OB Question

[RSinSG]

I thought of something today and I think I know the answer, but not 100% confident about it. 

 

A right handed player’s ball comes to rest just inside the left OB line requiring him to stand OB to hit the ball. In this case the OB is a private backyard with the height of the grass in line with the OB stakes. Normally it shouldn’t be a problem with the player standing on the edge of the private property to hit the in bounds ball, but what if Grandpa Jones is sitting in his backyard and hollers “Get off my lawn!”

 

I know there’s no relief from OB boundary fences or things that are OB that impede your swing, but here it’s a wide open shot. I’m guessing if I choose to not trespass I would have to follow a ball OB protocol. Amirite?

 

(For the record I’d probably just take the shot and risk irritating Grandpa Jones. Besides, for all I know there is an easement between the course and the yard.)

[nsxguy]

7 minutes ago, RSinSG said:

I thought of something today and I think I know the answer, but not 100% confident about it. 

 

A right handed player’s ball comes to rest just inside the left OB line requiring him to stand OB to hit the ball. In this case the OB is a private backyard with the height of the grass in line with the OB stakes. Normally it shouldn’t be a problem with the player standing on the edge of the private property to hit the in bounds ball, but what if Grandpa Jones is sitting in his backyard and hollers “Get off my lawn!”

 

I know there’s no relief from OB boundary fences or things that are OB that impede your swing, but here it’s a wide open shot. I’m guessing if I choose to not trespass I would have to follow a ball OB protocol. Amirite?

 

(For the record I’d probably just take the shot and risk irritating Grandpa Jones. Besides, for all I know there is an easement between the course and the yard.)

 

Well, it wouldn't be a "ball OB protocol" since your ball in IN bounds. It'd likely be an unplayable option.

 

That said, I'd just take my stance and play on and hope Grandpa didn't call the cops for me trespassing.

 

[sprcoop]

Play it left handed.  Grandpa might have a shotgun.

[Augster]

As above, at worst it would be an unplayable. No need to E5 or retee. 
 

Just tell him, “Don’t like golfers in your yard? Don’t live on a golf course.”

 

If he can afford to live on a golf course, he can also afford to not live on a golf course. So he made a choice. As the Joker would say about golfers playing from his yard, he gets what he deserves. 

[rogolf]

Simple solution for the golf club to implement.  Move the OB line one club-length inside (course side) of the property line.  OB is where the Committee decides it to be, ie, it doesn't have to coincide with the legal boundary.

[Krt22]

4 minutes ago, rogolf said:

Simple solution for the golf club to implement.  Move the OB line one club-length inside (course side) of the property line.  OB is where the Committee decides it to be, ie, it doesn't have to coincide with the legal boundary.

Then the home owner might simply move their "yard" closer to the stake. We have this issue at my club, where property owners push past the OB stakes or in one egregious case actually just up and moved the stake and extended their yard.  

[SNIPERBBB]

1 hour ago, Krt22 said:

Then the home owner might simply move their "yard" closer to the stake. We have this issue at my club, where property owners push past the OB stakes or in one egregious case actually just up and moved the stake and extended their yard.  

Sounds like the local surveyors are about to be happy. 

[antip]

5 hours ago, sprcoop said:

Play it left handed.  Grandpa might have a shotgun.

Plus a hunting knife, cross-bow, semi-automatic rifle, flame thrower...

Golf in the good ol' USA?

[antip]

2 hours ago, Krt22 said:

Then the home owner might simply move their "yard" closer to the stake. We have this issue at my club, where property owners push past the OB stakes or in one egregious case actually just up and moved the stake and extended their yard.  

We had one guy brought in bulldozers during the night and took out a row of 5 metre trees that were on the course interfering with his view across the greenery and towards the river.

[rogolf]

1 hour ago, antip said:

We had one guy brought in bulldozers during the night and took out a row of 5 metre trees that were on the course interfering with his view across the greenery and towards the river.

I hope the course took action against him, and replaced those trees at his cost (and more).  Similar things have happened in Vancouver and Victoria, BC, with results awarded against the perpetrators.

Edited June 4, 2021 by rogolf

[2bGood]

We had neighbour keep removing OB stakes because he did not like he look of them. During an inter club event a player hit into his yard that was now marked as in-bounds and decided he could play his ball from there. The neighbour did not like that much. 😀

 

Funny thing as I went to visit him to sort things out, he was a nice little guy who actually did not mean any harm and did not know what the white stakes were for. Once he did he left them alone.

