New Netting Along Brookside Golf Course Catches Stray Balls Before They Reach the Rose Bowl Loop

For years, the golf balls came unannounced — arcing over the tree line at Brookside Golf Course and dropping onto the walking path where runners, cyclists, and dog walkers circle the Rose Bowl.

Now a cantilevered net catches them first.

The City of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Company have completed the installation of approximately 2,581 linear feet of additional protective netting along the golf course perimeter, covering 25 locations along West Drive and Rosemont Avenue.

The project was announced by Greg de Vinck, the city’s Director of Public Works; the 25-location scope is documented in city contract records.

The project grew out of a smaller experiment. In 2023, the RBOC installed a pilot netting section near West Drive and Salvia Canyon and used Toptracer ball-tracking technology to measure the results. That single stretch of netting intercepted an estimated 125 golf balls per month, according to city staff — a figure that, according to the city, demonstrated the need for a broader expansion.

The Pasadena City Council approved a $1,869,010 contract with Judge Netting, Inc. in June 2025 to build the expanded system. The total included a base cost of $1,557,508 and a $311,502 contingency. The RBOC contributed $1.3 million toward the roughly $2.6 million total project cost, which included $252,540 the company had already spent on the 2023 pilot, according to city budget records. The city advanced the remaining $1,047,460 from the General Fund, with repayment from the RBOC scheduled over 10 years.

The new netting supplements an existing vertical netting system by adding a cantilevered canopy that extends over the walking path adjacent to golf holes south of Washington Boulevard, according to city records. Careful consideration was given to preserving the character of the area during project design and construction: no trees were removed during construction, and the netting sits below the rim of the Arroyo to preserve sight lines for neighboring properties.

The Rose Bowl recreational loop — a 3.3-mile paved circuit around the stadium and Brookside Golf Course — draws what the city describes as thousands of residents and visitors each week for walking, running, and other outdoor activities. The loop runs directly alongside the golf course boundary along West Drive and Rosemont Avenue, the two roads where the new netting was installed.

Brookside Golf Course is a 36-hole municipal facility at 1133 Rosemont Avenue, owned by the City of Pasadena and managed by the RBOC, a nonprofit public benefit corporation created in 1995 by the Pasadena City Council. The golf complex sits within the Pasadena Arroyo Park and Recreation District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The netting project is identified in the city’s 2026–2030 Capital Improvement Program as consistent with the Green Space, Parks, and Recreation Element of the General Plan and with the Mobility Element’s priority of addressing safety issues in public infrastructure.