Pro's and Con's of Golf Course Homes

Wow!  How great can Living on a Golf Course be? When this is the morning view from your family room window.

Pro's

Well - Golf Course Homes are very nice because of the view, privacy and the open space behind your home.

I find that looking out at a slowly undulating golf course fairway with trees and grass is very relaxing and stress relieving.  It is like having a park outside your back door!

When your backyard opens out onto an even larger expanse of green grass that someone else takes care of - it can be fantastic!  (Even if you do not play golf!)

It means that you do not have any close backyard neighbors looking into your backyard or peering down from their windows into your personal, private space.  Usually you only have neighbors on each side of your house or perhaps across one corner if you live near a green.

The closest neighbors in back are usually across the fairway.  How far away they are will depend on how wide the fairways on that course or golf hole are.

If you like to play golf and belong to the course that you live on it is even better because you don't have to drive to the course.  Check the community regulations on whether you can have your own golf cart, or if you can just walk the course and pull or carry your bag.  Figure out the total cost per month based on how many times a month you will be playing and the monthly fees and cart charges. 

Our current community is very family oriented and most of the children here that have an interest are learning to play at a very young age, and can play 9 holes after school!

But living on a golf course does have it's disadvantages ---

Con's

Your house may be hit by golf balls!  Yes, this does happen and depending on how narrow the fairways are and the placement of your house along the course it may happen really often.  Home owners insurance may or may not pay for damage to your home from golf balls hitting it. 

Windows can be broken, house siding can be hit & pitted, screen porches torn & furniture damaged.  We have had all of these things happen.

Probably the most difficult thing to fix was the divots in the stucco siding of the house from golf balls hitting it.  One side of our house over about a 5 year period had more than 15 pock marks in it from the golf ball impacts.  These had to be filled and painted before we could sell it - otherwise the house would look like it had a disease!  It was not easy to match the paint color over time as the house aged either.

A glass top patio table was completely shattered on another occasion, and several windows were broken more than once.  Special shatter proof windows are now used by builders in many golf course communities.

We have built two different homes on golf courses and have selected the lots carefully after playing the golf course to try to make certain our home was not at the primary point where most people hit their first drive, or where the second shot approaches the green.  I you do not play golf walk along the golf course if possible and observe the players as they play the hole where the house you are interest in is located.

Noise from Golf Course Maintenance!   Do not expect to sleep in on the weekends!  The guys come around between 6AM & 7AM every day of the week to cut the grass, groom the bunkers and change the pin locations.  Sometimes they even come around before it is light out and the new equipment has headlights that can shine directly in your bedroom windows facing the back of the house and golf course.

Animals -  having more nature in your backyard means more animals and creatures.  Any golf course ponds naturally attract frogs, toads, birds, snakes, etc.  These can be tremendously fun to watch, but you have to be wary of what may be in your yard and fences will not keep everything out.  Our friends ended up with an alligator on their back deck from the golf course pond, then their cat was missing.  See our Pool Design suggestion using a Screened Lanai to keep more things out, and pets inside and protected.  The animals in ponds can also be incredibly noisy at various times of the year - see Outdoor Noise.

Spraying - Golf Courses have to fertilize, and control weeds.  The overspray can reach easily into your yard an impact your plants.  Be careful what you plant along the back edge that adjoins the area maintained by the golf course.  The weed killer that they sprayed on ours caused several of my bushes to turn totally brown and loose their leaves. 

Landscaping - if you want to keep the nice view intact that livng on a golf course provides you need to carefully choose the landscaping plants across the back of your property so that they do not get too large and obstruct your view.  Or, you will have to trim back plants often to keep them low enough to see over from your porch or patio.  If you do buy a golf course home that is hit by a lot of golf balls you might want to plant large trees or bushes along one side to act as a screen to slow down the balls that come your way.