COMMUNITY

Yep. 160 out from the green on a par 5. I love living on the golf course. No I dont get automatic membership. Get about 5-7 golf balls per week during the peak months in my backyard, many of which hit the house. Some even go over the house and end up in front yard or in neighbors yard across the street. Had three windows broken in 5 years. No one stopped to own up to their damage. I feel safe in the backyard, but have had one close call when an errant shot hit the rain gutter about 5 feet above my head. Almost gave me a heart attack. Sounded like a gun shot. No one pissing in the yard yet, it's kinda a crowded community here and since its Texas, most people are pretty conservative about that. Besides the course has two sets of bathrooms (between 3 and 4 on the front and 14 and 15 on the back.).
I only get irritated about someone retrieving a ball in my yard when, a. it isnt theirs, and b. when they insist on jumping over the chain link rather than using the gate I installed. (breaks the railing down.)
But I am an avid golfer, so my tolerance for golfers on or near my property is probably much higher than non golfers.

Well I want to. I think I've hit 1 house before and 1 apartment building. Both were off the roof thankfully since no damage was done to my knowledge. Still it would be nice to just go out on the patio with a drink and snack and watch some dudes play golf.

I'm just curious, to add to this topic, do home owners feel that the player should pay for the damage?

My understanding is that damage from golf balls is an "assumed" risk on the part of the homeowners, unless otherwise stated on the course.

For instance, I played on a course in Seattle last weekend and it was marked on every tee box w/ houses on the hole - "Golfers responsible for damage to houses."

Yeah, but that doesn't hold up in court. At least not in Canada it doesn't.

I would not want to have a house on a course where balls a going to be hitting any near it. I hope to have grand kids soon and would want them safe in the yard. As far as Windows, Come on your hit the bad shot pay for it. For the glass any way. Maybe not for the guys friend to come put it in.

Nope, not paying. I'm trying to hit the ball down the middle every time. So it's not like I'm trying to break anything. It's a fact that nobody hits 100% of their fairways though. So it's really not my fault that the ball veered off course. If you think golfers shoud pay for your window, don't but a house on the course.

COG,
You now only need to hit a condo and a duplex.

It is actually quite enlightening to watch golfers. I do it frequently. Ive seen a couple of players who make Jim Furyk's "weird" swing look like normal. The crazy thing is, it works for them and they hit fairways and greens regularly. It is also where I have noticed the large number of people who "improve" their lie (ie diddle the ball around with the club head, to get it just so so). Seldom see anyone sanding divots in the fairway, maybe 1 in 25.
The downside is seeing all the neighorhood kids playing soccer, running through the sprinklers, etc. etc. to include snow sledding on the greens (the once a year we get snow <grin>). Kinda aggravates me when they are tearing up the fairway and I know I'm paying for the privilige of playing golf on the course.

As I said, I have paid for the damage done by others. But yes, I feel players who hit into house and break a window, should at least OFFER to pay all or some of it. If you park your car on the street in front of your house and a neighborhood kid puts a baseball through the window would you expect them to pay for your windshield? Of course you would. Why would my house on the course be any different? IMHO this is just plain courtesy and respect.

So Dandy, if the neighborhood kid hits a baseball into the windshield of your car parked in your driveway, he didnt mean to hit it there. You gonna pay for the windshield or have the kid's parents pay for it? Come on.

As I noted above, your house is different because having balls hit your house is an assumed risk when living on a golf course. It is reasonable to expect balls to go offline and into your property. It is not reasonable to expect a random kid to put a baseball through your windshield, since the street is not designed for kids playing baseball.

Again, it is my understanding that golfers are not liable for damage unless clearly posted. However, I agree with you that golfers should offer to pay for the damages out of courtesy and respect.

