Straight to Prison
Gang of e-bike vandals destroy 136-year-old muni golf course in Scotland
There were plenty of great stories across golf this weekend, from Scottie Scheffler’s hometown win to Bryson DeChambeau’s far-flung triumph. This is not one of them. Unfortunately, on Friday 136-year-old Braid Hills Golf Course in Edinburgh, Scotland was vandalized by a gang of nearly 15 e-bikers in broad daylight. Head greenskeeper Gary Rodgers shared the following footage (and its aftermath) to X, calling the incident “absolutely heartbreaking.”
In the post, Rodgers explained that his short-handed team had been working as hard they possibly could the last several weeks to get the affordable muni in tip-top shape for the summer, only to have all their effort undone by a few selfish idiots looking for a good time at the expense of others.
As Bunkered reports, this has become something of an epidemic in the UK, with vandals damaging all 18 greens at Bootle Golf Course, a similarly accessible community golf course in Merseyside, last week. A commenter from another course near Braid Hills also posted, “They are ripping us up to. They are hard to catch!”
It’s not all bad news, though. The local golf community is rallying behind the Edinburgh institution. Craigmillar Park Golf Course, located just down the road from Braid Hills, offered their assistance to help repair the course while others suggested practical solutions for catching the criminals, such as deer cameras. Hopefully this means Braid Hills will be up and running again in no time and that these e-bike bandits will be caught before they can wreck another course.