[optidiscic]

This is why we can't have nice things

I have a couple of rules that have worked for me when building a course

the power of 15s

and

the principle of laziness:thrill ratio

the power of 15s -make sure everything is heavy enough that 15 year olds do not have the power to lift it up and take it or throw it. The theory is that most vandalism is caused by pre-driving teen makes who wander the parks and have nothing better to do than destroy things for fun. If your benches are made of heavy stone, your rubber pads are well over 100 lbs, and generally everything is just too heavy for a 15 year old to pick up or knock over (this also covers weakling druggies and many non-athletic disgruntled adults and spiteful old ladies) then your course infrastructure will last. Once a destructive teenage male turns 16 he typically starts driving to other towns and is done wandering parks to cause cool vandalism.

eg. "Hey man let's go steal that rubber mat....1,2,3, oh **** this sucks lets go flip that bench....1,2,3.....damn it's made of stone...this sucks let's go to 7-11 and flip the trash cans again"

principle of laziness:thrill ratio-if your infrastructure is built well enough or heavy enough or enough problems arise that a vandals desire for destruction is overwhelmed by his basic laziness than you have yourself solid design.

eg. yo look at that basket..let's go f-ck sh1t up......why are there so many thorn bushes between us and the basket...this sucks man let's throw rocks at trains instead" (I drug an acres worth of thorns between the train tracks and my course to punish drifters from the tracks from attempting to ruin my course)