‘Significant improvements’ at golf club hit by local crime

A golf club that prevented its staff from turning up to work in early October due to local crime problems has said there have been significant improvements since.

Glendale Golf, which runs six accessible golf courses in England, said crime at one of its venues, Castle Point Golf Course in Essex, became so bad that its staff were removed from the facility after a meeting with the police.

However, Tom Brooke, managing director of Glendale Golf, told The Golf Business that there has been a dramatic improvement in the last three weeks.

“Since October 11 the police have increased patrols and monitoring of the site and our team returned to work,” he said.

“We are pleased to report that the number and severity of issues has reduced significantly.”

According to a report in EssexLive in early October, a statement was emailed to members that explained the decision to stop staff from working, which followed ‘numerous reports of anti-social behaviour’ such as criminal damage. Incidents typically involved a local youth with no connection to the club threatening one of Castle Point’s members of staff or their customers.

The statement said: “In recent months, the number of incidents involving ant-social behaviour on the golf course has increased significantly and on a number of occasions, altercations incited by non-golfers, mainly youths, have lead to physical threats towards our staff and our customers.

“We have evidence to suggest that in some instances these threats have included the use of weapons.”

An Essex Police spokesman added at the time: “We’re aware the golf club has suffered from anti-social behaviour, including people riding motorbikes, and criminal damage since last year.

“We understand these incidents do have an impact and have provided crime prevention advice to the golf club.

“Eighteen incidents at the golf club have been reported to us since January 2017, nine of which were reported since January this year.

“We prioritise our patrols based on where there is the greatest threat, harm and risk to members of the public and encourage people to report crimes to us so we can build a picture and take action as appropriate.”