Golfing Ban Is Hole in One for Park’s Neighbors : Hermosa Beach: Errant golf balls flying into yards had neighbors teed off. But a new ordinance bans golf and archery at Valley Park.

There is no driving range at Valley Park in Hermosa Beach. There is not even a putting green. But for years now, bright white golf balls have intermittently pelted the back yards of homes nearby.

They have plopped into Dorothy McNeill’s swimming pool and cleared Rod Merl’s back-yard fence. Not long ago, an errant chip shot took out the louvered window on Gordon Young’s second floor.

On Tuesday, however, the City Council voted to put a stop to the hail that has teed off so many of the park’s neighbors. Under a new ordinance, golf--even of the practice variety--will be banned in Hermosa Beach’s city parks, along with the equally hazardous sport of archery.

“I applaud the council for doing it,” said Merl, a 44-year-old father of two who was not at the meeting but who prompted the action with a letter to the council last fall. “I hate to be a nag but . . . our first thought has to be for the safety of our kids.”

Merl, whose street abuts the park, said the balls were coming down in the same area of his back yard where his small children often play.

“Balls hit hard and high enough to clear the fences will come down with an impact that could maim or kill,” his letter said.

His neighbors agreed.

“I’ve lived here 21 years, and for as long as we’ve been here, golf balls have been coming over the fence,” said McNeill, 75, who lives near Merl on 25th Street. Young, a 57-year-old resident of Morningside Drive, said he has even found balls in his upstairs balcony.

City park workers said the culprits are simply weekend golfers who want to practice teeing off.

“They go out there on Saturdays, to Valley Park or over to Clark Stadium, when there isn’t Little League practice or a soccer game or dog obedience class,” one park maintenance official said.

“Matter of fact, I used to do it myself--hit 10 or 12 balls, walk over, hit ‘em back. As far as I know, nobody ever had a close call.”

In a report to the council, acting Community Resources Director Mary Rooney said that most of the municipalities surrounding Hermosa Beach ban golf and archery in city parks not devoted to those sports. But until Tuesday, no such ordinance was included in Hermosa Beach’s Municipal Code.

The council passed the ordinance unanimously, although one member offered some good-natured dissent.

Muttered Councilman Chuck Sheldon after the vote was cast: “As a golfer, I feel terrible.”