Belfairs Golf Club has been through the ringer in the last 12 months.
The course was opened in 1926 and is a highly regarded municipal course that has been described before by the legendary Peter Alliss as ‘a hidden jewel’.
However, a couple of clicks online for the course in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, will leave you dumbstruck as to why this Harry Colt-designed parkland is often linked with peculiar news stories.
From cases of criminal damage to wildlife issues and even police involvement, there has been an unfortunate spectrum of incidents in recent times that have involved the club.
Here are some of the tales that Belfairs has been involved with during the last year:
Golf course vandals strike again
Back in November 2024, the club was horrifically damaged by vandals on bikes. Some greens were damaged with tyre marks, and this occurred two months after part of the course was damaged in a separate incident.
Residents claimed that the bikes were stolen and they were spotted being ridden near Chalkwell Park before the incident, which is just over two miles from the golf club.
Unfortunately, vandals see Belfairs as a hotspot for mindless behaviour, as quad bike riders also caused £100,000 worth of damage to the turf in December 2023, according to the Basildon, Canvey, and Southend Echo.
These stories have appeared all too often in 2025, too. Bootle Golf Course in Liverpool was hit just before the summer, as was Walton Heath in Surrey and Burnham & Berrow in Somerset.
Birds of prey to the rescue
Then in December 2024, BBC News Essex reported that birds of prey were being recruited to Belfairs Golf Club to help prevent damage to the golf course, after the pesticide used by Southend-On-Sea City Council recently became illegal.
Damage to the course had been caused when wildlife, such as crows, made holes while feeding on leatherjackets. Hawking is a strategy that deters pest birds from visiting areas where no one wants them, such as golf courses.
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The issue had been raised with the council by resident Stephen Aylen when course staff had described spending their mornings repairing holes on the golf course that would appear later in the day anyway.
It seemed damage was also being caused by squirrels, rats, magpies, woodpeckers, according to Aylen, as well as the crows. Belfairs couldn’t catch a break at the end of 2024, as far as course maintenance was concerned.
But the start of 2025 wasn’t pleasant either.
Man in balaclava ‘exposes himself’ to dogwalker
In April, the Basildon, Canvey and Southend Echo reported that a man wearing a balaclava allegedly exposed himself to a female dog walker in Belfairs Wood, which is a stone’s throw from the course. The man was said to have hidden behind a tree and flashed the woman.
The report detailed that the man followed her to the 13th hole of the golf course, where there were ‘lots of people’. Two police units arrived at the scene after the woman called 999. They searched the woods for the man.
“We were called at around 3.55 pm on 22 April to reports of a man acting suspiciously at Belfairs Wood in Eastwood Road North, Leigh,” a spokesman for the force said.
“He was described as wearing dark coloured jeans, a navy coloured top, baseball cap and had his mouth covered. If you have any information, CCTV, dash cam or other footage in relation to this incident, then please get in contact with us.”
(The headline image was made by AI)
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