Edited June 4, 2021 by 2bGood

[Bloom]

What's with all the people ok with trespassing?  It doesn't matter where someone has his yard.  If it's private property, stay the heck out. 

[antip]

55 minutes ago, rogolf said:

I hope the course took action against him, and replaced those trees at his cost (and more).  Similar things have happened in Vancouver and Victoria, BC, with results awarded against the perpetrators.

I never heard the wash up, it was just before I moved to another course for a few years but now I'm back there. The complication was the course was riverside leasehold (public land) from the local Council but I'm sure the club went to the Council to see what action could be taken.

[Newby]

14 hours ago, Augster said:

As above, at worst it would be an unplayable. No need to E5 or retee. 
 

Just tell him, “Don’t like golfers in your yard? Don’t live on a golf course.”

 

If he can afford to live on a golf course, he can also afford to not live on a golf course. So he made a choice. As the Joker would say about golfers playing from his yard, he gets what he deserves. 

Perhaps the course was built after he bought his property. 

[CaseyC]

15 hours ago, Augster said:

 

...Just tell him, “Don’t like golfers in your yard? Don’t live on a golf course.”..

 

 

 

Well, he doesn't actuall live "on a golf course".  He lives next to a golf course.  The golf course is defined by the out of bound stakes.  

[Krt22]

12 hours ago, antip said:

Plus a hunting knife, cross-bow, semi-automatic rifle, flame thrower...

Golf in the good ol' USA?

I leave the cross bow at home, it doesn't fit in my bag.

[SNIPERBBB]

11 hours ago, Bloom said:

What's with all the people ok with trespassing?  It doesn't matter where someone has his yard.  If it's private property, stay the heck out. 

It's not that people are ok with trespassing, it's that everyone knows that there isn't any legal consequences to doing so these days

[Blonde Line Lizard]

36 minutes ago, SNIPERBBB said:

It's not that people are ok with trespassing, it's that everyone knows that there isn't any legal consequences to doing so these days

I agree.  Given the OP's scenario, I would just move the ball onto the course where I have enough room to play a shot.  Given the world we live in today, we don't know what kind of nut-jobs are out there with a short fuse ready to go off.

[Newby]

2 hours ago, Blonde Line Lizard said:

 I would just move the ball onto the course where I have enough room to play a shot.  

And if the adjacent property was 100' below a cliff edge or behind a 10' brick wall? 

As often quoted "Which other rules are we ignoring today?"

 

 

[2bGood]

3 hours ago, SNIPERBBB said:

It's not that people are ok with trespassing, it's that everyone knows that there isn't any legal consequences to doing so these days

 

And they don't care about moral consequences.

 

3 hours ago, Blonde Line Lizard said:

I agree.  Given the OP's scenario, I would just move the ball onto the course where I have enough room to play a shot.  Given the world we live in today, we don't know what kind of nut-jobs are out there with a short fuse ready to go off.

 

I would take an unplayable given the rules have already contimplated this situation and have a remedy to fix it. 

[Mr. Bean]

On 6/4/2021 at 2:38 AM, Augster said:

As above, at worst it would be an unplayable. No need to E5 or retee. 
 

Just tell him, “Don’t like golfers in your yard? Don’t live on a golf course.”

 

If he can afford to live on a golf course, he can also afford to not live on a golf course. So he made a choice. As the Joker would say about golfers playing from his yard, he gets what he deserves. 

 

Wow. So you are saying a property owner has no right to choose what to do with their property and who to allow on their own yard?

 

If I were the owner and some wise**s would say something like you propose I would tell them 'Don't miss the fairway, punk!'

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by Mr. Bean
Had to change some text or someone would have made remarks of my grammar...

[Augster]

21 hours ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

Wow. So you are saying a property owner has no right to choose what to do with their property and who to allow on their own yard?

 

If I were the owner and some wise**s would say something like you propose I would tell them 'Don't miss the fairway, punk!'

 

If they had that large an issue with it, and remember we’re talking about a home owner who chooses to live on a golf course, he could put a fence up. Problem solved. He has not chosen that path in this outlandish hypothetical. 
 

[Mr. Bean]

2 hours ago, Augster said:

If they had that large an issue with it, and remember we’re talking about a home owner who chooses to live on a golf course, he could put a fence up. Problem solved. He has not chosen that path in this outlandish hypothetical. 
 

