Swastika carved into a green

A Vietnam veteran who was playing on a course in Indianapolis last weekend had a surprise in store when he came to the eighth green. He found a swastika carved into the green, along with a racial slur.

Phil Rossman recorded the despoiled green at Smock Golf Course, and the words have now been covered with sand.

 “I guess I was a bit shocked to see it in the middle of a golf course," Rossman told WXIN. "But not surprised to see it in society in general.”

Thinks are getting pretty ugly in the US at the moment, so this is no real surprise in the current climate of racial hatred.

It also happened the same weekend as the Pittsburgh synagogue incident, in which 11 people died.

"It's not the physical damage that was done, it’s the psychological damage,” Rossman said. "Anybody that's willing to do such a thing directed at people who may be different than they are, it just bubbles up nothing more, nothing less really, than disgust.”

Ronetta Spalding, a spokeswoman for Indy Parks, issued a statement.

“We work every day to ensure our customers feel comfortable in our parks and take pride in knowing our staff values the people we serve,” the statement said. “We will not accept any action or activity that goes against welcoming people into our parks and will continue working closely with our park rangers and partners at IMP (Indianapolis Metro Police Department) to ensure the safety and security of all of our guests.”

"There’s a cause-and-effect relationship to all this stuff," Rossman told WXIN. "If we have people out there doing this, what’s the next step they go to?”

It’s altogether a nasty business, and we hope this does not come across the pond to the UK.

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