Living on the edge of a golf course with full access to the facilities sounds like an ideal lifestyle and I am sure it is if you live somewhere besides South Africa.
We lived on a rented property bordering the Glenvista Country Club for about 3 years. We had a gate with direct access to the golf course and were allowed to use the course after hours. I am not sure if it meant go for a walk or play a round of golf light permitting so maybe 4 or 5 holes. I obviously used the course and we would even have putting competitions on the green under torch light.
The nervous neighbors would have their twitching curtains trying to see who was on the golf course in the middle of the night. We know what they must have been thinking it is the mad family that moved in and is not aware of the dangers that the golf course was plagued with. We knew what was going on with crime in the area and always thought it is best to be seen in full view showing no worries.
Houses all around the course were targeted by criminal gangs or the same gang as it was never individuals doing the crime. The neighbors either side of us were robbed or attacked on 7 and 6 occasions that I kept record of and we remained crime free. That was until we moved out and that same property was robbed the week we moved out. One of those 13 robbery attempts I happened to see in progress and intervened, but screwed up running to get a baseball bat not seeing the glass sliding door was closed. I think the thud and seeing me moaning with a bloodied face gave them more of a fright.
The reason why we moved was I could no longer be the security as it was tiring checking if there was a full moon or if it was a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. A full moon meant you had to be aware for the just in case even if it was not a day listed above. A Thursday would be cutting the electric fence night and if not repaired on Friday you would be a potential target that night or the next night. Thieves are simple and you have to think on their level in order to not become a statistic.
The security was pretty basic that I had with an electric fence followed by various waste deep trenches filled with razor wire covered with leaves. The trenches were in place a certain distance from the wall so if someone jumped over the wall they would be stopped immediately. No traps were ever triggered so they either knew about them or just thought it better to leave us well alone.
The crime varied with the sound of gun fire being a common theme over weekends and still is as I hear the echo of gunfire most weekends ringing through the valley. You are never sure if it is the home owner, the armed response teams (private security) or the criminals firing the shots.
Thankfully we moved away into a secure guarded neighborhood about 150m away from the golf course. I have never paid much attention to the crime on the course since we moved other than picking up bits of news I have been told. It was still the same and today in our community crime group a report caught my eye that 2 out of a gang of 6 had been arrested. Police doing their work is a rarity, but they were helped by the armed response companies of which we have 3 or 4 operating in the area.
The two caught are Mozambican and the other 4 are also expected to be undocumented foreigners which is the downside of open borders. Not everyone is a bad egg, but bad eggs flow with the good ones and why open borders is not very practical. This gang has been not only breaking and entering stealing whatever they find, but also responsible for a number of rapes. One of the gang caught is the ring leader and expect the other 4 to be arrested this week in the crucial 7 day window of investigation.
Maybe this will hopefully improve the quality of life for those bordering the golf course until someone thinks they can now make it their territory. These are the first arrests I have heard of in the last 12 years with hundreds of crimes having being committed over that period.