A GOLFER’S first week as club captain got off to a bang when Second World War explosives were discovered in a bunker.

Workmen improving drainage at the sand trap at the 15th hole at Pyecombe Golf Club discovered the mortar as they were digging.

But it was only when they pulled it out that they realised it could be dangerous and called the police.

As bomb disposal experts were assessing the device, new club captain David Schwartz was heading down the fairway towards it, having teed off minutes before.

He said the discovery added a bit of a drama to his first week as captain.

He said: “As we were driving down there were two police officers and three army bomb disposal experts.

“So we just nipped over to the 16th hole. But it certainly set my captain’s year off to a bang.

“I have been in that bunker a few times.”

The golf club, in Clayton Hill, Pyecombe, was used by Canadian forces during the Second World War as a tank training area and golfers have discovered ammunition and mortars along the course before.

Club assistant secretary Matt Bolton was overseeing the refurbishment on Thursday when the explosive – thought to be an anti-tank “Spigot” mortar – was found.

He said: “They found it and pulled it out but only realised what it was when they pulled it out.

“They came and told me and I told them to stop what they were doing.

“People from the bomb disposal unit from Aldershot were sent down.

“They shouted “clear firing” and I was near the button and I still jumped.

“It was a lot louder than I thought it would be. It reverberated around the valley and all the people in the building heard it.

“It was so loud that someone called 999 from the village.”

He said despite the drama the holes were only closed for ten minutes.

He added: “The only group to come down that hole was that of David Schwartz.

“I told him he had new ammunition for his speech and he said I had blown it out of all proportion.”