E-bike riders tearing up the greens at Mililani Golf Course

HONOLULU(KHON2) — It’s been a problem at Mililani Golf Course for years. Trespassers tearing up the green on e-bikes and electric motorcycles.

“They’re on those bikes, pedal to the metal,” Mike Baffert said. “Naturally they’re gonna rip up grass They’re going to leave treadmarks”

Baffert is the resident manager of the Kuahelani Apartments next to the golf course and said has seen it happen a number of times.

“They come and go, group of them sometimes six sometimes just one or two,” he said.

He even approached them once.

“I walked up and very nicely, greeted them and reminded them they were trespassing, that they were on private property and that they should leave,” Baffert explained.

He said they looked at him and took off across the golf course.

Mililani Golf Course General Manager Guy Yamamoto said they used to have issues with people riding loud mopeds across the grass, but the ebikes and electric motorcycles are so much quieter.

“When it was noisier, we definitely got more calls,” he added.

Now he said they often don’t know they were there till they see the damage.

And what’s more upsetting is its a local course where local people play. So they’re doing this to their own community.

“This actually hinders our operation,” he explained. “It takes us back and you know because the grass is like growing plants. It’s no, it’s beat up and it This takes time for it to heal.”

The putting green at Hole 13 is just one of the areas most recently damaged. Yamamoto said they put sand down as a top dressing to smooth out the putting green surface and that it will take about one week to heal.

Yamamoto said other golf courses are dealing with similar issues.

Incidents like this are concerning for a number of reasons according to Wesly Wailehua, the executive director and CEO of PGA of America Aloha Section.

“I think many golf courses look at liability and safety first,” Wailehua explained. “And when the community or teenagers or anyone in the community accesses a property in that manner that can create danger to themselves or to others. You know, it’s it’s a risk for the owner of the property as well as the individuals that are there.”

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Yamamoto said they are considering installing trail cameras and motion sensor lights to deter anyone from riding through the course at night and catch anyone who does in the act.