 

He does not live ON a golf course but BY a golf course. Huge difference.

 

Sounds like you would approve people stepping on another person's yard if there is no physical hindrance to prevent it. I find that kind of attitude impolite. Besides, as there are white stakes determining the boundaries of the golf course there should be no problem to differentiate the course and the yard of the house in question so no fence is needed to tell people not to cross the line.

 

Here in Finland people are not shot dead for trespassing (unlike in some parts of the world...) but it is not acceptable to step on another person's yard without permission. It simply shows poor manners.

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by Mr. Bean
Typo

[davep043]

I think the rules at my home club are fairly common for golf courses that are developed as part of a housing development.  The Homeowner Covenants require each homeowner to allow golfers to retrieve their golf balls from the homeowners' properties.  This requirement is included in the ownership documents, if you buy a house there, you must allow golfers onto your property.  In this situation, I'd have no issue with a golfer standing out of bounds to play a ball that's on the course.  I absolutely understand that these limitations on the rights of the property owners to restrict access aren't nearly universal, but that's how we'd play it at home.

[Mr. Bean]

I wonder what would be the problem for the course to place the OB stakes 1-2 meters away from the actual property line in order to reserve room for the players to take a stance without entering the neighboring property? To me that sounds like the best solution for everybody.

 

Retrieving golf balls is a different issue. Personally I feel that retrieving a ball from OB is not a must. I always have more than one golf ball with me when I play so I can afford to lose one or two...

[RSinSG]

6 hours ago, Mr. Bean said:

Retrieving golf balls is a different issue. Personally I feel that retrieving a ball from OB is not a must. I always have more than one golf ball with me when I play so I can afford to lose one or two.

If I can’t get the ball with a retriever I consider it lost. I’m a golfer and I wouldn’t want strangers roaming around my backyard. I wouldn’t mind them standing on the edge of my property to hit a shot as long as they don’t dig a divot with a practice swing. 

[SecondandGoal]

I don't know that I've ever seen a situation where the OB line is the actual property line in this situation. It's always been the scenario a few have disguised above - the OB lines are at least a few feet away from the property line with a buffer between the OB and private property.

As far as retrieving it, if the homeowner is there, I'll ask if they mind if I retrieve it, and respect their response (though, to this day, nobody has ever said no, even a notoriously grumpy homeowner on my former home course). If they're not in sight, it stays in their yard.

[Colin L]

It's interesting and illuminating that in all of this thread there hasn't been one word said (or, have I  missed it?) about the fact that any golf ball that was hit from a golf course into a neighbouring property was a potential danger to that property and, worse, to the people living in it.   There is a clear sense in a few  of the posts of golfers having a special  entitlement to recover the potentially lethal objects that they have launched into adjacent properties and a distinct absence of any sense of being apologetic about it or being worried about the possible consequences.  .  At worst, it has been said to be the property owners'  fault for living where they do, that they deserve what they get.   I despair.

 

Clubs too have a responsibility towards the safety of neighbours in my country and that has been the priority in my own club rather than retrieving balls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by Colin L

[Greenie]

On 6/3/2021 at 5:19 PM, sprcoop said:

Play it left handed.  Grandpa might have a shotgun.

 LOL..

 

This is going back some years..There was this golf course we played that had a house and a horse farm in the middle of it. The story goes all the land around the farm was sold to the golf course but the owner of the horse farm wouldn't sell so the holes went around his property. 

 

I had duffed my ball off the tee box and it rolled a few feet through the fence by the house. I walked over to scoop my ball back and there was this old man on the porch rocking in a chair with a shotgun. He says " son you see that golf ball? It's my golf ball now"  I didn't say a thing and walked away.

Edited June 8, 2021 by Greenie

[rogolf]

1 hour ago, Greenie said:

 LOL..

 

This is going back some years..There was this golf course we played that had a house and a horse farm in the middle of it. The story goes all the land around the farm was sold to the golf course but the owner of the horse farm wouldn't sell so the holes went around his property. 

 

I had duffed my ball off the tee box and it rolled a few feet through the fence by the house. I walked over to scoop my ball back and there was this old man on the porch rocking in a chair with a shotgun. He says " son you see that golf ball? It's my golf ball now"  I didn't say a thing and walked away.

I wonder if he applied the same idea to children playing nearby and a baseball or soccer ball went into his yard?

Maybe errant golf balls were a source of income for him?