LOCHGELLY Golf Club are looking into installing CCTV cameras after being plagued by vandalism.

In a Facebook post they said they're faced with "extensive damage every single weekend" with flags stolen, melted or snapped, tee markers taken or broken, litter bins set on fire, sponsor boards destroyed, young trees ripped out of the ground and broken glass left everywhere.

The final straw was the destruction of a stone cairn at the weekend, which was built by one of the members, and they're now looking at putting in cameras to try and catch the culprits.

Committee member Liam Young said: "It's going on across Lochgelly and elsewhere but we've been having a lot of trouble for about four months. No exaggeration, it's a gang of about 60 youths, aged from about 12 to 15, that are blatantly drunk.

"They've been chased from the public park, where they caused damage to the football park, and now they're congregating in a field next to the golf course.

"On a good day the greenkeepers will come in and there'll be maybe three flags missing, on a bad day, and Sunday was probably the worst it's been, it's what you would deem criminal damage.

"We've got a member who's 83 that built that stone cairn by hand and it's been destroyed. It's a complete lack of respect. You feel for him as he was there watching the club championship on Sunday. That hurt."

He continued: It's relentless and now it's the summer holidays it's not just happening at the weekends, it's on a nightly basis.

"If the extent of it was taking a flag and throwing it up a tree or in someone's garden, it's far from ideal but you could live with that, however the damage they're doing is costing us money every week.

"We spent £800 renewing all the flags at the start of the season and we've got seven left. That's money down the drain.

"The past year has seen membership go through the roof, I've never seen the course looking better, we've got a good committee that want to invest in new equipment to make it even better, so to have this constant vandalism is frustrating and disheartening.

"They're harming the community as this is a community club and the vast majority of the membership are local. You can guarantee that for some of them causing the trouble, either their mums, dads, cousins, aunts, uncles or grandparents will be playing here.

"It's criminal damage as far as the club is concerned and we want the police to be doing a bit more as it's costing us money."

From Police Scotland, Sergeant Paul Cochrane said: "We know that anti-social behaviour has a disruptive effect on local communities and will act on any information we receive.

"We are aware of concerns raised by Lochgelly Golf Club and officers carry out regular patrols of highlighted areas.

"It is worth stressing that the vast majority of young people do not come to the attention of police.

"A small minority do sometimes become involved in anti-social behaviour and police will take appropriate action where incidents are reported and offenders identified.

"I would also urge parents and guardians to make sure that they know where their children are, who they are associating with and what they are doing.

"Anyone who has concerns about anti-social behaviour in their area is encouraged to contact police by calling 101 as promptly as possible."