Peoria Park District Golf: Step Up To The Tee and Do The Right Thing.
This is an aerial view of what all golfers know to be a very dangerous area at Leo Donovan Golf Course, specifically the 3rd tee box. For the non-golfers out there, I’ll try to explain this in the simplest of terms. You see, the 2nd hole is a par five reachable in two, which means after your drive you will be hitting towards the green with one of your least accurate clubs – a long iron or fairway wood. The fairway narrows towards the green and to your left (right side of map) is out of bounds. The natural bail-out area is to your right, or towards the 3rd tee. If you miss it too far to the right you end up on or near the 3rd tee, which you can’t see because it is hidden by a row of trees. Adding to problem is the fact that the average golfer cannot reach the green on their second shot, but the tee box is slightly closer than the green, so short and right hits the tee area.
Now if you’re standing on the third tee box, because of said trees, you also cannot see the golfers on the 2nd hole, so you don’t know to watch for errant shots. I understand that errant shots are part of the game of golf, but generally you know to watch when someone close by is hitting and the one who is hitting can generally see if any players are in the path of a miss-hit shot and will shout FORE! to warn of danger.
Neither of these precautions can be taken here; a person on the tee box cannot see a ball coming, nor can the one who hit the ball know if anyone is near where the ball is headed.
A friend of mine ended up in the emergency room after taking a 200 yard shot to the head today while standing on the 3rd tee box. I am told that he will ultimately be o.k., but this should have never happened in the first place. It can and should prevented in the future. The cost is minimal.
A large fence or net needs to be erected to protect errant shots from landing on the tee box. This is not unprecedented on golf courses, or even in Peoria. There are large protective fences on the equally dangerous 10th tee at Madison and another on the 14th hole at Newman. There needs to be one here, and if memory serves me correct, there actually used to be one.
Ironically, as we motioned for the next group to play up to the 2nd green, one of the balls landed in front of the 3rd tee box.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:32 am
He will be honored that there is a blog about this incident! Head Wound Harry is doing well, despite his bruised pride. He is most upset that is greens fees weren’t refunded!
Thanks!! Julie
July 15th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
I’m sure the park district will expect you all to wear helmets in the future.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
And here I thought it was dangerous because that is where most players get robbed… Best of luck to your friend.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:19 am
People don’t get robbed at Donovan, and helmets aren’t necessary, I’m just asking for the fence to be put back up on a poorly designed hole.