A CLYDEBANK golf club was forced to temporarily close half its course after vandals tore up the green, rendering it “unplayable”. 

Staff at Clydebank and District Golf Club have hit out at thoughtless quadbike drivers who scarred the grass with tread marks just days before the first competition of the year was due to start.

Stephen Welsh, the club captain, said: “It really is frustrating. It ruins the experience for everybody that is paying their membership fees up there.

“Parts of the course are unplayable. Saturday, January 6 was the first competition of 2018 and areas are being cordoned off because of the damage.”

Alan Waugh, the club’s PGA professional, added the vandalism has direct implications on day-to-day business at the course.

He said: “It’s brutal because obviously that sort of thing can put people off coming up and playing.

“That has a knock-on effect on business – less footfall, less people coming into the shop. 

“It’s disappointing people damaging the course and being reckless like that. It’s just blatant vandalism.”

Bankies who live near the golf club said they heard what they thought to be quadbikes at around 6pm on Saturday, December 30.

Graeme Latto has been the course manager for 15 years and said the club suffered the same problem last May.

Within the space of a week, the course had been vandalised several times with tyre marks but the ground was able to repair quickly because of the summer weather. 

However, as the latest bout has happened in the winter, the damage will have a longer lasting impact.

He said: “You put in work all year and in the winter time there’s no growth in the grass, so it’s not going to repair itself until well into the spring.

“We’ve done the work and It’s the members that suffer. The speed they go at all that damage is done in 15 or 20 minutes.

“It doesn’t put the New Year off to a good start. At the moment, only one to eight holes are open. The ninth green will be off for the foreseeable future.

“Guys coming up, who are wanting to play 18 holes with their pals are playing eight holes because of mindless idiots.”

Officers from Clydebank police station said they are investigating the reports of vandalism at the course.