Red Barn Golf Course: being a good neighbor despite golf balls

The owner of Red Barn Golf Course says he may be forced to turn his driving range into multi-family housing if the Village of Rockton continues to charge a $750 fine for hitting the neighboring property with a golf ball. Residents of the Summit Condos next door say that several windows have been broken. Originally part of the Wagon Wheel Resort, the driving range was built in the 1950s. The condos were built around 2001.

Red Barn Golf Course owner Richard Barnes addressed the Rockton Village board at the Oct. 15, 2024 meeting.

Barnes stated “With the Village declaring the Red Barn Driving Range a public nuisance, the board action of tripling the nuisance ordinance to $750 per incidence, and the neighboring condo association going on the news, the Red Barn is losing 27% of range revenue and must find another profitable avenue for the seven acres.”

Barnes said that putting multi-family units on the seven acres would also help solve the area’s housing problems.

Barnes is part of the Rag-Barn Real Estate, LLC. ownership, which purchased the golf course in May 2021.

Barnes says the Village of Rockton had approved the current driving range themselves. Back in January 2022, his plans were unanimously approved for a design review to the Village of Rockton to add TopTracer Technology to the driving range.

The Villages Planning Commission also fully approved elevations for a covered driving range on Jan. 12, 2022 to support TopTracer.

Barnes' comments during the public comment portion of the meeting stemmed from a two year communication with residents in the Summit Condo Association in Rockton. They requested that action be taken to keep their property safe from errant golf balls. After negotiations with attorneys on both sides, they failed to determine that the range is a civil matter and not a public nuisance.

Flying golf balls and new Rockton ordinance

On Oct. 17, 2023 Dick Stasica, resident of the Summit Condos, addressed the Village Board with his concerns about the Red Barn Golf Course.

Stasica stated that he and a few other residents of the Summit Condos met with the Village's Administration Committee back in July and explained their concerns about more golf balls damaging their property and breaking windows since the TopTracer simulator was added to the golf course.

Stasica asked that the Village Board eliminate the TopTracer or add additional safety measures, such as a net or only allowing irons instead of drivers.

Barnes had told them that the Red Barn isn’t responsible for broken windows. So Stasica wanted the Village to enforce a nuisance ordinance which would allow the Red Barn to be fined.

Village President John Peterson advised Stasica that the Village Board would discuss this further and decide what should be done to remedy the situation.

In December Stacia returned with the condo association president Paul Grossen. Each expressed many of the same concerns. Both have also met with Village President John Peterson at different times.

So at the Village meeting on Tuesday evening June 18, 2024, trustees voted to amend the Village's nuisance ordinances. 

Village Attorney Aaron Szeto explained the new rules:

“This adds an additional act such as throwing or casting any stone at another property. This can be a golf course situation to anything to the detriment of that property. We will be allowed 10 days after the vote is approved to mediate in a situation if we are needed.”

In other words, hitting a building with a golf ball and hitting it with a rock bring the same $750 fine. The ordinance applies to snowballs and baseballs as well.

Assumption of risk

Barnes said, “The condo association has applied several times to our insurance company to pay for damages.” 

But the insurance company denied all claims. They said the condos took on an "assumption of risk" by building next to an existing driving range, approximately 40 years after it opened in the 1950's.

Red Barn Golf Course and Driving Range has been in existence for over 70 years. It was formerly a part of the Wagon Wheel Resort, which sat on 55 acres of rolling hills.

The condos were built around 2001, replacing the Wagon Wheel Resort airstrip. 

Red Barn Golf Course was built as a nine-hole executive golf course complete with a full driving range. The concrete pad and TopTracer shelter were added in fall 2021.

The golf property has four outbuildings; a storage barn, storage shed, maintenance garage, and a newly remodeled clubhouse with bar and eatery with a full liquor license and permission to sell reheated food. Also included on the property is all the equipment needed to operate the golf course.

Red Barn previously operated under the direction of PGA professional Marianne Kaiser since 1996. Kaiser has now retired. Tim Storm was a co-owner until the sale to Barnes and his wife. Storm was previously the founder of Fatwallet, which had 2009 revenues of $12.3 million. After moving it from Rockton to Beloit for tax reasons, Storm sold Fatwallet in 2011 to Ebates, now part of Rakuten, and now lives in Hawaii.

The course utilizes a “TopTracer Technology by TopGolf” tracking system which is under contract through the year 2026.

