SAN CLEMENTE : City Takes Another Shot at Golf Gripes

The City Council tonight will again try to resolve a long-running dispute between golfers who play the San Clemente Municipal Golf Course and residents whose homes are regularly pelted with errant golf balls.

Some new options will be considered for the controversial 12th hole, the source of the majority of complaints.

The city could spend $9,500 to install new sand traps and plant trees intended to offer the homes some protection, or pay $130,000 for a complete makeover of the 11th and 12th holes.

Paul Linden, the golf course manager, has recommended the sand traps-and-trees approach, an idea that some residents of Avenida Santa Margarita are also backing.

“I agree that we should give it a test,” said Jim Morgan, a homeowner on the street.

Morgan added that residents will offer additions to Linden’s plan at tonight’s meeting, including a proposal to install a hedge by the 12th hole tee to block any stray shots.

For more than two years, homeowners lining the 12th fairway of the San Clemente Municipal Golf Course have been fighting golfers who strongly oppose any plan that would affect how the 12th hole is played.

In January, the City Council changed the direction of play on the hole for 30 days in what some council members called “a failed experiment.”

Golfers showed up in large numbers at City Council meetings to protest the reversal of play on the 12th hole, which switched the tee to the opposite side of the green in an effort to keep badly sliced shots away from the houses.