A Wyoming golf pro's routine evening turned frightening when he says a pickup truck driver not only tore up the golf course but appeared to try to run him down.
Branden Burbank, the club's lead assistant golf pro at Cheyenne Country Club, was monitoring activity around the property Monday evening when he spotted a blue GMC Sierra acting suspiciously near the clubhouse. According to Burbank, the driver jumped a curb, turned onto the golf course and began driving across playing areas while golfers were still on the property.
Concerned for the safety of those on the course, Burbank tried to intervene by positioning his vehicle in the truck's path. That's when the situation escalated.
"When he saw me, he revved up at me and made a run for me," Burbank
told the Cowboy State Daily, recalling a moment that left him feeling genuinely threatened. "All I was thinking was he wanted to hit me."
Burbank said the driver, later identified by police as 49-year-old Denver resident Gust Martinez Jr., showed little emotion during the encounter. Instead, he drove through a bunker, over multiple greens and attempted to force his way through a gate before changing course.
While Burbank called 911, he said the driver accelerated, crashed through a fence surrounding the course and escaped onto Interstate 25, triggering a slow-speed police pursuit through downtown Cheyenne.
The chase, which police say included running stop signs, driving through red lights and traveling the wrong way on some streets, puzzled witnesses because of its unusually calm pace. Several observers noted that the driver appeared remarkably composed despite a growing line of police vehicles following behind him.
For Burbank, however, the most unsettling part of the episode happened before the pursuit ever began.
The former law enforcement officer said he still has no idea what motivated the driver to target the golf course, but he's convinced the encounter could have ended much worse.
"I have no clue what set him off," Burbank said. "But he wanted to do some damage, for sure."
The story in the Cowboy State Daily offered more details:
When police finally got Martinez to stop at West 25th Street and Pioneer Avenue, the Denver man “continued to actively resist and fight with officers,” the CPD reported Tuesday.
When they searched his GMC Sierra, the affidavit says that police found a sawed-off Ruger Impact Max Elite .22-caliber rifle, which he legally couldn’t have because of a 2022 assault-menacing conviction out of Brighton, Colorado.
When he learned about the rifle, Burbank said he’s even more relieved Martinez only drove around the course and didn’t try to shoot people.
“We were very blessed nobody was hurt and that it wasn’t very busy that day,” he said. “In fact, we’d been really busy all summer, but for some reason, not so much that day.”
The course was closed for “about a day and a half,” but is now open and playable, Burbank said.
“The good thing about grass is it’s a renewable resource,” he said.
If convicted of the felony property destruction charge, Martinez could get a maximum of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Wyoming golf pro says driver tried to run him down while tearing up golf course
