Vandals Rough Up Golden Gate Park Golf Course

Three holes torn up twice since Oct. 1

It's been an unfair month for the fairways and greens at the Golden Gate Park public golf course.

It's barely past the first full week of the month and already, vandals have had their way with the 9-hole course, using it as more of an off-road racing course. The destruction has happened not just once, but twice since Oct. 1.

The hooligans tore through the links with one or more vehicles, ripping up three holes and causing about $75,000 in damage. Crews spent the weekend repairing the trio of holes but adding insult to injury, the vandals returned Monday and struck the same holes -- 6, 7 and 8 -- again. That damage estimate has yet to be tallied.

The seventh green suffered the worst damage. It was "destroyed beyond all recognition," the parks department said.

The damaged holes remain closed.

The ugly news of vandalism in the gem of the City comes, sadly, as a familiar story. Over the past several months, vandals have chopped rose bushes and hacked away at dozens of trees in the park.

Park officials are working with police to figure out who has such a beef with the park but no suspects have been identified yet.

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