Swansea gardeners don hard hats to avoid wayward golf balls

WAYWARD drives have left residents living by a Swansea golf course donning hard hats while gardening, it has been claimed.

The claim was made by a resident of a new development which is adjacent to a hole at Morriston Golf Club.

Protective netting has been installed between new bungalows on Coed Cae Bach and the fourth hole – and now developer Edenstone Homes has been given permission by Swansea Council to increase the netting’s height from eight metres to up to 15m.

In a planning report, council officers referred to a letter from a Coed Cae Bach resident, who claimed the owners of one bungalow on the road had faced a “constant stream of golf balls” which had broken tiles and dented fascia boards.

The letter also claimed that a wayward shot had struck a resident on the hand, with other near misses leading to hard hats being worn while gardening.

And it alleged that some golfers have been “rudely peering into their garden to look for their ball” and telling residents it didn’t matter if the property was damaged because the golf club would pay for it.

It was only a matter of time, added the letter, before someone was seriously hurt.

The bungalows form the first phase of a 330-home scheme called Parc Ceirw, part of which is at the former Cwmrhydyceirw quarry.

Edenstone Group operations director Chris Edge said: “The original design for the netting between the gardens of homes at Parc Ceirw Garden Village and the neighbouring golf course spanned most of the fourth hole.

“As part of that design, we future-proofed a number of the columns to allow for further extension of the netting to 15 metres.

“Following instances of golf balls clearing the netting, and at the request of one of our homeowners, we applied for permission to fit additional netting.”

Morriston Golf Club has been in existence for 100 years and is open to non-members – and the protective netting and posts are on its land.

Pic. Walter Baxter / Beware of flying golf balls