Swastika carved onto golf course green sparks hunt for ‘kids on dirt bikes’

A swastika has appeared on a golf course harassed by ‘kids on dirt bikes’ for nearly a year. Carved onto the grass, it’s distressed volunteer staff and players alike, causing Thames Ditton and Esher Golf Club, in Surrey, to close part of its green.

‘It was a bit of a shock’, general manager Mark Rodbard told Metro. ‘We’ve had quite a few incidents with bikers but this a whole new thing.’. Since April last year, what he describe as two kids on black dirt bikes have left tracks on the grass, with instances increasing in frequency over the winter when a lack of growth has made the damage harder to hide.

While ‘the greens are still playable’, Mark said, ‘you can still see the outline from the ones in November’. He said: ‘They’ve drawn symbols on the green before but nothing before that I could make any sense of.’. The swastika, a symbol of the Nazis carved on Saturday, February 15, is the first time they’ve made a distinguishable mark.

Mark said: ‘My best guess is that it’s probably kids, teenagers on dirt bikes and they don’t fully understand the symbol and what it means. Hopefully they’ll realise this is distressing people and stop.’. He fears the alternative is they don’t care and continue, in which case he hopes they’ll be caught.

Either way, ‘it’s just demoralising’ repairing the course only for it to be vandalised again. The patch scarred with a swastika is now sealed off as ‘green under repair’ until grass grows enough to cover it up. Police are now hunting for those responsible. In a statement released on Tuesday, they said: ‘All lines of enquiry are being explored, including checking CCTV footage from the area and speaking to people in neighbouring properties. These enquiries remain ongoing.

‘We have also increased our patrols in the area to deter further offences and to provide reassurance to the local community. ‘Elmbridge Borough Council has also been made aware of the incident. ‘It is believed that two dirt bikes may have entered the premises and caused damage on previous occasions. These included reports of dirt bikes entering the premises and causing damage on January 11, 2025 and two reports in November 2024.

‘Unfortunately, there is no description or number plate of any of the vehicles or those involved.’. There is no indication the incidents are connected, but this isn’t the only golf course to be targeted with antisemitic and far-right imagery recently.

In October, a large swastika was daubed on the sand while the words ‘ ‘f*** the Jews’ and ‘Heil Hitler’ was written across other bunkers at a golf course in Hendon, north London. It happened hours before the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, in an area with a high population of Jewish people.

Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who used the swastika as their symbol, murdered Jews in their millions in an attempt to exterminate them during World War II. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.

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