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It would be fun to drive the golf cart from my cart garage to the first tee.
Your experience living on a golf course probably depends upon many of the same considerations as purchasing a home anywhere else. Location, location, ….
I appreciate the insights. I was wondering about the potential for golf ball damage and noise. It sounds as though both could be a very significant issue depending on where the house is located in relation to the golf course.
I wasn't noticing that on our recent visit but we were not in the backyard for very long at all.
My husband, in particular, is an early riser and I'm used to him puttering around and making noise in the morning. I can sleep through just about anything. So, unless our routine really changes a lot in retirement, I doubt that the sound of a mower would bother either one of us too much.
I can see how errant golf balls and hearing golfers chat on the course day in/day out could be difficult to live with, especially when they have a view into your backyard, too.
You are thinking correctly..............
1st thing: Where is the house compared to the green/tee box?
2nd- What kind of course is it? Low price public or pricey private?
3rd- What climate? Is this open year round or seasonal?
Me: not living in the 175-220 yd area of any hole. Why? That is where the wild, swing as hard as you can drives end up!
Public courses get more play the cheaper they are. More play/lower price point = more hack golfers.
Ideally you would want to live just past the green, you get a view and golfers usually end up short of the green rather than long (in your yard). Tee boxes usually have waits which is old men staring into your yard from an elevated point. I would also steer clear of lakes/canals especially if you have dogs.
Our house in South Carolina is on a golf course, you'd classify it as a pricey private course in a gated community. It is owned by the membership (all the homeowners) and not by an outside corporation. This is an important distinction, because the course cannot be sold.
Never buy a home on a public course or really any course not owned by the homeowners themselves. Too risky.
We lived in a 55+ gated golf course community. It's important to know who actually owns the golf course. An outside company owned the one in our community and it was an adversarial relationship with the worry hanging over the residents that the owner of the golf course would sell it for development or stop maintaining it.
Read up on golf courses in NV and CA that went bankrupt leaving the residents surrounding the course with significant loss of value in their homes.
Also, break-ins in that particular community (I can't speak for all communities) were higher along the course.
If you are considering such a house or condo, take time (and take a golfer) to visit the place when the course is in use. As others have said, you don't want to be too near a tee off place, but in general tee off spots do not get the flying balls other places might do. So you get behind them - at a little distance. We have had two balls through our windows in a fourth floor condo - we were just at the right spot for a good slice - and the balls came through at almost exactly the same spot, a year apart. (Maybe it was the same person). But the golf club was very nice and paid for the window repairs both times. A golfer is the best person to comment on the particular placement of the house you're looking at. Otherwise, the view is usually peaceful and unobstructed, so I wouldn't reject the idea out of hand.
Also, Parnassia's comment above is worth taking into consideration. We once lived in a spot with a golf course that went derelict, was unused for a number of years, but now is being turned into a beautiful park owned by the condo complex which will enhance the saleability of the condos facing it. So you never know!
I live on a golf course now and its my 3rd home on a golf course.
1st house: next to a cart path on the side of my house where the golfers entered from across the street. The golfers would line up and wait to use the tee box. Thankfully, builder put no windows on that side, so I’d be surprised when I went out the upstairs balcony to see the line up. We had to up a fence b/c the golfers would walk onto our backyard and find a corner and pee against our house. Never got any balls.
2nd house: we were about 5 feet elevated above the cart path that ran along the back of our house and the tee box was directly behind our house. We probably found a few balls a week in our yard and maybe a half dozen times in 3 years balls hit the house. The sprinklers went off on the tee box each morning about 4am but we actually liked the cool breeze off the tee box. We sometimes caught a golfer standing against our rock wall taking a pee! A fun time for us when there would be a sponsored event and “our” tee box was a party station. We’d walk over and join the party for free drinks, t-shirts, etc.
3rd house/now: we are highly elevated above a golf course that runs thru a canyon about 400 feet below. No balls, no golfers relieving themselves in our view. No cartpath near our fence.
Pros: lovely landscaped view all year.
No back neighbors
Resort feel/nice view
Cons: Mowing at daylight
Concerns if the golf course closes what will be built on that land
Depending on house orientation, privacy issues.
things to consider: What tee box your house is near….if near the 1st or last hole you’ll either have people behind your house early in the day or late in the day. If not near a bathroom, you could have golfers who can’t wait to use the facilities. If early morning mowing bothers you, not a good choice.
We love living on a golf course and our present house, sitting so high above the course, is the ideal location.
Some of the communities we've looked at have homes that back to a golf course. The view is nice but I was wondering what it was actually like to live in such a home and whether or not that would be a good location for retirement.
I know that there's always the potential for broken windows but I'm curious to know how often that actually happens.
(disclaimer: have not read thread yet, but will)
My pre-retirement home was on a golf course. Beautiful views out the back of the distant mountains and the green grass on the other side of the backyard fence. It was awesome! The views and environment, that is.
But I must tell you that there are some terrible, horrible golfers out there. Our house was about a third of the way from the tee to the green and I thought I was close enough to the tee to avoid errant balls. Nope!
It came to the point where I just stopped replacing broken windows. At about $250 a pop, and having one replaced window being broken within a week, I had it. Paid about six grand to put up a 25-foot tall net along the property line. That helped, but balls still made it over the fence. Some bouncing off the roof of my neighbor's house.
When I retired and sold the house, I had to have 54 broken roof tiles replaced before I could sell. And, replace the nine broken windows.
Another problem I had one night is when the course hosted a nighttime tournament. I was home alone at the time, and around 11:30 at night, I caught a golfer climbing over the fence into my back yard to retrieve his ball. Golfers sign a waiver/release acknowledging that they are prohibited from entering people's yards.
I silently went onto the back patio and waited until he got one leg over the fence before saying to him, "Don't you dare climb over that fence!" He instantly froze and I lectured him about me not knowing who he is and I might attack him as being a robber or thief. About trampling my flowers and my need to protect my family, (for effect, nobody was home except me).
I was going to toss his ball back until his partner started cussing me out. That was it! I kept the ball and immediately went to the clubhouse several streets away and reported what happened. They shut down the tournament that instant and haven't hosted another nighttime tournament since that night.
So, bottom line . . . beautiful environment, especially if you like green. However, be aware that there are some horrible golfers out there. If your house is protected, then it is wonderful. If not, it is constant anguish and struggle to keep things nice.
About the noise. There is the mentioned almost daily mowing at daybreak. That never really bothered me. Just an necessary inconvenience for having a nice, huge lawn. Golfer chatter never bothered me either. Pre-sunset was perfect! Calm and peaceful.
Snagged bags upon bags of balls. Usually took them to work and gave them to a coworker who golfed. I kept some of the fancy ones, especially one with logos that were of personal interest.
Would I live on a golf course again? Maybe. Depends on the location on the course and if the house would be protected by walls/fencing/trees/etc. I really liked living there, even with the constant struggle with the hazards.
I've never lived on a golf course, but the idea doesn't appeal to me. Give me woods and privacy!
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