For the second time in the past few weeks, the Belen, N.M., property is cleaning up after vandals. On June 23, staff awoke to large divots and torn up sod on the 11th hole, and a resident reported that the vandals flung the tee boxes through a window in his home.
On June 23, Craig Tabet awoke to find huge divots and torn up sod on Tierra del Sol Golf Club’s 11th hole. It was the second time in the past few weeks the Belen, N.M., golf course has been vandalized, the Belen, N.M.-based Valencia County News-Bulletin reported.
“Last week we went down to No. 17 and found some damage there but this was much worse,” said the Head Golf Professional. “This was a larger area and we’ll actually have to re-sod it. It’s un-playable.”
Tabet estimated the damage at $10,000 and suspects the vandals were between ages 12 and 17 based on recent troubles he said the course has had with youth in the area. One piece of vandalism—a crudely shaped cut-out of male genitalia―would seem to confirm Tabet’s suspicions, the News-Bulletin reported.
The golf course did not file a report with the Valencia county Sheriff’s Office for the first incident but has for Tuesday’s, the News-Bulletin reported.
A Rio Communities resident, who lives adjacent to the 11th hole, also received damage to his home when the vandals flung the tee boxes from No. 11 into a window of his house at approximately 1:45 a.m. Tuesday morning, the News-Bulletin reported.
“He called us this morning and he’s pretty upset about it,” said Tabet, who said the vandalism this summer has been among the worst he’s seen in his 12 years as golf professional at Tierra del Sol.
Tabet said non-golfers used to be allowed to walk the areas adjacent to the greens, but too many younger residents were treating the area as a public park. He also said workers began finding stakes from the water hazards being thrown into the golf course’s lake, which was demoralizing for the staff, the News-Bulletin reported.
“It’s hard on the employees who spend a lot of time getting the course into top shape when they see something like that. It deflates them,” Tabet said. “The golfers here are disgusted about it, too. We’ve been having a lot of conversations about it.”
Tabet said in addition to searching the vandals out, he and General Manager Clinton Tabet would be talking to area residents about helping police the golf course in the future, the News-Bulletin reported.
“What we’ve been telling residents as well as club members is that they can call our hot line or cell phone numbers and we can be here in five minutes to get the problem resolved,” Tabet said. “Some people understand what a good golf course we have and how good it is to have in our community, especially here in Valencia County. It’s one of the only places people can come for recreation. It’s disappointing for someone to be doing this.”
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.