Glenview Prairie Club Plans to Make Area Around Golf Course Safer for Residents

After Glenview resident Mayta Spitz (65) ended up at Glenbrook Hospital when she was hit by a golf ball near the Glenview Prairie Club, park district officials knew it was time to take action.

The Glenview Board of Trustees met on Tuesday night. In a 6-0 vote, they approved an ordinance to build two new paddleball courts at the club, which will help protect residents from getting struck by golf balls, said Chicago Tribune.

Spitz stood in front of the trustee members with a clear container full of golf balls. After her accident, her neighbors started to bring golf balls to her house that they found near the course.

On June 3, Spitz was driving with her windows down on Shermer Road when she was hit in her neck by a golf ball that flew from the course. The park district established that the golf ball came from the fifth hole tee box because of the location of the accident.

"I'm very lucky that I didn't suffer permanent damage. My chest area was all black and blue for a whole month," Spitz said to Chicago Tribune.

While the project is just beginning, park district officials believe that they can prevent future accidents by using dirt to create new paddleball courts in order to raise the land along Shermer Road.

Spitz also thinks park district should put up warning signs and netting around the Prairie Club course, as well as move the direction of the fifth hole.

"After reviewing the bid results and the project budget, staff will make a recommendation to the [Park District Board] Special Revenue Facilities Committee and then to the full park board as to whether to move forward with the project," Lori Lovell, the park district’s superintendent of special facilities, said in an email.

Spitz’s neighbor, Steve Boblin, said that a week and a half after Spitz was hit, a golf ball almost hit his car in the same area.

"This is something that needs to be looked at and addressed in some way because in addition to adults driving up and down the street, there are going to be children walking up and down as more people move in," Boblin said to Chicago Tribune.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.