One of Ireland's best-known golf courses was damaged by vandals over the weekend.
County Sligo Golf Club, also known as Rosses Point, is one of the country's most popular and well-regarded courses.
Gardaí are now investigating an incident of 'criminal damage' which occurred at the course overnight on Saturday night / Sunday morning.
It's believed somebody drove a car onto the course and then did several hand-brake turns on the 8th hole fairway.
Gardaí say it caused "reckless damage" to the ground, leaving several large 'donut' marks in the grass.
General manager David O'Donovan told Lunchtime Live it happened sometime between the course closing on Saturday and reopening on Sunday morning.
He said: "A car came onto our golf course - on the 8th fairway - and did a number of hand-brake turns in the middle of the fairway.
“My greenkeeping team… has assessed the damage. It looks like they’ll have to lift the area where the damage was done and replace the turf on it.
“The ground would be a little bit softer than the summertime - it did more damage than you’d like to have. You don’t like to have any damage at all… but in the summertime, you might get away with it a little bit more."
He said a similar incident happened in 2019, saying that time the culprit was caught by gardaí.
Repairs following the latest incident could take two to three days to complete, with five to six staff involved.
Mr O'Donovan said it's hard to put an exact cost on repairing such damage.
However, if the course had to close for a day during peak golfing season to fix issues, they could lose €10,000 per day.
There are no CCTV cameras around the hole in question, but Mr O'Donovan said they are checking camera footage from near the clubhouse area for any signs of suspicious activity.
They're also appealing for any locals with CCTV or other camera footage to come forward.
The club will talk with locals about the possibility of putting a gate at the lower end of the golf course to stop this kind of incident from happening again.
For now, however, anyone with information is being asked to contact Rosses Point Garda Station on 071 9177143.
