating when you’re looking after the greens for free and you have these kinds of incidents happening.”

Mr Dowell said Jefferson Park also suffered from dogs roaming around off leads, while there had been numerous cases of drivers performing burnouts.

A sign displayed at the park by Upper Hunter Shire Council prohibits littering, glass, dogs off leashes, fires, horses, vehicles and motorcycles.