600 Golf Balls in Your Back Yard = $5 Million

[boogielicious]

I regularly play with the couple who live in this highlighted house. They find golf balls in their yard all the time and give them to their grandchildren. What protects their house is the line of trees on the left of the tee. You can’t really cut it too hard because they are tall and up on a small ridge. But some ball get though. They are a super nice couple and play fast.

My favorite thing to do when I play with them is tell the fourth person, “No pressure but they live on this corner, so don’t hook it.”😜

[saevel25]

5 hours ago, boogielicious said:

My favorite thing to do when I play with them is tell the fourth person, “No pressure but they live on this corner, so don’t hook it.”😜

Funny, but also that house should only be in play like in a very small % of golfers. 

[StuM]

21 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Funny, but also that house should only be in play like in a very small % of golfers. 

@saevel25posted a shot showing the house was @ 175 from the tee box.  I could see someone trying to cut the corner and hit a bad shot/hook and hit the house.   Also, the pictures seems different between @saevel25and @boogielicious including different street names.  Can anyone confirm which is correct?

Edited December 27, 2022 by StuM
Corrected "Slice" to "Hook"

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, StuM said:

@saevel25posted a shot showing the house was @ 175 from the tee box.  I could see someone trying to cut the corner and hit a bad shot/hook and hit the house.   Also, the pictures seems different between @saevel25and @boogielicious including different street names.  Can anyone confirm which is correct?

Matt’s picture was of the course in the lawsuit in MA. I was giving an example of a similar course in NH.

[roejye]

The picture of the similar hole @boogielicious posted is a good example of good hole design, in my opinion. The tee box direction combined with the shape of the fairway, it seems to invite people to hit away from the house line. They also have a little bit of a buffer area built in for people taking the reasonably aggressive line.

The hole in question with the lawsuit, I don't really see a landing area from the tee and the overhead view shows a wide landing area but it seems like you'd be going over the trees with a fade, or trying to hug the tree line with a draw. If you take the fade route you risk a pull or possibly a double cross of a hook that could bring the house into play. The draw route can bring the house into play too. It's also terrible design on someone's part to have a house roughly 75 yards from the center of the fairway at a yardage that most people that are hitting that yardage could easily have a dispersion circle that wide especially on a mis-hit.

Edited January 13 by roejye
Incorrect word

[Deepred]

I grew up in a house that was a pull hook from the 17th tee. We didn’t get hit often but maybe once a year. On the other side of the course #2 ran along a busy road and the club usually paid for damaged cars. 
Since the club was there first it does seem like a case of inherit risk. However that can be overruled by the requirement to keep balls n the course. 

[Esox]

On 4/27/2022 at 10:12 AM, jsgolfer said:

I saw this and thought the same thing, but I think I saw in the article that it mentioned that they moved the hole, so maybe we're looking at the new layout and not the old.  But I always thought that living next to the golf course, you assumed the risks, but maybe it's different in Mass. I wonder if the course will prevail in an appeal?

In MI if the club moved the hole after the couple lived there, the club bears responsibility. If the hole is as it was when the couple purchased the home, the onus is on them. Reminds me of the people that bought houses in a new sub next to a dairy farm, then sued the farmer because his farm smelled like a ....farm. Judge dismissed it with prejudice

Edited March 18 by Esox