Non Golfer Bought House on Golf Course - Questions

[Ernest Jones]

Pretty clever of them to have sold you a condo without telling you there was a golf course right there and your home will get hit by golf balls.It is not like you had the house and THEN they built the course.  You knew it was there and bought anyway.

It is kind of like the person who buys the house with the built in pool and then gets upset when he finds out how much it increases his homeowners insurance.

Morally,it is called assumption of risk.  Legally, it depends on the state.

Biggest cloaking device EVAH!

[rkim291968]

I detest playing on courses with houses lining the fairway. Frankly, I'm not that good. The presence of houses make me that much more uptight. That, of course, leads to a greater risk of actually hitting a house.

Most of my golf is on old-school muni courses. Not fancy places, but no bleeding mini-mansions cluttering the place up.

No offense, to anyone that owns one.

This is the reason why I picked my current home course.   There are no houses around the course, just vineyards, grazing hills, no cars driving by, ....

[Deryck Griffith]

I bought a house on a golf course.

2. why don't golfers say they are sorry when the ball hits your house.

You have to keep in mind (since you aren't that much of a golfer) that the average est. drive is around 200 yards or more.  200 yards is 600 feet away.  That is quite a bit of distance to know exactly if your errant shot actually hit a house and if it did hit a house, which house it was that was hit (especially if there are obstruction(s) in front of the house - trees, fences, etc).  If someone bangs a Tee Shot 250 yards, that 750 feet.

In my experience, most people cringe on the idea of hitting a house and understand that it's terrible.  I've never played with anyone who accidentally hit a ball in the direction of houses and didn't care or thought it "wasn't a big deal."  But that's just me and maybe I hang around exceptionally good people or only have met good people when playing with strangers.

All of that said, considering where you bought, I would recommend that you be proactive rather than reactive and invest in netting that will protect your house.  Buying a house is one of the most (if not the most) important investments in someones life.  It would be good/smart to invest in the protection necessary to protect that investment.

[Morocco Mako]

As far as the home owner's association goes, as someone pointed out, the netting is a safety issue. People have been killed by errant golf balls. If they refuse to bend, you would probably be able to get a judge to issue allowing the netting.

You should also politely remind them that if (God forbid) someone were struck and injured (or worse killed) by a golfball in your back yard, they (the HOA and the board members) would be opening themselves up for a hefty lawsuit (since they were the ones that prevented you from taking the require safety measures to prevent the all too predictable tragedy).

[trickyputt]

As far as the home owner's association goes, as someone pointed out, the netting is a safety issue. People have been killed by errant golf balls. If they refuse to bend, you would probably be able to get a judge to issue allowing the netting. You should also politely remind them that if (God forbid) someone were struck and injured (or worse killed) by a golfball in your back yard, they (the HOA and the board members) would be opening themselves up for a hefty lawsuit (since they were the ones that prevented you from taking the require safety measures to prevent the all too predictable tragedy).

I enjoy reading about paper tigers. They are quite scary beasts. The adjectives and verbage used to describe them are very vivid, imaginitive and most assuredly plausible. Although I prefer to be scared by death from high speed meteorite missiles, golf balls incoming does get my attention. I am going to spend some time tonight researching death by Q-tips. Its a real concern of mine should I slip or have the wife open a door into my elbow while I am scratching my brain with one. I sure am glad I am considering buying a minivan. Its true that a person just cant be safe enough!

[iacas]

I enjoy reading about paper tigers. They are quite scary beasts. The adjectives and verbage used to describe them are very vivid, imaginitive and most assuredly plausible. Although I prefer to be scared by death from high speed meteorite missiles, golf balls incoming does get my attention. I am going to spend some time tonight researching death by Q-tips. Its a real concern of mine should I slip or have the wife open a door into my elbow while I am scratching my brain with one. I sure am glad I am considering buying a minivan. Its true that a person just cant be safe enough!

Are you suggesting that it's silly to want to put a net up to protect children, people enjoying backyard barbecue, etc. from stray golf balls?

[Pretzel]

I enjoy reading about paper tigers. They are quite scary beasts. The adjectives and verbage used to describe them are very vivid, imaginitive and most assuredly plausible. Although I prefer to be scared by death from high speed meteorite missiles, golf balls incoming does get my attention. I am going to spend some time tonight researching death by Q-tips. Its a real concern of mine should I slip or have the wife open a door into my elbow while I am scratching my brain with one. I sure am glad I am considering buying a minivan. Its true that a person just cant be safe enough!

