A DRIVING range where a golfer hit a tram passenger with a "one in 150 million" shot will close for a week and undergo £50,000 of work.
Anne Mulholland, 66, was struck on the chin at Arena tram stop by Matt De Moraes' 350-yard drive from the World of Golf driving range on July 27.
World of Golf said at the time that more than 150 million balls had been hit at their driving ranges in more than six years and Mrs Mulholland's accident was the first of its kind.
Grant Wright, World of Golf chief executive, has now confirmed to the Advertiser plans to shut its Croydon centre, in Long Lane, for a week to make improvements. He said the driving range staff had been scratching their heads as to how the incident might have occurred.
Mr Wright said: "We have now spent three weeks trying to understand how this could happen and we have come to the conclusion that this was an exceptional golfer using an exceptional club.
"However, it did happen and we must take steps to ensure that even this freak occurrence can never recur. What happened to Anne Mulholland was awful and must have been very frightening.
"I have had several other long hitting professionals try to replicate the shot and they cannot.
"We have tested ball flights using radar equipment and it should not be able to happen."
As a result, World of Golf is planning to extend the height of the banking and netting from 21 metres to 29 metres.
Mr Wright said it was a significant engineering project because the concrete bases to support the towers are five metres squared.
There will also be added signage around all of their ranges asking low handicap golfers like Matt to use extreme caution when hitting long drives.
Mr Wright added: "This is a massive commitment for a small company like us but we do take the safety of our team, customers and the general public very seriously indeed."
He has also written to Mrs Mulholland to inform her of changes to the range.
