The owners of Columbus’ Putt-Putt Golf Course are cleaning up after vandals extensively damaged the facility.
Two of the golf courses’ miniature animals, a zebra and a giraffe, were overturned and broken, and the vandals broke out about a dozen fluorescent lights throughout the facility, said owner Carl Miller.
Miller had stopped by the course at 10th Street and Marr Road at about 6:30 to 7 p.m Sunday to turn on security lights, he said. The business is closed for the winter and is not rescheduled to reopen until April.
When he returned at about 9:30 a.m. Monday, he found vandalism to the 4-foot to 6-foot tall figurines and broken glass showered over the Putt-Putt greens and walkways.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
“It’s kind of changed our plans for the holiday,” he said, adding that he planned to contact his insurance agent today about the damage.
The two figures were the “baby” versions of larger animals on the course — a larger giraffe was not vandalized, he said.
Miller, who owns the business with his wife Karen, said the business has been at the corner of 10th Street and Marr Road since 1987 and would be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
The owners estimated damage to the facility to be about $5,000 to $8,000 or more.
Miller said he bought the zebra and giraffe about 20 years ago and they were about $2,100 a piece back then. He is unsure how much it will be to replace the figurines.
Repairs to the 8-foot fluorescent lights also will be time consuming as they are over some water areas on the course, including a fountain, which have been drained, but still must be cleaned of glass before the lights can be repaired. Miller said an electrician will be needed to fix that damage.
The Millers said the repairs should be completed before the planned reopening in April.
