Greenkeeper saves the day for golf club

Hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of machinery, equipment and building were just minutes away from going up in smoke after an arson attack on Whangarei's Pines Golf Club.

The Parua Bay golf course was hit by early morning vandalism yesterday, before the vandals used green flags to start a fire that was just minutes away from taking hold of the club's greenkeeper's shed, clubhouse manager Ben Atherton said.

He said several greens at the club had been damaged by vandals using the green flags and when greenkeeper Mike Valiant turned up for work just before 7am yesterday he noticed that his large shed - between the eighth hole and the ninth tee - was ablaze.

The vandals had used the green flags to start a fire behind the shed that had spread inside.

Mr Atherton said the Onerahi volunteer fire party arrived within 15 minutes and the prompt response prevented the shed and its contents from going up in smoke.

"We have tens of thousands of dollars' worth of machinery in the shed, along with equipment, which was probably just minutes away from going up, especially if the fuel in one of the machines had caught alight," he said. "We were lucky the greenkeeper saw it in time and that the Onerahi brigade got here so quickly.

"If they had been five or 10 minutes later it would have been a disaster as it was just starting to get hold of the framework."

The damage to the greens was not bad enough to prevent yesterday's Pacific Homes Golf Day fundraiser from going ahead.

Mr Atherton said if anybody had information about the vandalism and arson attack, or had seen or heard anything suspicious near the course early yesterday, they could contact Onerahi police on (09) 4260222.