Has the Red Barn done anything to help?

Golf course representatives have met three times with members of the Summit Condominium Association over the past two years:  Summer 2023, Fall 2023 and Spring 2024.

Barnes insists the Red Barn Golf Course has taken action after every meeting.

The condo association asked for a quote for a net but Barnes says they declined to put up a permanent solution – a 50' tall net. The Red Barn even offered to pay for a portion of the $187,000 net and proposed a 3' permanent easement to avoid electrical boxes on the condo property.

In the summer of 2023, Red Barn Golf Course added directional tee markers to the grass tee area of the range.

TopTracer added an ‘over the net feature’ to track balls hit out of the property. Barnes implemented a rental agreement on Toptracer with a three-strike policy:

When the first ball is hit out of the property: a screen message pops up for the player to adjust aim. A second ball brings a verbal warning as well as a screen message. After the third errant ball, the bay is shut down and they are told to leave.

Red Barn added increased signage that instructs golfers ‘not to hit towards condo and golfer is liable for damages’. They also added more supervision of the range – enforcing the three-strike rule including the grass tee area, started a condo call log to track when condo members called or visited with concerns, and added security fence to keep balls from rolling out of the property.

In Fall 2023, the parties agreed that a net was a permanent solution. Upon condo association request, Red Barn got a quote from Dach Fencing Company.

Condo asked for a golf professional to assess Red Barn's internal net and whether it affects the direction of grass tee golfers. Range Servant’s golf professional, with over 50 years of range experience, wrote a letter stating the internal net had no bearing on golfers aim, since golfers aim for the flags/targets. A certain percentage of balls are going to be miss-hit by golfers. To help, Red Barn moved their white flag (180-yard target) to the center of the range.

In Spring 2024, Red Barn moved their yellow flag (270 yard target) 10 yards due west. Peak time supervision was added to the range to enforce policies.

One explanation for more errant balls: Barnes says a small percentage of shots will always be errant shots. Since under the current ownership, the number of range balls hit has increased 3-4 times, Barnes says that means that errant balls would also increase 3-4 times.

After a private meeting with the Village President and Attorney, Red Barn was asked for immediate action and adopted a zero tolerance range policy in July of 2024. Barnes updated the TopTracer rental agreement and placed signage on the range reading,

Effective Immediately, The Village of Rockton has kindly asked for No Balls hit in the Condo property. RBGC has responded by offering them a change to a Zero Tolerance Policy: Any Ball hit over our security fence, you will be asked to leave the range without a refund, so aim right!!!.

If you need assistance in controlling your swing so you don't hit errant shots left, please reach out to our Teaching Professional Brandon Frich.

Any concerns - air them at the Village Hall at 815-624-7600.

Several golfers have been escorted off the range since the ‘zero tolerance’ policy took effect. Barnes says, “These are golfers that will not come back to the course and with the word spreading about the ‘zero tolerance’ policy, many other golfers are not returning to the driving range. Thus, the loss in business.”

Negative publicity hasn't helped either. In July 2024, association president Paul Grossen told WIFR, “Since the TopTracer has come in, we had five windows just put out.” The story's headline read "Red Barn Golf Course reportedly suggests homeowners pay for its $187,000 driving range net" but the article clarified the Red Barn would also pay $10,000 of the cost.

Barnes disagrees with the condo owners' claims that the TopTracer technology is causing the damage. He says, "The TopTracer Technology will not cause a ball to go any further - it is a tracking system." More golfers have been using the driving range but, he says, "the percentage of errant shots have stayed the same. The Toptracer is a video camera system and does nothing to enhance ball flight, just records it.”

“Since this sign was posted and the false news story, I have lost a considerable amount of business,” Barnes said. “There is no guarantee that errant shots won't happen.”

Barnes says that in Rockford, all the golf courses have implemented an errant shot page on their websites stating that errant shots happen and it is not the course’s liability. He says the Rockton ordinance is an exception.

If he is forced to close the driving range, Barnes is hoping to recoup a portion of his revenue. He is working with Village Planning & Development Administrator Tricia Diduch to take steps toward building the proposed housing units, with the type of unit to be determined. He is also working with a finance company and a builder, and could start the building process in 2027.

"I don't want to see a 70 year tradition come to an end," Barnes said. "But only the Village can reverse the effects of their actions by allowing the errant shot issue to be handled as a civil matter and not a public one."