Golf club offering commemorative ‘$9.11’ promotion angers 9/11 mourners

US course manager says the club has now received threats of violence and arson after it placed the insensitive ad in a local newspaper

A golf club in Wisconsin received threats of violence after this newspaper advert for a 9/11 commemoration promotion went viral on Twitter (TWITTER/@JOSHORTON)

The manager of a golf course in the US has received threats of violence after he ran a promotion offering a “$9.11” discount to mark the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.

In an deal available for “9/11/13 Only!” Tumbledown Trails in Wisconsin offered a 9-hole round at the $9.11 price, or a full 18 holes for $19.11.

An advert for the commemorative discount day appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper, and was described variously as “gross”, “unbelievable” and “dumb” by Twitter users after a picture of the page went viral on the social media site.

Faced with a torrent of anger on the club’s official Facebook page, general manager Marc Watts issued an apology and said it had been offering the deal for the past two years without receiving complaints.

Mr Watts told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the page, which has since been taken down, was targeted with “comments where people were saying, 'Burn the course down,'” along with other threats of violence.

He said: “This is the first time we've had any negative comments. So many people have come in and said, 'What a unique way to put that out there so people don't forget.'

“We'll do something next year. I guarantee you it won't be this, but we will not give up and will not stop trying to remind people of 9/11.”

Sky News reported that Mr Watts’s apology, before it was taken down, read: “We would first like to apologise to everyone that we have upset or feels we have disrespected in anyway. By no means did we mean to do this.”

The club at first offered to switch back to full price for entry today, saying it would donate the difference to a 9/11 memorial fund. But it later said it might be forced to close, adding: “We are now worried about what people will do/say to our staff and do not want anything to happen or get out of control.”