FOR RESIDENTS LIVING next to Rancho del Pueblo Golf Course in East San Jose, errant golf balls flying over the course’s catch nets and into the surrounding neighborhoods is a fact of life.
“I kept the basket on my patio, so when the golf balls came through, I collected them,” Donnette, a resident living in a housing complex on the western edge of the course who gave only her first name, told San José Spotlight. “I had about 100, so I got rid of them.”
For the most part, the balls land harmlessly. But on occasion, residents report they can also smash into homes and cars, sometimes breaking windows or causing other property damage.
The longstanding headache received added attention this spring when District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz, who represents East San Jose, got involved. In an April memo, he directed staff to draw up proposals to resolve the problem, noting the privately operated course sits on city-owned land.
“City property should not be used in a way that causes financial hardship to residents,” Ortiz told San José Spotlight. “It’s already a working class community. The city needs to do something.”
But even before the policy review got underway, representatives for Rancho Del Pueblo — which draws in tens of thousands of golfers each year — said they already fixed the problem. As of late March, the course had completed work to reduce the length of the fourth hole, a 250-yard par 4, which has been responsible for the vast majority of ball strikes.
“Never say never, but it should virtually eliminate any golf balls going over the net,” Tom Bugbee, chief operating officer for CourseCo, the company that manages Rancho Del Pueblo, told San José Spotlight.
Still, resident Steve Robles remains skeptical.
“(A new) configuration may help. But as we all know, errant balls are still going to happen,” Robles told San José Spotlight.
Robles lives in the California Fairways neighborhood, a collection of single-family homes hemmed in on three sides by the nine-hole course. He has advocated for his neighbors at community meetings tackling the golf ball issue.
When errant balls smash through windows, the repairs can cost hundreds of dollars. Robles said some residents have resorted to covering their windows with plexiglass or other protective barriers, raising safety concerns about emergency evacuations.
The question of legal liability from such strikes is often complicated to sort out. California courts have ruled that homeowners assume some amount of liability when they choose to buy property next to an existing course.
CourseCo took over management of the longstanding golf course site in 1999, and for many years thereafter, San Jose handled compensation claims. But in 2023, the city struck a lease agreement with CourseCo that transferred the responsibility to review such claims to the company, according to San Jose officials.
However, Bugbee argues the course holds no legal liability for damage caused by wild drives.
“It’s the responsibility of the golfer, not the golf course,” Bugbee said. “As a good neighbor, we always try to work with the people that live next to the golf course, and try to make it right for them.”
In some cases that means providing compensation directly to residents. In others, course officials simply help to coordinate between residents and golfers so they can sort out damage claims.
Since the 2023 lease agreement with the city, Rancho Del Pueblo management has received only two damage complaints and provided compensation in both cases, city officials said.
But residents who described conditions in the surrounding neighborhoods report a much higher rate of damaging strikes.
“They bounce off the walls and they land on my side and break my windows,” Carlos Luna, a California Fairways resident whose windows have been smashed on several occasions, told San José Spotlight. “It’s not daily, but it happens quite frequently … It’s a nuisance. You don’t want things to be falling on your property.”
Luna said that while San Jose has provided compensation for smashed windows in the past, in the last two cases, he has had to pay for the damage himself, an amount totaling $900.
Robles estimates that errant balls break half a dozen windows in the neighborhood every year.
Since Ortiz launched the policy review process, he has suggested possible fixes might include setting up a more stable compensation mechanism for residents, or increasing the course’s physical protections against ball strikes.
But for now, such ideas seem to be on hold.
Following the reconfiguration of hole four, a representative for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services told San José Spotlight no additional proposals related to the errant golf ball problem are under consideration.
Ortiz said his office will continue to monitor the situation and hold CourseCo “accountable” should more problems arise.
For his part, Robles still wants to see the creation of a dedicated compensation fund for residents, who he said were left in the dark in 2023 when the city stopped handling claims.
“Don’t get me wrong, we love to have the open space around our neighborhood,” Robles said. “We love the green. We just don’t like being bombarded by golf balls.”
Contact Keith Menconi at keith@sanjosespotlight.com or @KeithMenconi on X.
This story originally appeared in San José Spotlight.