Damage at the Richfield, Wis., golf course exceeded $20,000 after nine golf carts were used in a “bumper-car, golf-cart joyride” on May 11.
Kettle Hills Golf Course in Richfield, Wis., was recently the target of what PGA Head Golf Professional Garrett Mack called a “bumper-car, golf-cart joyride” involving nine of the golf carts on the course, the Waukesha (Wis.)-based Germantown Now reported.
Damage on the course exceeded $20,000, including the totaling of six golf carts and the repair of three additional carts, Now reported.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Mack. “It’s not just the damage to the golf course: when you’re a golfer and respect the beauty of a golf course and someone comes out there with such carelessness and tries to ruin what other people enjoy, that’s what is really disappointing.”
Course superintendent Lee Suwalski was the first to notice the damage on the morning of May 11, Now reported.
“It was pretty brutal,” Mack said. “I’m actually surprised nobody got seriously hurt.”
Three of the carts ended up submerged in the ponds throughout the course and fences and other landscaping areas were damaged as well, Now reported.
“It’s like they were driving bumper cars or something,” said Mack. “It was pure recklessness. This is an incident where you could tell they were out to play crash up derby with these carts.”
The course houses about 170 carts in an area near the golf shop that remains unlocked because, as Mack put it, “if someone wants to get to the carts, they will find a way whether the carts are locked up or not,” Now reported.
An avid golfer, Pete Sorenson, owner of Pete’s Main Street Headliners in Menomonee Falls, has played at Kettle Hills for more than 20 years in various leagues and events. “It’s really too bad to think someone would want to cause damage to such a beautiful setting,” he said.
The incident coincided with the night of the Germantown High School prom, which Mack said he thinks might not merely be coincidence. The number of suspects remains unknown at this point, Now reported.
“(Vandalism) like this is an ongoing issue for many golf courses, but we are definitely on high alert for this kind of thing this time of year, and alcohol and stupidity do go hand in hand,” Mack said.
But there was some rhyme or reason behind the prank, because Mack said it was apparent that the engines of the carts, located beneath the front seat, had been altered to allow the carts to drive at a faster speed, Now reported.
“Whoever did this knew their way around a golf cart, that’s for sure,” Mack said.
An active investigation is being completed by the Washington County Sheriff’s Department and Kettle Hills Golf Course will be offering a $2,000 reward for information provided leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved, Now reported.
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