While yes, the odds of dying or being injured due to a golf ball are fairly slim, it's something that can be used as further justification for the homeowner installing netting to protect their house.

Having been hit by a screaming shot from a 3-wood in the shoulder before, I would install netting in a heartbeat and fight the HoA about it later. It's not a fun experience and knowing that it wouldn't happen again (along with knowing I'd be saving a small fortune on insurance premiums and home repairs by installing it) would be worth every penny that it cost.

[trickyputt]

[QUOTE name="trickyputt" url="/t/78511/non-golfer-bought-house-on-golf-course-questions/18#post_1083428"] I enjoy reading about paper tigers. They are quite scary beasts. The adjectives and verbage used to describe them are very vivid, imaginitive and most assuredly plausible. Although I prefer to be scared by death from high speed meteorite missiles, golf balls incoming does get my attention. I am going to spend some time tonight researching death by Q-tips. Its a real concern of mine should I slip or have the wife open a door into my elbow while I am scratching my brain with one. I sure am glad I am considering buying a minivan. Its true that a person just cant be safe enough![/QUOTE] Are you suggesting that it's silly to want to put a net up to protect children, people enjoying backyard barbecue, etc. from stray golf balls?

Heavens no. Its the incessant BS of death and lawsuit talk that permeates my environment. Its ridiculous to use the words "death by golfball" on pretty much all the planets my spaceship takes me to, and lawsuits to boot? Extremism imo. I got hit once standing forward of the tee way back when I started playing. It could have been a head shot and done some damage. But thats like standing in the middle of a road. Somehow I learned dont do that.

[No Mulligans]

I detest playing on courses with houses lining the fairway. Frankly, I'm not that good. The presence of houses make me that much more uptight. That, of course, leads to a greater risk of actually hitting a house.

Most of my golf is on old-school muni courses. Not fancy places, but no bleeding mini-mansions cluttering the place up.

No offense, to anyone that owns one.

Me too.  Although there are some courses I play with houses along the fariways.  It always makes me nervous.  I can't imagine anyone wanting to hit a house.

[Morocco Mako]

Heavens no. Its the incessant BS of death and lawsuit talk that permeates my environment. Its ridiculous to use the words "death by golfball" on pretty much all the planets my spaceship takes me to, and lawsuits to boot? Extremism imo.

I got hit once standing forward of the tee way back when I started playing. It could have been a head shot and done some damage. But thats like standing in the middle of a road. Somehow I learned dont do that.

You mean it's like all this seat-belt BS. People drove cars without seat-belts for decades. The odds that you'll be in an accident where seat-belts will make a difference is small (99%+ of accidents are simple fender benders; most people are never in an accident where a seat-belt would have made a difference), so why worry about it? Right?

"It could have been a head shot and done some damage." Some damage? Yea, like killing you. Being killed by a golf ball is rare, but not uncommon. http://golf.heraldtribune.com/2010/11/29/death-by-golf-ball-not-all-that-uncommon/

The greater the risk, the more important it is to take precautions against it. You wear seat-belts, because the repercussions of that once in a lifetime accident as so bad it's worth your time to take precautions against it. The odds of being killed buy a golf ball are low, but considering the risk it's reasonable to take precautions against it.

As far as the lawsuit threat, unfortunately some people are so stubborn they need to be bluntly reminded of the consequences of their decisions.

[boogielicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trickyputt

Heavens no. Its the incessant BS of death and lawsuit talk that permeates my environment. Its ridiculous to use the words "death by golfball" on pretty much all the planets my spaceship takes me to, and lawsuits to boot? Extremism imo.

I got hit once standing forward of the tee way back when I started playing. It could have been a head shot and done some damage. But thats like standing in the middle of a road. Somehow I learned dont do that.

You mean it's like all this seat-belt BS. People drove cars without seat-belts for decades. The odds that you'll be in an accident where seat-belts will make a difference is small (99%+ of accidents are simple fender benders; most people are never in an accident where a seat-belt would have made a difference), so why worry about it? Right?

