WHY NOT PLANT SOME TREES? At University Diaries, another ETTS^(*) moment sighted at the New York Times.

UD has already noted on this blog occasional lapses of news-sense on the part of her beloved newspaper, moments when this impressively international publication loses the bigger picture and betrays a certain parochialism. Here's an example.

She goes on to lament the occasional obsession of the Times (it's nothing new: do they ever feature Astoria weddings in the style section?) with the things that make being rich difficult, such as more frequent collisions of golf balls with course-side house windows.

Look what people right here in this country are going through! And this woman did everything right -- she feng shuied for Chrissake! And the havoc! Dented cars!

There is, however, a teachable law and economics moment in the article, which Skip Sauer of The Sports Economist picks up.

First, for houses that have been "moved closer" to the tee box by technical advances in equipment, the assumption of liability seems a bit harsh. Let the golfers there play with "real" woods and steel shafts! Second, from a transactions cost perspective, I can't see how the golfers themselves could be held responsible. It's up to the golf course owner and the homeowners to come to some agreement on tee box location, equipment, etc., that minimizes the damage to property while maintaining the value of the course as a commercial enterprise.

Perhaps, as I suggested in the title, by strategically placing some trees on the hooking or slicing angles. A course will have a hard time enforcing prohibitions on high-tech golf equipment. Are there sufficient unemployed airport baggage screeners to spot those not-allowed-on-the-pro-tour but permissible for social play clubs? For that matter, is the technology the sole problem? Presumably, some social players have studied Tiger Woods's exercise regimen and they can hit the ball further even with conventional equipment.

(An aside on the high-tech: a recent invitation to a golf outing noted that the entry fee included use of a GPS-equipped golf cart. What's up with that? Is there also a hand-held triangulation device that suggests the optimal club for the distance from where the cart is to the hole?)