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Birdies become bogeys for golfers
 Royal Porthcawl Golf Club during the Walker Cup |
Golfers in south Wales face a new course hazard - birds swooping in to pinch their golf balls.
Crows are thought to have flown off with 1,500 balls in the last month from the practice greens at the Royal Porthcawl Golf Club, Porthcawl.
Club professional Peter Evans believes the crows think the balls are eggs which they can crack open and eat.
 "I saw these crows picking the balls off the practice green like berries off a bush."  |
| Club professional Peter Evans |
"I noticed our supply of balls was running low about a month ago," said Mr Evans.
"Instead of returning with about 500 balls at the end of the day, my assistants were coming in with only about 100.
"The next day I saw these crows picking the balls off the practice green like berries off a bush."
 Crows have been pinching golf balls 'like berries' |
Club secretary Frank Prescott said the situation was "totally unheard of".
The habits of the crows had left members "completely dumbfounded", he said.
'Brainwash'
The annual university golf match between Oxford and Cambridge is due to be played over the Royal Porthcawl course next March.
Oxford's secretary David Selchen, whose team played a warm-up fixture agains the University of Wales at the course last weekend, said: "Maybe our experiemental psychologist could brainwash these crows into picking up the Cambridge balls."
A spokesman for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club said the rules of the game allowed for interference from birds and players would not be penalised if they could prove their ball had been moved by a flying predator.
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