Roadside bunkers thought to protect a residential roadway from flying golf balls have been removed.

Deputy Mayor of St. George?s Kenneth Bascome said the bunkers deflected balls from residents walking home across St. George?s Golf Course.

However, chairman of the course?s Board of Trustees Michael Emery said the bunkers on Khyber Pass, St. George?s were useless.

?Two golf course architects looked at them and asked ?what?s that??, and when I told them they laughed,? Mr. Emery said. ?They said that did not work and suggested modifying them to be a better landing area for golf balls.?

Mr. Emery said the bunkers? steep slopes would be replaced with more gradual slopes so golfers could play through.

?It is being done in an effort to improve the course,? he said. ?Residents of St. George?s area drive cars over the course and use it as a short cut. It is a danger to them.

As a result, Mr. Emery said he was going to erect ?Danger? signs around the course.

?We are not going to do anything to make it dangerous to the public,? he said.

?People see unfinished work and comment on it.? However, Mr. Bascome ? a former Opposition Senator ? said the bunkers should not be removed.

He said he called for the bunkers to be erected in 1990 after a child, a senior citizen and himself were struck by flying golf balls.

?I was struck in the leg also,? the Deputy Mayor said.

?Khyber Pass is a public road. More than one person has been hit by golf balls walking on Khyber Pass.?

He said the bunkers had served their purpose for 16 years as no one had been injured by incoming golf balls on Khyber Pass since the bunkers had been installed.