Thieves smashed a hole in the wall of a Mid Sussex golf shop and escaped with more equipment worth more than £40,000.

Michael Hennings, who owns the shop at Haywards Heath Golf Club, High Beech Lane, was alerted to the break-in by an alarm at 3am today.

Around 360 golf clubs were taken - 250 woods and 12 sets of irons - with an estimated value of between £40,000 and £50,000.

Mr Hennings believes the thieves visited the shop yesterday and put tape over all but one of the motion-sensing alarms.

He said: "The men bashed a hole in the wall of the shop, but the alarms didn't go off as they'd been taped up.

"That meant they had plenty of time to take what they wanted. They could have been here from midnight. Eventually an alarm was set off when they went into a third room.

"They took 250 woods by makes such as Calloway and Yonex, and also our own brand Rogue, which can only be found in a few stores in the country. They also took 12 sets of irons, with nine clubs in a set.

"They must have had a van to take away that many clubs.

"I don't know what I'll do. I'm trying to recover from the shock."

The shop is attached to the 18-hole course three miles north of Haywards Heath.

Anyone with information should telephone PC Alan Phillips at Haywards Heath police station on 0845 6070999, extension 35031.