THE Coolamatong Golf Course at Berridale has been vandalised, leaving club members upset.

Members say it couldn’t have come at a worse time with heavy rains soaking the course in recent weeks.

Last week, it is believed vandals took a golf cart for a joy ride across the course, driving over lovingly maintained greens and doing donuts on fairways across the course.

All Coolamatong Golf Club course maintenance is conducted by club volunteers. Club president Alan Parsons said the club is disappointed and upset over the vandalism.

“Their work is endless each week to keep the course in excellent condition and they take pride in presenting the course in great condition,” Parsons said.

“The last thing they need is to be cleaning up the mess of individuals who get their kicks from vandalising other people's property. Especially when the golf course has been very wet in recent weeks.

“It's very disappointing to see the damage.”

Parsons said he hopes this incident generates further community awareness about deterring people form these types of acts.

“We have had a history of vandalism to the course and it’s more about creating community awareness and an official record of the issue,” Parsons said.

“I don’t want young people to have criminal records as it can haunt them for life. If the correct conversations can be had at dinner tables, we may be able to deter this from happening again.

“We have made a record of it with police and if it happens again, we will find them.

“One of the issues with golf carts is the common keys, you can order a key off the internet, and it fits all the E-Z-GO carts. We are still unsure exactly how the vandals managed to get access to a cart.”

Coolamatong Golf Club provides affordable golf for the community, with a dozen or some volunteers undertaking important jobs around the course.

"If we had to employ people, the cost to community would be three times greater than it is currently which makes this kind of damage disappointing, it’s a community service at the end of the day," Parsons said.

Coolamatong Golf Club is calling on members of the public that may have information on who is responsible to come forward.