My latest Score Golf column — on the plight of urban courses following the court battle over Islington G & CC — is now online.
Here’s a taste:
It will be a massive eyesore. In fact, no one at Islington Golf and Country Club is trying to convince themselves that a net 250 feet long and 80 feet high, mounted by six massive poles, can ever be deemed anything other than ugly. Club President John Wright doesnt have any delusions about the result.
The netting will be unpopular, and fundamentally has no place on a golf course. But, for now, the massive ball barrier is Wrights only hope to cease the crazy litigiousness that has surrounded the golf club for years.
It is the last thing we wanted to do, says Wright, slightly despondent, but also resolute the club had little choice in the matter.
The net will be up soon, the latest salvo in an eight year court battle that has already cost Islington around $500,000, according to Wright. Hes dismayed that it has come to this, but feels that with more legal fighting with neighbours likely, Islington was backed into a corner.
What else could we do? he asks.
The full column is here.
I’ve seen nets before and they don’t trouble me. Richmond Hill has one on #16. Apparently a ball hit some kid playing in his backyard pool way up the top of the hill to the right and up went the net. While I can live with the net, it was the mat we have to hit from that perturbs. I also believe that Mandarin has a net on the property adjacent to a summer camp.
I play at Emerald Hills and ever since the opening of the new holes, I can think of a few spots that a net would come in handy.
[…] Two years ago, Islington G&CC in Toronto’s west end decided it had enough of a battle with a litigious neighbour who was PO’d by golf balls landing on his property. The neighbour sued and won, and the club finally decided it had no alternative and erected several huge towers and black netting designed to keep golf balls from landing on the disputed land. Needless to say it was a huge erection (I couldn’t resist), but in the end the poles and the netting was less intrusive than anyone expected. A column I wrote on the case is here. […]