Why Do Vandals Hate Golf Courses?

June 18, 2008

In my fair state of Minnesota, on June 18th, vandals struck the greens of a golf course in Rochester . Although the estimated damage was minimal (around $2700), it got me to thinking. Why do vandals love to damage golf courses, especially the greens? Why don’t they drive their cars around baseball diamonds or rip up sod in the outfield? Why don’t the pour paint on the fifty yard line at the local high school? Why is it just golf courses these vandals hate?

Some examples: twenty torched golf carts at Duck Creek Golf Course in Davenport, Iowa. In Manchester, England the Sale Golf Club’s greens were all dug up. The Pebble Lake Golf Course’s golf carts and greens were damaged . Chaska, Minnesota found its Par 30 Golf Course safe thrown in a pond. In Fergus Falls, Minnesota, the Honey Bee Golf Course (what a stupid name for a course) in Virginia got hit by apparent Satan worshippers . Even sainted Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California, site of Tiger’s amazing US Open victory isn’t immune to vandals .

Maybe these particular vandals had a bad round the day before and decided to take it out on the course. Are they attempting to strike back at “da man” because golf courses seen so proletarian? Are these people members of some kind of radical environmentalist group that doesn’t think golf can be eco-friendly? Is it just wanton destruction for the heck of it?

In whatever way these folks are expressing themselves, they seem to take great pleasure in screwing up a perfectly good golf green that will take all summer to recover. With such a short season in Minnesota, all it does is hurt the golf course and those that want to play it.

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