Maybe I will agree that the street isnt designed for kids playing baseball, so, if a car drives by on the street and kicks a rock up into your car and dings it or breaks the windshield, is it just a "rub of the green" and you have to pay for the damages? The other side of the coin is that a golf course is designed for playing golf. The houses along the course are NOT designed for playing golf on. Why would you not be expected to pay for damages you cause to an area not designed for playing golf? On several holes here on my home course, the greens back up to a street. If you overshoot the green with your approach shot and your golf ball goes into the street and hits a car traveling down the road, do you feel any responsibility to pay for the damages to the car? One course I play on has a par 3 that sits within 200 yards of the end of an aircraft runway. Small planes frequently take off and land there. There is a sign that warns golfers not to hit if an aircraft is taking off or landing there. Yet I see people, willfully hitting when a plane is present. So if someone hits a plane with a golf ball, do they have any responsibility for the ensuing damage or death and destruction that takes place afterwards.

I just don't buy into this whole view that if I live on a golf course I am wholly responsible for any and all damages caused by golfers. I live here by choice. But you play here by choice as well. No one is forcing you to play golf here, you do so by choice and should accept responsibilities for playing golf on a course surrounded by homes.

Oh, let me add, I am NOT angry about damages to my house from golf balls. I reap more pleasure from living on the course than I do grief. But it would improve my outlook on life in general and people specifically, if golfers were more courteous and thoughtful about what damages their errant shots may or did cause.

Well, I don't really have to worry about it anyway. I don't like to play courses that have a housing development around them. Generally speaking, the course gets designed around the future developments. Never have I seen a course where the housing development was designed around a golf course. Any of the tracks I've played that play through houses are tight, on the shorter side of things and have a fair number of holes that make your club selection for you off the tee. Sorry, I don't want to pay upscale prices to hit 7-irons off the tee on a par 5. So I gave up on these courses long ago. But here's a true story.

Just east of Calgary, there's a bedroom community that has one of these golf courses. For some reason, somebody decided that it would be a good idea to have a provincial amateur qualifier here. So the 16th is a short par 4, 350 or so, minus the dogleg. Whatever the yardage was, it turned out to be a perfect 3-wood. There's a huge line of oaks down the right hand side that you have to fly over to get to the green. So I up and whack a ball at the green. I'm walking up, I see my ball on the back of the green, but this guy comes out of the houses on the right. As it turns out, these 2 story walk-out houses are RIGHT BESIDE the trees. The trees are mature (huge) and you can't see the houses right there from the tee. So the guy want's to know who hit the ball that's on the green. I came out and said that it was mine. His tone changes (for the worse) and he's telling me that he was sitting out on his upper patio, bar-b-quing apparently, and he heard and then saw my ball sail just a few feet above his wife's head. He said my ball is out of bounds, (remember, I'm on the green, 30 ft. for eagle) and that I owe him and his wife an apology. He continued to tell me to go up to his house, apologize to his wife and then go back to the tee and hit another ball. Well, the rules of golf are on my side here as the ball is clearly in bounds. I told him that I was sorry the ball came so close but there's really nothing I could do about it. Tee-green-putt, where's the problem?

Well this loser was gonna call the proshop, and then he was gonna call the cops and so on. Knowing that I had to keep pace, I told the guy (in a VERY unfriendly way) to go copulate his own face and that if he wanted a reason to call the cops, all he had to do was keep talking. I walked away, managed a shaky 2 putt (my adreneline was pumping) and left that hole with a different attitude about houses on golf courses.

The real kicker is that if I'm in a qualifier, I'd hit that shot again, right over the guys house. For the record, if I know that there are people there that could be injured, I'm not an idiot, I NEVER hit at, into or near people.

But lets say that I had of pushed the ball a little bit, maybe 5 yards, and hit his patio window. I'll apologize for that, but that's where it ends. Why am I responsible for that window Heartotexas? Why can someone else hit a 60-yd hook into a pond and that's okay, but I hit a 5 yard push and all of a sudden I'm out $500? I don't buy it.

Bottom line is, I don't think houses belong anywhere near a golf course. If one kid gets hit and seriously hurt, that justifies my argument. Maybe your house is 20 or 30 yards back from the ob stakes but a lot of them aren't.