Vandals damage Rochester golf course

By TIM HARLOW, Star Tribune

Last update: June 18, 2008 - 7:20 PM

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Three large tournaments scheduled for this weekend at a Rochester, Minn. golf course will go on in spite of damage done by vandals that has left one of the greens unplayable.

No one has been arrested, but police believe that kids are responsible for burning a what looked to be part of a swastika into the green at hole No. 5 sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning at the Northern Hills Golf Course.

The miscreants also dug holes into the green, sprayed a flammable liquid of some kind on the green at adjacent hole No. 4, shredded flowers and took a ball washer, cups, pins, rakes and other tools from four holes at the city-run golf course.

The damage is estimated at $300-$400 said Leif Erickson, director of golf for the Rochester Parks and Recreation department. But Northern Hills Golf Course superintendent Joe Fischer estimated the it will cost $2,700 to repair the greens and replace the missing items.

The damage to hole 5 was so severe that a reserve green nearby will be used in its place. Erickson said hole 4 looks like it has "green graffiti" in a circular motion, but remains in use.

"It's just an eye sore," said Fischer, who takes care of the 18 hole, par-72 course that opened in 1976. "We got this course in tip-top shape it took them two minutes to do all this damage. It will take 5 to 10 years to get the new grass to blend in. It's just terrible."

A tournament expected to draw 140 people to the course to raise money for breast cancer will go on Friday. On Saturday the local Elks Club will bring 180 people to play and a large group associated with Young Life will tee off on Monday. Public rounds have continued as normal while the clean-up is in progress, Fischer said.

It's not the first time the course has experienced vandalism. Fischer said somebody sprayed golf carts in a building two years ago. Last month somebody broke a window and stole some golf clubs and cash, he said.

Rochester police are investigating, but Erickson believes that "kids gone nuts" are responsible.

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