Dateline Scarsdale, Brazil

Via Shackelford today brings us this story that is oh so topical in two very distinct ways.  First, we've just seen evidence of how an individual judge in third-world Rio can halt work on the previously-approved Olympic golf course, pretty much because he wants to.

So it's quite perplexing to see pretty much the same thing happening in that bastion of the rule of law and reverence for property rights, Scarsdale, NY.  And it's profoundly disturbing to see this happening to Quaker Ridge Golf Club, sacred ground to golf architecture dweebs such as your humble correspondent.  By way of background, Quaker is a 1918 creation of A.W. Tillinghast, and has long been considered by those in the know to be one of the great Tilly's best.

While nearby Winged Foot is far better known because it has hosted numerous major championships, the club notes this high praise on its website:

The golf course continues to stand the test of time. During the 1974 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, Jack Nicklaus, was asked whether he thought that Winged Foot was the greatest course in the world. Nicklaus replied: "That may be, but there is quite a golf course down the street."

Quaker has hosted a Walker Cup, but unlike its larger neighbor (which after all has 36 holes) it simply can't offer the necessary space for all the accouterments of  modern major championship golf.  And that lack of space is the crux of the current matter, with profound implications for other golf clubs.

Mike Dougherty of the Journal News provides the background:

For the better part of nine decades, each towering slice off the second tee fell harmlessly

in the woods along the right side of the fairway. When the Village of Scarsdale approved the sale of the land to a developer in 1999, officials from Quaker Ridge moved to secure and record a tree preservation plan. They also lobbied for a larger-than-normal setback, knowing that golf ball incursions might become an issue. The need to adhere to the specific plan on file was attached to the property's deed. 

So, just to be clear, the golf club had been there for decades before the land was developed for residential use, and the club took measures to ensure that and risks were mitigated.  Any buyer should have been aware of such restrictions attached to the deed and certainly would have known their property was, you know, on a golf course.

So, what changed?  Back to Dougherty's excellent piece:

The tree preservation plan secured by Quaker Ridge singled out a pair of mature trees, indicating they were integral to the defense of the neighboring property. One came down in a storm in June 2008, destroying a number of adjacent trees in the fall. The other was removed with approval from the Village of Scarsdale when the Behars constructed a pool.

See where this is going?  It was the neighbor that took down the tree, then sued because it wasn't stopping the incoming fire.  And who's representing them?  Turns out he's something of an expert in this field, a Tilly-chaser if you will: 

White Plains attorney Julius W. Cohn is representing the Behars. He maintains Quaker Ridge knew Lot 4 — on which the Behars' house sits — would become a resting place for numerous errant golf balls. He says the club should have purchased the property or done more at the outset to warn prospective buyers.

Cohn also took Winged Foot Golf Club to court when a tree removal project on the sixth hole of the East Course exposed a neighbor's backyard. The dispute ended in 2008 when the Mamaroneck club bought the plaintiff's home.

Isn't that an interesting little practice area?  The reader should feel free to insert the Willie Sutton quote of choice...

The club appears to have done what it can to mitigate the harm, including erecting a 40' high net, which can't be helpful to property values.  

If the golf course was built after the homes were I could understand the logic of the case.  But the golf course was there for decades, a preexisting condition as the kids say, so the developer and the buyers of the subdivision units have, at least to my mind, assumed the risk quite voluntarily.

Shack had this reaction:

Before you brush this one off to First World problems on steroids, understand that the plight of Quaker Ridge and other long established clubs that are now losing court cases to entitled folks like the Behars, which could prove disastrous for every golf course near human activity.

That's pretty much all of us, and subjects the members of such clubs to a retroactive denial of their use permits, essentially taking their property from them in part.  And to the extent that it cause us to lose Tillinghast or Ross or Macdonald courses or holes, that's a loss for all of us.  Speaking for myself, I get sufficiently livid when Rees Jones is allowed to redesign a Tillinghast hole, I'm guessing I'm going to like the work of a hack judge even less.

But I can't leave you without noting one piece of comedy gold in this sordid mess, in this quote from their mouthpiece:

"The place is regularly bombarded," he said, suggesting that his clients had to join Old Oaks Country Club in Purchase because they couldn't use their own backyard.

Tee hee.  They're golfers and they didn't know there would be incoming on the right side of a golf hole?  So while they may be rich but do they really want to publicize that they're not exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer?

Oh, that second reason it's topical?  I just bought a three-ball at Quaker in a charity auction and am arranging the timing with the donor.  Looks like I'll be playing a far shorter second hole...