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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPIP 93-02; Callaway Golf Test Facility; Planned Industrial Permit (PIP) (12)Carol A. Kerley Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer November 10, 1993 Mr. Gary Wayne City of Carlsbad Assistant Planning Director 2075 Las Palmas Drive Carlsbad, CA 92009 Dear Gary, This report is in response to a concern of the City of Carlsbad as it relates to the Planned Industrial Permit (PIP) submitted by Callaway Golf Company on October 27, 1993. The PIP submitted is requesting permission to construct a Testing Facility for Callaway Golf's Research and Development Department which incorporates a 6,000 SFtwo story office building, hitting areas described as turf tees, a fairway landing area, rough areas, three putting surfaces (one for approach shot landing testing, one for short chip landing testing, and one for putting), sand bunkers, and a maintenance building. The City has expressed a concern over whether golf balls hit from the turf tees under normal testing conditions, and, in the extreme, under infrequent and unusual use -- could land on Palomar Airport Road (the llRoadml). Additionally, we will address here the possibility of, and then the impact of golf balls that would errantly land in the barranca or roll into the barranca from the rough or fairway landing area. The Management of Callaway is also concerned that we do not subject property anywhere outside of the boundaries of the Testing Facility to flying or rolling golf balls. We have taken steps since the first look at the property in question to assure ourselves that the possibility doesn't exist. The intention of this report is to inform the City as to that possibility. ************* We have organized our response into a matrix which shows the variety of shot situations that will normally occur in the Testing Facility -- and the possibility that a golf ball could land either in the barranca or the Road. 2285 Rutherford Road Carlsbad, CA 92008-8815 Telephone: 619-931-1771 Outside California: 1-800-228-2767 Facsimile: 619-931-9539 This report concludes that Golf Balls could land: Normal Testing Conditions Errant Shot - Robot Errant Shot- Good Golfer Errant Shot- Bad Golfer Intentional Shot towards the Road In the Barranca On the Road Possible (4) (5) Possible (4) 11) Normal Testins Conditions: Normal testing conditions will be by robot and experienced players. Callaway Golf has been using the Polo Grounds in Rancho Santa Fe as its testing facility for approximately 2 years, and have gathered extensive data on both robot and player testing. In two years at the Polo Grounds, over 200,000 balls have been hit by the Robot. Our tests are performed to gather information about loft, lie, distance, dispersion, and shaft performance, among other criteria. Robot testing is vvworst casevv, in that we intentionally mishit golf balls off center to analyze shaft/head performance. We have also extensive data collected from our Player Testing. We use average and above average golfers for player testing. Use of below average golfer test data is too inconsistent. The concern that a ball would land in the Road or the barranca is addressed in the attached charts. These charts depict the distance and dispersion of 143,000 hits for the robot and 26,260 hits for player testing. The information was gathered for a one year period ending October 1993. The chart shows that only 10 shots out of 143,000 were more than 30 yards left of the centerline of the range. Only 50 shots were 25 yards left of the centerline. The testing center facility will be approximately 100 yards wide (a normal golf course fairway is 50-75 yards wide), 25 yards wider than the widest dispersion in 143,000 hits at the polo fields. Wind direction at our new Facility will not make a difference in the outcome of tests as the wind is l1head-onl1 from the west. On days of significant or variant wind, testing is curtailed because data collection becomes inconsistent and inconclusive. For Player Testing, dispersion at the polo fields was slightly wider than the Robot testing, but still within what would be the boundaries of the Testing Facility property -- only 20 shots out of 26,260 were more that 40 yards left of the centerline of the range. (2) Errant Shot - Robot and Dlaver testins: Data collected above includes all shots hit. The widest shots are to be considered errant. They are included in the analysis above. Additionally, it should be known that in two years we have had no robot malfunctions that resulted in personal injury to testing assistants. Also, in no instance were golf balls hit so poorly that the machine had to be turned off because of danger to either people or property. (3) Errant Shot - Good and Bad Golfers: It is conceivable, that the testing facility could be used by our Staff of Professional Golfers and by other interested parties to the company (such as Customers, investors, executives) . This is to be considered only as an exception, as the daylight hours for testing will be consumed by Robot and Player testing. Given this, we wondered what the outcome of an errant shot would be for good and bad golfers; not Robots or Player Tests. When Callaway was first searching for a location for a test facility, a test was performed by Mr. Fred Bliss at the request of Callaway Golf. Mr. Bliss is a staff designer with Johnny Miller Designs Ltd. of Napa, California. Mr. Bliss has performed hundreds of studies of this nature in developing golf course sites in urban areas with nearby roads. Mr. Bliss' sketch shows a badly hooked shot by a good player: the club face is closed loo, line-up is bad, to the left 8O. The chart shows the ball would land approximately 155 yards out, and approximately 40 yards left of center; 10 yards from the fence. The ball would continue to roll 75-100 yards on a firm fairway, but in the testing facility, would encounter rough in which it would stop, or be stopped by the fence. A purposely hooked shot by a good golfer travels further than a bad shot by a bad golfer, thus this is a worst case test. (4) Intentional Shot towards the Road: In an even worse case, if a ball is still going left after traveling hooked for 150 yards, the barranca is 50 yards deep at the 150 yard marker. Air flight after a 150 yard hooked shot is unlikely. If a golfer intended to drive a ball to the Road and stood at a 90° angle to the driving range, the distance to the Road is 113 to 150 yards, at the shortest path. Thus if a golfer intends to reach the road or the barranca, it is possible. Callaway Golf is a professional golf club manufacturer, we would not allow this to occur. (51 Lona term effect of Golf balls lvins in the barranca: As described above, golf balls will reach the barranca only on an intentional shot towards the Road. Even so, it is possible to retrieve any balls in the barranca by scouting them using a shag bag. We intend to do so in the unlikely event that a ball gets over the fence. ************* Gary, we look forward to discussing this matter with you or Marty Orenyak, or any other members of the City of Carlsbad. Sincerely, Carol A. Kerley \I Exhibits: Exhibit I - Equipment Test Range - Master Plan Exhibit I1 - Robot Testing 10/92 to 10/93 Exhibit I11 - Player Testing 10/92 to 10/93 Exhibit IV - Mr. Bliss's report on Errant Shot by a Good Golfer .. . . FREPtRED BY: \ _,_ _" _". """_ )"_".+... . .- . , .. - ' - .- Exhibit I " ." . -. .... . . 280 260 240 33 220 e 8 200 g e U 1 80 160 140 120 100 X =Avg Disperdon - 2 StDev Y = Avg Distance + 2 StDev I == IL , w I I Robot Testing Results etober ;; ~~r 1; ~ -40 -30 -20 -10 0 X =Avg Dispersion + 2 StDev I L L 1430 averages plotted [each point represents approx. 10 hits: 143,000 tohl hits) Farthest Distance = 274 Yards Farthest Dispersion left = 38 Yards Farthest Dispersion right = 38 Yards I I I 10 20 30 40 Dispersion Average (Yards) 300 275 250 225 200 175 150 125 100 75 50 I -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 2626 averages plotted (each point represents approx. 10 hits: 26,260 hits) Farthest Distance= 277 Yards Farthest Dispersion left= 42 Yards Farthest Dispersion right= 42 Yards I I I - I . - ...