Boston.com Tonight
Sign up to receive the latest headlines in your inbox, every night.
Billerica condo residents tormented by stray golf balls demand action: ‘It’s a losing battle’
When she moved into a condo near the first tee of the Swanson Meadows golf course in Billerica, Mary Conway was not quite prepared for just how errant a duffer’s aim can be. Many of the golfers, she quickly learned, could use some serious work improving their drive.
Rather than putting their tee shots on the fairway, many golfers at the nine-hole course hook left off the course entirely, sending balls zinging into her home, cracking the siding, taking chunks out of shutters and shattering windows, with one errant shot landing squarely in her son’s bedroom. After years of battering, the garage door looks as pocked as the lunar surface.
Advertisement:
Conway, 63, who lives on a cul-de-sac next to the golf course with her husband, Michael, said she has spent about $2,000 on repairs. “It sounds like a gunshot,” she said.“You’re taking your life in your hands when you’re out in front of the house.”
In June, the Conways and other exasperated neighbors approached the Billerica Select Board with their concerns and aplea for assistance with the course owners, who they claim have been unresponsive to requests for damage compensation.
Angelo Scippa, an owner of Swanson Meadows, strongly denies that allegation. He says the course owners have had a solidworking relationship with residents for the past two decades.
Advertisement:
“We’ve always had an open line of communication with them, so I don’t know what’s changed,” Scippa said.
Nevertheless, he says, they can’t change the obvious. The condos are, after all, built on a golf course.
“The golf course is there, and the condos are there, so we’ve always tried to work in the past with them,” he said.
Scippa said he is aware that the homeowners association is working with the golf course’s insurance company but said the course owners hadn’t been informed of any recent issues, which residents say is untrue.
“We’ve never denied paying for anybody’s damages. We have always tried to do it whenever someone approaches us and tells us that something had happened,” he said.
The clash isjust the latest to pit golf course owners against neighbors on the question of who’s responsible for the cost of damages inflicted by wayward golf balls, and how to comeup with solutions.
In 2022, a Kingston couple was awarded $5 million after claiming theysuffered emotional harm from being bombarded by errant golf balls from a neighboring country club. The state’s Supreme Judicial Court overturned the verdict in December.
In Billerica, both sides agree some sort of compromise would be a hole in one. For now, however, everyone’s in the rough.
Advertisement:
Al Tassone, Swanson Meadows’ condo association president, estimates he’s picked up at least a thousand ballsin the development since 2003. Given the location, the occasional stray ball is to be expected, he said. But the constant fear of getting thwacked is too much.
More than the dented cars and broken gutters, he worries about his grandchildren.
“If anybody got hit in the temple with that golf ball, they’re going to be dead right on the spot.” said Tassone, 87. “We’re not looking to fight anybody. We just want to live here.”
The condo association filed a claim against the course in 2013 and was awarded $25,000 to repair damage to the homes. A year later, residents installed a net, at a cost of $15,000, to better protect the cul-de-sac. While Tassone claimed the course owners agreed to pay half, Scippa said that was never the case; they didn’t think it would be effective. The two sides couldn’t even agree where the net would be located.
Just this past December, the condo board filed a second insurance claim against the golf course for the costs of repairs to their homes. They also ordered a new net. Tassone said three companies have estimated the repairs will cost between $61,000 and $65,000. The net cost another $3,800.
Advertisement:
While having insurance cover the repair costs would be ideal, it won’t solve the long-term problems, he said.
“We’re trying to get a solution,” Tassone said. “Say we settle with the insurance company. What are we going to do? Fix them up so they can bang it again?”
Tassone appealed to Billerica Select Board member John Burrows for help, and he added the residents to the board’s agenda so they could present their concerns at a June 5 meeting. Ahead of it, Burrows visited the neighborhood, where he said he heard balls ricocheting through the trees.
One woman showed him a shopping bag brimming with the projectiles.
The situation, Burrows said, was worthy of the town’s attention, and other Select Boardmembers agreed. In the meantime, Burrows has directed residents to call police anytime a ball dings their property or they’re disturbed by noisy golfers playing off hours.
“People will say, ‘You bought a home next to a golf course.’ Well, golfers should play at a golf course — not whoever’s hitting these balls,” he said, making a dig at the players’ skill level. “If someone’s hitting balls like that, they should be at the driving range with me. Because it’s bad.”
Scippa said he was surprised the conflict was addressed at the Select Board meeting.
The course has a long history of working with the condo association on damage reimbursements, he said, and they’ve sent contractors over to make repairs whenever they’ve been made aware of problems.
Advertisement:
Furthermore, the courseowners have never heard of anyone being hurt by a golf ball — or even worried that it could happen,he added.
“We didn’t really know of any changes in circumstances that would cause concern now,” Scippa said. “The condos and the golf course were both built at the same time, so we’ve always tried to be good neighbors because neither of us can really go anywhere.”
Town manager John Curran sent course owners a letter on June 23 informing them that the issues with nearby residents needed to be addressed. He offered several solutions, such as adjusting the course layout, adding warning signs in the area, and even suggesting more safety netting.
Scippa didn’t want to comment on any possible interventions, but he did say they’d like to reach a quick resolution.
Curran hopes something can be worked out soon. But he isn’t optimistic.
“It’s been ongoing for this long. We might be able to help address it for a little while, but I don’t think it will go away completely until there are no golf balls laying around,” he said.
Conway, meanwhile, is tired of the situation.
She’s put heavy duty plexiglass on the front of all her windows to keep them from shattering again. While the view remains lovely as ever, she said, the windows can no longer be opened.
Once, while talking with a neighbor who was holding his newborn on the porch, they heard the familiar crack and recoiled. A golf ball landed only 2 feet away, Conway said.
Advertisement:
“It’s a losing battle,” she said. “Just a matter of time before somebody gets seriously hurt.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com