GOLFERS have to be hunted down for their keys mid-round so their cars can be moved around on a busy car park, course owners claim.

Wyre Forest Golf Club has applied for retrospective planning permission for an overspill car park on a vacant two-acre patch of land which has been gravelled over at its Zortech Avenue home.

A statement from the club said the course drains well and consequently attracts golfers from other clubs during the winter when other courses are unplayable.

The current car park has 65 unmarked spaces and gets so busy double parking is rife, it added.

"Staff often have to find car owners on the course to get their keys," said the report, adding some golfers leave their keys at reception so their cars can be moved when needed.

The club said extra car parking was vital to its plans to extend the course and facilities and to allow it to compete on a level footing with other district clubs.

It apologised for gravelling over the vacant land in August when it did not have planning permission and appealed to planners to support the retrospective application.

Although on the edge of the greenbelt, the report added, it was vacant wasteland which had not been classified as agricultural land by the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.