I am about to move (unfortunately), and the house I am considering (near Houston, TX) is near a golf course, about 200 ft. behind the green, and across the street from it. Nothing blocks the view from green to the front of the house.
If anyone lives or used to live near a golf course - a couple of questions. At that distance (200 ft from the far edge of the green) will I get a lot of golf balls hitting my windows? And second - if they break the windows, does golf course’s insurance pay for it or do I?
I can’t find a link right now but there was a well-publicized case in Colorado about 20 years ago where a homeowner’s dog was killed by an errant golf ball. They sued and the eventual verdict, as I recall, was that people who purchased homes abutting a golf course implicitly assumed some risk.
I have several clients who live adjacent to golf courses and errant golf balls are a non-issue.
I don’t know about your client’s houses, but Terr sounds like he’s right in line with where the balls will be going. Of course, 200 feet is pretty far, but probably not unheard of.
If I were you I’d talk to the golf course AND ask some of the neighbors (not the homeowner of the house you’re looking to buy). You’ll probably hear things like “Balls never make it this far, I wouldn’t worry about it” or “Yeah one or two windows a year get broken or a car gets hit here and there, but the golf course is really good about fixing it” or “They hit our houses and our cars all the time and we have to pay for it ourselves, our insurance rates keep going up, I can’t wait to move” .
It’s probably be somewhere in the middle. My guess is that one or two balls a season make it that far, but still, I wouldn’t want to get hit with one.
The chance of balls invading your yard will depend on the layout of the hole and the relative position of your house. The majority of golfers are right handed, and most of them are slicers - so the majority of errant shots will end up to the right of a line drawn from tee to green.
200 ft sounds like enough to limit this problem, even if the geometry is favorable.
200 ft is 67 yards. It is rare to have shot be long by that far, but I guess it could hit the street and bounce.
Is the street asphalt or concrete? Probably concrete in Houston. Balls bounce further of concrete generally.
I think my homeowners insuranwould take care of my errant shots.
Is the golf course the local muni or a upscale country club? All golf clubs are frequented by questionable characters, but they tend to congregate more at the Munis.
Houston gets the occasional hurricane doesn’t it? If your house is new-ish, it’s windows will have been installed per code with tempered glass, which is a lot stronger than plain annealed glass. There will be a mark on the corner of the glass indicating this. Nicer homes in Hurricane Country have laminated glass.
I live near Houston and near a golf course. In answer to your distance question…it depends on many factors but 200 ft will not get you out of the kill zone. As far as liability, the golf course has none. You assume the risk when you knowingly move near a golf course… but… if a ball breaks a window, for example. you might be able to sue in a small claims court and prevail.
Here’s the google earth view - A marks the house. I was wrong - there are actually trees between the green and the house, they will probably block most of the errant shots… I will ask around, (actually ask my agent to ask around, since I am not there).
Being 200 feet behind a green is probably a safe spot. No one is driving it at the green so stray balls will probably be more bouncing lobs.
I’d be more leary if I was just along the fairway off the tee pad. Someone using a driver with a bad hook or slice can do some damage.
It’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever see a golf ball in your yard when you’re that far behind the green. I wouldn’t buy any of the houses with pools on the right side of the fairway, though. Most bad golfers slice the ball and I bet those homeowners fish golf balls out of their pools all the time.
I live on a private golf course. The course rules are that any player who thinks he or she has hit a house is to contact the homeowner and pay for any damages. Of course, the rule and practice aren’t always in sync. There certainly are broken windows for which no one fesses up. The course does not pay for repairs, but they will try to be helpful in identifying the culprit. I think the possibility of damage is just an assumed risk when you buy a house on a golf course. Unless the operator of the course has done something unreasonable or negligent, I think it would be pretty hard to force them to pay.
As you can guess, your specific position along the course has a huge bearing on how likely damage is. We have never had anything broken, and get maybe 2-4 balls in or yard per year. Just three houses down, the people have to replace windows at least every couple of years, and they get dozens of balls. A small distance can make a huge difference. 200 ft from the green is a pretty good amount of distance, but I personally would not buy a house where people would be hitting directly at me without any barrier in between.
My wifes parents house used to back up to a golf course.
they always had good experiences there. Here are some:
the kids would set up a lemonade stand and sell to the golfers as they went by.
The boys at night would dive into the bottom of the pond, pick up golf balls, then resell them to the golfers.
the kids would often sneak up onto the course just to walk around. Although there was a night watchman who would sometimes chase them off.
Bad stuff:
No privacy. There were always golfers walking by and looking into the yard.
Expectation of golfer etiquette. You know how everyone is supposed to be quiet when someone is teeing off? Some golfers would get mad when they would be mowing their lawn or even talking while they were playing.
I think in the long run it is for the better though since being next to a golf course seems to help a homes value.
My mom lives c. 200 yards, on the right side of the fairway, from the tee of the 18th hole of her country club’s course. She has acquired quite a golf ball collection over the years.
A homeowner who’s getting dinked by dozens of balls may have a claim for negligent course design, and might be able to force the course to redesign a hole or plant a row of trees, but that’s a big and uncertain legal hassle to take on.
Another consideration is price; you might be paying a golfer’s premium for this property based on its proximity to the course, which won’t be valuable to you if you don’t play there.
Golf is one of the most litigious sports there is. Google ‘golf legal cases’ and you’ll see that there is very little agreement across the courts about who is liable for errant golf balls. So at this point buying a house within driving range of a golf course is (to mix my metaphors) a crap shoot.
You’re right in the slicer’s path of a right-handed golfer, but the trees and distance should make it a minor irritant at worst. You’ll definitely get the odd golf ball in your yard, but it will not be often.
I remember one time I was mowing the lawn there and the golfers were giving me this dirty look, expecting me to stop mowing so they could tee off. One even came over and said they knew the homeowners and asked me to stop, which I wouldnt do because I wasnt getting paid by them.
What got me is they expect good behavior from neighbors but they never give them anything for it like some free rounds of golf. Dang. Their lucky neighbors dont trash things.