"It could have been a head shot and done some damage." Some damage? Yea, like killing you. Being killed by a golf ball is rare, but not uncommon. http://golf.heraldtribune.com/2010/11/29/death-by-golf-ball-not-all-that-uncommon/

The greater the risk, the more important it is to take precautions against it. You wear seat-belts, because the repercussions of that once in a lifetime accident as so bad it's worth your time to take precautions against it. The odds of being killed buy a golf ball are low, but considering the risk it's reasonable to take precautions against it.

As far as the lawsuit threat, unfortunately some people are so stubborn they need to be bluntly reminded of the consequences of their decisions.

Off topic, but completely disagree.  So does the CDC.

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/seatbeltbrief/

But I do agree that people who buy next to a course should be responsible enough to protect their own property and health.

[Crim]

I'm curious as to what the OP expects as a apology...like walk up to your front door and ring the doorbell?

If you're outside I'm going to apologize profusely, but I'm not walking up to anyone's door.

[Deryck Griffith]

The greater the risk, the more important it is to take precautions against it. You wear seat-belts, because the repercussions of that once in a lifetime accident as so bad it's worth your time to take precautions against it. The odds of being killed buy a golf ball are low, but considering the risk it's reasonable to take precautions against it.

Exactly.  What's wrong with being proactive rather than reactive and putting up the net?  There are very clear and "understood" risks to buying a house on a golf course?

[Pretzel]

I'm curious as to what the OP expects as a apology...like walk up to your front door and ring the doorbell?  If you're outside I'm going to apologize profusely, but I'm not walking up to anyone's door.

I have only had this happen to me once, and the owner was not home. I knocked on the door before leaving a note. I figure the homeowner at least deserves to be informed that their house was struck so they can make any necessary insurance claims and fix any damage.

[Dave2512]

I posted this in one of the other "hit a house" threads. I can't think of any at the courses we play where the house would be in the line of play unless someone did something reckless. Even the homes with nets really aren't in danger. Typically the holes play away from the homes. The only ones that don't are older courses where a remodel changed the design and the course put up massive nets.

[Deryck Griffith]

I posted this in one of the other "hit a house" threads. I can't think of any at the courses we play where the house would be in the line of play unless someone did something reckless. Even the homes with nets really aren't in danger. Typically the holes play away from the homes. The only ones that don't are older courses where a remodel changed the design and the course put up massive nets.

Houses on golf course are obviously never "in the line of play."  They are out of play were most of the amateur golfing population potentially can and will hit a stray shot.  I myself have hit and seen some pretty bad shots (that weren't intended to be reckless) that have gone WELL out of play and well within the range of a house that's "out of play."

[Pretzel]

I can think of one hole specifically where a house is directly in the line of play, and that's the hole where I broke a window once before. The hole is sharply uphill, but flattens out before the green, and also doglegs to the left. There is a road that runs perpendicular to the teebox and most people's tee shots don't reach over the hill to be able to see the green on their approach shot. Since the road is only about five to seven yards to the right of the green, it's fairly common for people to either look over the hill and pick a target that's just barely offline, or they push their shot a little, and the ball heads straight for the road instead of the green and one-hops into the houses across the street (which is a fairly narrow street since it's in a neighborhood).

That said, I've seen plenty of other courses where the houses are near enough to the course that an errant slice or hook could still hit them reasonably. A lot of these holes are ones where the perspective off the tee makes it seem like the line of play is closer to the houses than it is, which makes people aim more towards the houses than they actually should for that hole.

[Dave2512]

Houses on golf course are obviously never "in the line of play."  They are out of play were most of the amateur golfing population potentially can and will hit a stray shot.  I myself have hit and seen some pretty bad shots (that weren't intended to be reckless) that have gone WELL out of play and well within the range of a house that's "out of play."

I've seen some pretty shaky shots but most landing zones are typically further away from the home. The holes taper near the tee boxes and are widest where the balls land to accommodate errant shots. The pictures I posted in the previous thread about this show houses with netting that are so far out of play something really odd would have to happen. A drive that just traveled 80 yards north before slicing 90 degrees and traveling a hundred yards right of that point.

This is an example of a home close to the line of play and there is huge net to protect it. In three years I've never seen anyone hit it. It is further away from the tee than it looks and the hole plays away from it. If someone hooks it that way usually doesn't have enough to carry to the house. I draw it over the big tree on the right because I can. The higher handicap folks pray to get it over the water.