The Golf Balls of Celebration

For several years the properties at 928, 930, and 932 Westpark Drive in Celebration have been the recipients of many golf balls from the 4th tee of the Celebration Golf Club. These golf ball hits seem to cluster around 450 to 600 feet from the tee (Gold) along the Center Line (CL) running from the tee to the hole and about 50 feet on either side of the line. The number ( about a thousand over twenty years at 930 and about two hundred over six years at 932 ) exceeds what could justifiably be considered wayward balls. **

There have been three broken windows, many wall and roof hits, a few near misses of persons sitting on the front porch, a mail box dented, and cars hit while parked on street. ***

Vehicles passing on the street and pedestrians on either side of the street in this area are vulnerable to damage or injury. This is a clear and present danger, a Life Safety **** issue, and a public nuisance *** caused by, what could be, a design flaw or a post design change.

Examination of the layout of this hole shows an area of both private and public space that lies well inside the Minimum Safety Envelope (MSE) and outside the boundaries of the golf course. According to this well established design standard, no part of the MSE should extend beyond the perimeter of the golf course. But in fact, one of the CL's lies almost entirely over public space, and in places, is as much as 200 feet from the golf course itself. See Google Earth photos on following pages.

contact: GB@qsys.us

** see photos

*** see references 23, 24

Florida statute 823.01 Nuisances; penalty. —All nuisances that tend to annoy the community, injure the health of the citizens in general, or corrupt the public morals are misdemeanors of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.083, except that a violation of s. 823.10 is a felony of the third degree.

Osceola County Florida Code: Any employee, officer, or resident of the county may bring a complaint alleging that a place or premises constitutes a public nuisance, as defined in F.S. § 893.138, before the board, through notification to the code enforcement department.

**** Life Safety means a situation that currently or imminently threatens public safety.

The Minimum Safety Envelope (MSE) is determined from the Center Line(s) (CL).

"On a dogleg of any kind (right or left) there will be two CLs (a right and left CL) unless the second CL is completely blocked by an obstruction (such as a row of trees) at the tee. The two CLs are computed as follows. One CL goes from the center of the main tee to the center of the landing area (the landing area is the most open spot 250-275 yards from the center of the main tee). From there that CL is continued on to the center of the green. The second CL goes from the center of the main tee directly to the center of the green (it cuts across the dogleg). The MSE for the right side is calculated from the right most CL. The MSE for the left side is calculated from the left most CL. By adding the MSE for both sides you get the MSE for the golf hole." *

"You compute the MSE as follows: starting at the center of the tee, 150' in any direction, expanding to 210' in any direction from the CL at 450' out from the center of the tee to the green. The MSE on the right side should be further increased to 260' at 600' feet from the tee. The right side increase is based on a study done in the Dean vs. McStain lawsuit and agrees with a study done by Robert Muir Graves and produced in the lawsuit. The Urban Land Institute's 1994 publication on golf course design uses 210' from the CL on both the right and left side. The Hale Irwin instructions to the developers in the Dean vs. McStain lawsuit were that the developer shall provide 200' on each side of the centerline. " *

msedlr.pdf

* see references 1, 2

Celebration Golf Club property line (cropped) ira.property-appraiser.png

As can be seen from the photo above, any ball hit from either the tee (Gold) or the tee (Black) must first cross public space before landing on the fairway or the green.