Maybe when you close on a home on the golf course The Villages should supply a sign - please pick up after yourself or get the hell out of my yard!

the only thing worse than living on the golf course is NOT living on the golf course!

Update on the scorecard, total for thread:

Yes, getting the ball is OK.........5 posts
No, getting the ball in not OK...18 posts
Info/links/questions.................9 posts

and two new categories.....
Humor...................................5 posts
Dog poop...............................2 posts
(these topics were difficult to tell apart)

Now it's six for Humor, kitty.

I don't play golf, nor do I live on a golf course, but I'll weigh in on this one. You did do the right thing, Applepie, and don't let nasty people get you down. Explain you were following the golf rules and walk away. He must have known when he moved in with his dog and lawn mower that there were going to be golf balls in his yard! His problem, not yours.

And the survey says....

This thread has been very helpful in understanding the differing expectations we Villagers hold on the issue.
There has been no discussion of liability. I'm going to propose a highly improbable situation to provoke thought as I would like to understand the implications of our actions:

The pool guy leaves the lanai door open to bring in equipment, the dog gets out just as a golfer takes 3 steps onto the property to get his ball. The dog barks aggressively, the golfer holds his club defensively at the dog and steps backward, tripping over the curl of a water hose and hits his head on the new landscape stones. The golfer requires medical treatment for a concussion.

This thread has been entirely respectful and strong opinions given without slamming. Please continue....how do you view any issues of liability?
If a poster is credentialed in law it would help to know that.

We need a lawyer for this one. Wouldn't it be the same as the situation in which anyone comes onto your property and slips and falls, and you are liable? That's why we have liability insurance and umbrella policies.

I'm just guessing, though.

I am not a lawyer but I watched Marcus Welby once. He treated a lawyer.;)

Whether a golfer is liable if he breaks your window is probably yes if you can catch him. A decent person would own up to it. Whether you are liable while he is trespasses on your property and breaks his leg, yes if he gets one of those lawyers that are always advertising on TV. And that is a shame.

MY post is just one of the reasons some people dislike me intensely. I like to talk even if I don't know what I am talking about.

I hope nothing bad happens Kitty. Golf course views have their ups and downs to be sure.

But did you at least sleep at a Holiday Inn last night?

Uh, Gracie, Marcus Welby was a doctor not a lawyer.
Oops seen you corrected that, great save!

I think it's the pool guys fault - unless the dog pooped on the golf course while running loose.

Moral of the story is keep the pooch inside the house when the blundering pool guy is due to arrive.

The dog stayed in his own yard, contained by invisible fence.

There are hundreds of what reasonable people would say frivolous law suits filed everyday--- it is well known---they "clog" up our courts. On the other hand, there are obviously legitimate law suits where it is right and fair that the plaintiff be made whole. I have not heard of a lawsuit where a golfer came into an owner's yard, tripped over concrete curbing around some flowers, filed a lawsuit and the property owners found liable. Just hasn't happen. That said, the point I want to make is that nobody is "liable" until a court, judge/jury has determined (under law) that you were negligent and liable. IMHO you are more likely to received a lawsuit from somebody who is illegally trying to sell you "something" at your front door than a golfer---with poor golfing etiquette---- retrieving a golf ball from your back door. Fore!