A GOLF club has been repeatedly targeted by vandals setting fires on the course.
The most recent attack on Waterfront Golf in Wath-upon-Dearne, last Saturday, meant a fire engine had to be driven onto the course to extinguish the blaze.
Frank Houlgate, owner of the club, said: “For the last three weeks it’s been every week.
“The latest one we had to get the fire engine out onto the golf course and it took them about two hours to put it out completely.
“If it had got hold it could have caused some real damage, but it still covered a patch about 100 yards by 40 yards.
“Luckily nobody got hurt and apart from damage to birds’ nests and the aesthetics of the course, it could have been a lot worse.”
The 175-acre course, on Station Road, backs onto land near Bolton Ings, part of RSPB Old Moor.
The fires have been started near the course’s eighth hole, which is at the back of the course and only just visible from the clubhouse.
Frank, 47, said the club wants to work with offenders and educate them, rather than simply punish them.
“We’re working with most schools and trying really hard to involve kids rather than telling them off, unfortunately it just doesn’t seem to be enough,” he said.
“It’s a real headache, we have looked at inviting them for games or training sessions.
“If we can get through to kids in school time that’s our ideal scenario.
“If they’ve got some form of ownership they would stop coming and damaging the course.
“At the end of the day it’s private property, so it’s arson. And we’re a family business so any sort of vandalism comes straight out of our pockets.
“We want to work with them, but if it keeps happening and if we catch them, it will be hard not to prosecute.”
