A deluge of errant golf balls is hitting these Hilton Head homes, residents say. Where?
Note: This story has been updated with a statement from Greenwood Communities & Resorts.
It used to take Andy Lundgren a month and a half or longer to fill up a bucket with errant golf balls hit toward his Hilton Head Island home from the driving range at the Robert Trent Jones golf course.
Now, he says it takes him only a few days to top off his bucket with 140 golf balls.
Since the Palmetto Dunes gated community installed over a dozen hitting bays with Toptracer technology at the driving range in March, Lundgren and other residents in the nearby Queens Grant complex have complained of an exponential increase in wayward golf balls striking their patios, yards and homes.
“It is scary,” Lundgren said.
The issue has drawn scrutiny from town officials. And Greenwood Communities & Resorts, which owns Palmetto Dunes, is planning to raise a section of the existing safety net at the driving range this week, according to emails obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
The middle section of the safety net, which is 50 feet high, will be raised to over 70 feet, Lundgren said.
Brandon Smith, an attorney for Greenwood Communities & Resorts, in a statement late Saturday wrote that the net will be raised “as soon as possible.”
“In the meantime,” Smith wrote, “we have directed all golfers to hit towards the right side of the range. ... We have a staff attendant monitoring at all times for patrons that hit such errant shots. When we identify someone that has hit a ball over, we kindly restrict them from hitting any additional range balls. These measures have resulted in less balls being hit over the net. ”
The problems began after the gated community revamped its Robert Trent Jones driving range this past spring, said Doug Berger, board president of Queens Grant II.
Palmetto Dunes installed hitting bays equipped with Toptracer technology, which allows golfers and non-golfers to compete against friends, play virtual courses and receive instant feedback on the accuracy of their shots.
Toptracer technology is a part of the Topgolf Entertainment Group, which operates Topgolf complexes across the country.
The technology is currently used during televised PGA Tour events to track the shots of the game’s top pros.
Toptracer activities are popular, Berger said, so more people have been coming to the driving range for fun. That has led to a significant increase in golf balls hitting Queens Grant, he said.
“The golf balls are just crazy,” Berger said.
Marc Orlando, Hilton Head’s town manager, plans to schedule a meeting with Greenwood Communities & Resorts to discuss residents’ concerns, he said on Thursday.
Orlando acknowledged that Palmetto Dunes’ handling of the matter has not satisfied all residents.
That’s partly because Palmetto Dunes also wants to install new lighting at the driving range to extend its hours later into the evening, according to Lundgren and Berger. Orlando, as of Thursday, said he did not believe Palmetto Dunes had filed its formal lighting application with the town.
Orlando said officials can try to help broker a “peaceful resolution” in the coming days.
“The current form of the design calls for lighting to originate from small berms in front of the range, rather than from large overhead poles. Greenwood will also be planting vegetation and/or employing fencing and/or opaque screening to protect light from intruding onto neighboring properties,” Smith wrote. “We will not be operating unreasonably late into the evening.”
The driving range is currently open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday through Saturday, according to Palmetto Dunes.
“Who wants to live next to a stadium?” said Lundgren, who hopes the town will oppose the lighting plan.
This story was originally published August 7, 2021 at 12:18 PM.
