Posted on 04/24/2022 4:55:23 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
The headline to a Boston Globe story this week was an attention-grabber: “Family terrorized by golf balls wins nearly $5 million from neighboring country club.”
My initial reaction was that of John McEnroe to a chair umpire when he got a ruling he disagreed with: “You cannot be serious!”
A family with three daughters, ages 2 to 5, sued Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston, Massachusetts, “for trespass over the continual bombardment — and won a permanent injunction against golf balls on their property.”
A jury awarded the Tenczars $3.5 million for damages and mental and emotional suffering. The Globe story noted that court records indicate that with interest the award totals $4.9 million.
It is golf’s version of the 1994 lawsuit where a woman sued McDonald’s for the burn she suffered from a cup of coffee and was awarded $3 million in punitive damages. Likewise, if you buy a house next to a golf course, you assume some level of risk.
As the Globe story detailed, the Tenczars purchased the brand-new four-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot home in Indian Pond Estates on the south shore for $750,000 in April 2017. That’s an important detail: the golf course, which opened in 2001 and was designed by Damian Pascuzzo, was there before the home. But the first time the family filled up the kiddie pool in the backyard, a stray golf ball from the 15th tee splashed in the water. So many windows were shattered that the Tenczars stopped replacing them with glass. The story includes a photo of the frowning Tenczars holding a plastic crate swimming in golf balls that have hit their house over the past several years.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
However, as stated later: "In the meantime, the country club has reconfigured the tee box for the 15th hole, and the Tenczars say it has been months since they’ve seen a golf ball on their property. "
My daughter lives on a golf course. Her husband is the head pro. It’s fun to hang out in her swimming pool in the summer and critique bad shots as golfers come over to retrieve balls.
common sense to me says, when one buys a house on a golf course, it seems logical that one should know there is an inherant risk a golf ball - or 2 - will come their way.
Of course, we are dealing with 2022 courts, not common sense.
“To me only an idiot would buy a house next to a golf course.”
It’s mASSachusetts. If it weren’t for the idiots then no one would live there.
I would like to live next to a golf course.
Most places have a Your Problem rule with houses next to a golf course.
Golf. An egregious misuse of a perfectly good rifle range.
If I lived next to a golf course, I would be this guy but I would never want to live anywhere near one.
If you can't keep your balls on the fairways then you need to give up the game.
I did and I'm a happier man for it..........
I played golf on Friday. My playing partners hit four houses along the golf course. Really bad shots.
same thing happened when i was on city council of a small town in the early 1980’s ... guy buys a house adjacent to a golf course built a half a century before he bought his house ... we met in executive session and told the city manager and city attorney to make an offer to the homeowner that we would plant a row of evergreen spruces that would EVENTUALLY grow into a barrier ... and if that was unsatisfactory that we would see him in court ... the guy took the trees ...
omg...sitting here laughing until tears ... so freaking funny. Best laugh I’ve had in awhile. thx
In every town I’ve lived in, homes adjacent to golf courses were among the finest in town, owned by professional and business people who were definitely not “idiots”.
The public course adjacent to a busy road near me has a high net and the cars haven’t been hit in awhile.I guess a net never occurred to this club.
My dada used to live next to a golf course.
we used to hunt birds along the tree line seperating the two properties.
It was fun to bang off a round when someone was putting.
The really major problem was the drunks running over his mailbox as they left the 19th green.
“I played golf on Friday. My playing partners hit four houses along the golf course. Really bad shots”.
You’re the only one who didn’t hit a house so good for you.
Wink wink.
Living next to a golf course is a problem that is portrayed as a privilege.
Problem is not everyone keeps golf on the golf course.
You can die from getting one of those on the noggin.
The other thing is is that no one does anything out of understanding and courtesy anymore. The golf course reconfigured that hole afterwards, and now they aren’t bombarded with golf balls anymore. The golf course would never have done that, and they didn’t, without being taken to court and losing. Despite the golf course being the cause of regular repeated damage and stress to these people.
That said, I would never buy a house next to an established golf course.i am not looking for stress, injury and a large lawsuit payday.
Is there an airport in that county? I was thinking of moving and later retiring after the noise lawsuit.
/s
So the fact the course was there first is irrelevant. In any case their balls were flying into some else's property.
The course could have either redesigned or they could have bought that property so no one would be harmed but they refused to do so until they were sued.
So the property owners were in the right, the course was in the wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.