Golf Ball Damage: Protection?

[marant]

Already did. It is covered by my policy with USAA

[J.P.M.]

The damaged panel is covered by homeowners insurance policy, minus the deductible. Replacement cost $700 by original installation company. I have not yet tried to see if there are other installers who can do the work. I think it would be by far preferable to stick with the original installer, with whom I was quite satisfied.

Check the policy. Some specifically do not cover solar appliances.

[marant]

The damaged panel is covered by homeowners insurance policy, minus the deductible. Replacement cost $700 by original installation company. I have not yet tried to see if there are other installers who can do the work. I think it would be by far preferable to stick with the original installer, with whom I was quite satisfied.

[SunEagle]

I've been watching solar arrays around a golf course for 7 yrs. now. Anecdotally, some yards full of balls, some not (I get a couple/week). So far, on probably ~ 20 arrays no damage, but I'm sure some will occur at some time. So my guess is that while damage will surely occur, I'm not convinced it's as common as some perceptions would make it. That says nothing about the severity of an event which can be, as demonstrated, quite severe and probably costly. Low probability X high cost = some consideration (?).

I understand your reasoning.

My parents use to live on a golf course and had a great view of the 3rd Tee. But unless someone shank the ball 90 D to the right their windows could not get hit.

It was different for the people living on the Ninth fairway. It was a dog leg to the right with an 8 story condo on the corner. A lot of golfers tried to slice their ball around the condo but enough of them hit the building and windows on the upper floors. Most of those people had installed heavy screening that would survive a hit and protect the sliding door behind it. Cheap insurance.

The parking lots around the condos were semi "covered" with metal roofs to protect the cars from the weather. From the upper floors you could always see a number of golf balls laying on top and you would hear the metal ring when a new ball landed. Some cars were not so lucky to be protected by those metal roofs.

[J.P.M.]

Or use the same type of nets some of the driving ranges use to keep balls from leaving their property and causing damage to others.

Unfortunately those nets are pretty tough and may cause enough shadowing on the panels depending on how far away they are installed.

IMO living on a golf course and installing anything (pv system, low impact windows, patio tile, etc.) that can get damaged by an errant golf ball would require a very comprehensive and expensive insurance policy.

I've been watching solar arrays around a golf course for 7 yrs. now. Anecdotally, some yards full of balls, some not (I get a couple/week). So far, on probably ~ 20 arrays no damage, but I'm sure some will occur at some time. So my guess is that while damage will surely occur, I'm not convinced it's as common as some perceptions would make it. That says nothing about the severity of an event which can be, as demonstrated, quite severe and probably costly. Low probability X high cost = some consideration (?).

[SunEagle]

Make that a badminton net to get small enough holes. But it might tear through the thinner strings.

Or use the same type of nets some of the driving ranges use to keep balls from leaving their property and causing damage to others.

Unfortunately those nets are pretty tough and may cause enough shadowing on the panels depending on how far away they are installed.

IMO living on a golf course and installing anything (pv system, low impact windows, patio tile, etc.) that can get damaged by an errant golf ball would require a very comprehensive and expensive insurance policy.

[inetdog]

AFIK, there is no UV resistant nylon. One summer will do it in.

Maybe something like volley ball net, strung between your trees would stop the balls ?

Make that a badminton net to get small enough holes. But it might tear through the thinner strings.

[Mike90250]

AFIK, there is no UV resistant nylon. One summer will do it in.

Maybe something like volley ball net, strung between your trees would stop the balls ?

[marant]

We are not near the tee, rather in range of the second or third shot on a par 5. I am sure the panels have had more than one impact, with most causing no damage.

At this point I am researching nylon monofilament fishing nets which can be attached to the top of the wall at the front of the array (see photo above), run to the top of the first row, then to the top of the second row, then over that row to be attached to a board down on the roof. I would not stretch it tight, rather leave it with enough slack that it would absorb most of the energy of the ball. If it then actually hit the panel it should not be traveling fast enough to cause damage (I hope). There are a lot of types of fishing nets so I will have to learn mesh sizes, strength, etc. Some nets are virtually transparent, which should help with not shading the panels much. Some also have high UV resistance.

[donald]

Alternate III: Orient the panels southwest, if that put the edge of the panel towards the tee.

A slice curves, so the vector at impact is not a direct line from the tee. The simple miss hits in your direction will be higher and slower than a slice by a male golfer with a big swing.

[J.P.M.]

I think a vertical fence of netting or plexi on the roof edge. The low trajectory slice is the highest velocity, assuming you are not too far off the tee. Golf balls dropping at near terminal velocity may not damage the panels. I doubt that the broken panel is the first hit on the panels.

Alternatively, lay the panels flat. You can compute the production drop of horizontal panels, and compare it to the estimated cost of damage. You can add panels to horizontal strings to make up lost production.

Alternate II : Orient the panels west, if that direction is away from the tee.

Depending somewhat on weather, if you lay the panels flat, you'll be cleaning them more often and probably still be paying an additional performance penalty for added fouling due to horiz. panel orientation.

Some form of barrier between the ball and the glazing is best for my money.

Some of perhaps many application criteria for solution might be: Least interference with solar performance, 100 % ball strike protection, unobtrusive appearance, serviceability and cost.

Like a lot of things, maybe best solution is a set of compromises to get close to 100% strike protection.

On bird netting: Maybe, but I wonder how well does it hold up to UV ?

[Sunking]

We have planted numerous trees, but it will take a while.

As any golfer like myself can tell you a Tree is 90% Air

[donald]

I think a vertical fence of netting or plexi on the roof edge. The low trajectory slice is the highest velocity, assuming you are not too far off the tee. Golf balls dropping at near terminal velocity may not damage the panels. I doubt that the broken panel is the first hit on the panels.

Alternatively, lay the panels flat. You can compute the production drop of horizontal panels, and compare it to the estimated cost of damage. You can add panels to horizontal strings to make up lost production.

Alternate II : Orient the panels west, if that direction is away from the tee.

[marant]

Yes, golf courses often put up nets, but that is not viable for us. We have planted numerous trees, but it will take a while.

As I indicated in my original post, the course was here when we built the house, which is one of the reasons we purchased the lot and built. I am not complaining about the course, just looking for suggestions on how to protect our panels.

[Mike90250]

Don't courses put up tall poles with netting strung between them, to keep balls confined to the course ?

Was the golf course there when you bought the house ?