Bally Haly blues: Vandalized green frustrates manager, golfers leading up to Canada Games

CBC News

· Posted: May 12, 2025 2:40 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

A grounds unit is scrambling to repair the greenish connected the seventh spread astatine Bally Haly, aft idiosyncratic connected an off-road conveyance damaged the delicate putting aboveground implicit the weekend.

It's a costly setback up of this summer's Canada Games, with the people scheduled to big the golfing competition.

"They came successful present and they were conscionable doing doughnuts; tearing up the sod. It's a large mess," said Mike Curran, wide manager astatine the Bally Haly Golf and Country Club successful the eastbound extremity of St. John's.

Sometime Saturday evening oregon aboriginal Sunday morning, 1 oregon much off-road vehicles drove onto the delicately manicured putting aboveground and repeatedly did 360s, with spinning tires shredding the intimately mowed grass.

It could beryllium a period earlier golfers are backmost connected this green, and the damage will outgo thousands to repair, said Curran.

"It's going to be a batch of enactment for america implicit the adjacent mates of weeks to get this backmost to wherever it should be. We besides request the co-operation of the upwind to assistance america with that, too," helium said. 

"Growing writer and Newfoundland is not the easiest happening successful the world. So betwixt myself and the remainder of the staff, we're going to bash everything we tin to get this backmost to wherever it should beryllium successful the adjacent mates of weeks."

A impermanent greenish has been acceptable up connected No. 7, and longtime golfer Joe Lake made an awesome changeable disconnected the tee connected Monday morning, rolling to wrong six feet of the hole, adjacent with immoderate snowfall falling. 

But similar galore who play astatine Bally Haly, he's not impressed with the vandalism.

"There's a tiny constituent that they get a complaint retired of doing worldly similar this. We're the radical that got to suffer," said Lake.

It appears the joyriders entered done a way disconnected the No. 8 hole, and did doughnuts connected the teeing ground.

Police officers visited the nine connected Monday to analyse the incident.

It's not the attraction Bally Haly was looking for arsenic employees hole to big the Canada Games successful August.

"We privation to person this spot successful pristine signifier and this is going to acceptable america backmost a bit. We'll get there, but it's going to acceptable america back," said Curran.

The harm volition be be fixed, but volition the vandals beryllium back? Curran said that's a existent worry, truthful there's a program to instal barriers astatine immoderate entree points, though it's intolerable to barricade the full course.

"Hopefully the assemblage volition assistance america support these radical away," helium said.

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