Army called in to destroy bomb at UK golf club

The army was called to Wiltshire-based Ougborne Downs Golf Club on Monday morning to carry out a controlled explosion following the discovery of a dangerous device.

Wiltshire Police was alerted to the discovery at Ogbourne Downs Golf Club on Sunday morning by club general manager, James Short.

Short revealed that he uncovered the device, thought to be a British mortar shell dating back to World War 2, whilst carrying out a routine course inspection.

“I took a metal detector out with me to see if there was any metal that could hurt our equipment,” Short told bunkered.co.uk.

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“I then came across this thing and I obviously had no idea what it was. It looked like an old bottle. After picking it up and having a closer look at it and doing some research, I obviously found out it was a British two-inch mortar shell. I then thought to myself that I probably shouldn’t have picked it up!”

The Royal Logistics Corps’ Bomb Disposal Unit, who were notified by the police, arrived on Monday morning to carry out a controlled explosion in a cordoned off area of the course.

Short explained that only he and the greenkeeping staff are still working at the club amid the current national lockdown.

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“The course still needs looking after and I’m still at work in the office as there’s still memberships, emails and all that sort of thing to take care of,” he added. “Everyone else is on furlough and we are just waiting to be open again.”

Ogbourne Downs Golf Club is the seventh oldest club in Wiltshire and is located on the Marlborough Downs, just a few miles from the historic market town of Marlborough.