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Motorists teed off at errant golf balls
(by Joan Demirjian - May 28, 2009)
Motorists teed off at errant golf balls
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
One thing most motorists don't expect to encounter on the highway is wayward golf balls.
However, Alicia Knowles was driving south on Chillicothe Road (Route 306) last week, just past Lucerne Drive in Bainbridge. That's when a golf ball from the Tanglewood Country Club hit her windshield, causing glass on the driver's side to shatter. "I was sitting in glass," she said.
Her face was sprayed with shredded glass, but she was not injured, she said. "If I was going any faster, it would have gone right through the window," Ms. Knowles said.
"It could have caused an accident or the glass could have gotten in my eyes," she said. "I was very lucky."
Ms. Knowles said the incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. near the top of the hill. The windshield was about to fall through, she said.
She has had the window fixed and her insurance covered it, she said. Mrs. Knowles said she went over to Tanglewood Country Club to report the incident.
She said she believes a net in that area is needed to protect motorists on Chillicothe Road.
Her father, Robert Knowles, responded to her call following the incident. He said he talked to a Bainbridge police officer, who told him such incidents happen throughout the year. "I think the new owner of Tanglewood should be asked to put up a net," he said.
Tanglewood Country Club is scheduled to be auctioned on June 4. It is being operated by Tartan Management Co., of Dublin.
Recently, approval was given to the private club by the Bainbridge Township board of zoning appeals to amend its conditional-use permit, allowing nonmembers to play the golf course.
With the number of public golfers who will be on the course since the change, "balls will be flying all over the place," Mr. Knowles said.
"You can see the potential danger," he said. "My daughter almost got in a wreck," he said. "They shouldn't wait until someone gets hurt."
Bainbridge Trustee Matthew Lynch, who lives in Tanglewood Lake, said there are many stories about cars and houses being hit. There have been lots of shattered windshields, he said.
"Tanglewood is no different from any other golf course," he said of incidents involving errant golf balls.
Township Trustee Jeffrey Markley lives on the west side of Chillicothe Road. There is a tee-off site on the Tanglewood course near the road. When the golf balls take a left, they head toward Chillicothe Road, hit the pavement and bounces into his property, he said.
"I get all the balls, sometimes a half dozen a day," he said. Still, he said, for aesthetic reasons, he wouldn't want to see netting across the area.
Bainbridge Police Chief James Jimison said incidents involving golf balls hitting motorists are reported several times a year. "It's the eighth hole," he said.
When the club is sold, it would be a good idea to consider some type of screening or mesh between the course and the road, Mr. Jimison said. "Maybe the new owner will do that," he said.
"It can be dangerous," Mr. Jimison said. "A ball could go through an open window in the summer."
"Thankfully, there have been no reports of anyone being hurt or losing control," he said.
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