The East Mountain Country Club golf couse was vandalized. (Submitted photo)
WESTFIELD – Someone maliciously damaged the East Mountain Country Club golf course Saturday night causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Ted Perez, Jr., co-owner of the club, located at 1458 E. Mountain Road, phoned police at 6:23 a.m. Sunday morning reporting vandalism to the 15th hole, according to police logs.
Westfield Police Capt. Hipolito Nunez said the damage, caused by a vehicle driving on the course and “doing donuts,” happened between 9 p.m. Saturday night and 5 a.m. Sunday morning.
Perez, who said the course can remain open despite the vandalism, said the main damage is to the green of the 15th hole and some damage to the fairway of the 13th and 14th holes.
There are five rings around the 15th hole, with total damage costing near $10,000, Nunez said.
It is a lot of work repairing this type of damage–a lot of man hours with moving/replacing plugs and resodding, said Perez.
According to Nunez, the perpetrator apparently accessed the golf course using the old gas line road, which is in back of the course.
Some superficial damage was done by a vehicle in the same area on the edge of the 15th hole’s green a week earlier, the night of Saturday, August 8, Perez said.
“We believe it is the same person, the same vehicle,” he added.
Perez said that partly why the damage was much worse during the perpetrator’s second attempt at damaging the course was due to the heavy rain that fell Saturday night.
Since the club believes it is the same person, the owners plan to offer a reward to anyone who can help identify the perpetrator, said Perez.
East Mountain Country Club put the following post on its Facebook page: “We strive to keep putting greens that our golfers deserve (and) expect from us, and we are offering a $250 reward to anyone who will help us identify the perpetrators.”
They believe the person was driving a Jeep or other four-wheel drive vehicle, he said.
“They were vindictive,” he said, “causing a tremendous amount of damage.”
“We are not aware of anyone who has a grudge against us,” said Perez. “We haven’t fired anyone.”
Perez, who has co-owned the country club for 52 years, said it has been at least 10-12 years since anyone has caused any significant damage to the course.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
