Life is good on the green

(Editor’s note: This is one in a series of monthly stories taking a close-up look at neighborhoods in Petaluma.)

Golf widows probably think that their husbands would live on the fairway if they could.

That’s not far from reality in Petaluma’s Adobe Creek neighborhood, where well-kept homes line streets that weave throughout part of the adjacent golf club’s links.

Residents of this 300-home community off of Frates Road in south Petaluma say living along the wide-open greenery has a lot of perks and few drawbacks — the occasional broken window being one of the latter.

“You expect to lose a window every now and then, and we’ve lost six,” said Richard McIntosh, who has lived in the neighborhood with his wife Jackie for almost 10 years.

On the other hand, Gail Osman — a neighborhood resident for just as long as McIntosh — says she and her husband Jack have only lost one window during their tenure.

Whether errant golf balls pose a problem depends on a home’s location along the course, residents say.

“I’m not in line for any of the golfers — unless they happen to be a very poor shot,” said Maridale Smith, who moved into the neighborhood three years ago.

And even with the occasional clink of broken glass, the benefits of living near the course outweigh the risks, neighbors say.

Chief among those benefits is the open space and bird habitat the course provides, according to residents.

“It’s nice having a bunch of grass nearby that we don’t have to mow,” said Donna Hinshaw, who moved to the area from San Francisco with her partner Linda Postenrieder seven years ago.

“It’s an absolute plus,” John Ott said about the golf course. “It acts as a buffer and spreads out the density.”

And the homes themselves — built by developer Christopherson Homes, beginning in the mid-1990s — have aged well, their tenants said.

A homeowners association that oversees neighborhood cleanliness as part of its duties helps keep the area looking good, residents said.

Many of the residents surveyed said they relocated to Petaluma from Marin or elsewhere in the Bay Area, for retirement or affordability.

Some were familiar with Adobe Creek because they golfed at the adjacent club. Others were looking for a certain-sized house and when they discovered a listing on a golf course, came to appreciate the advantages of such a location.

“I had played golf at Adobe Creek and I always admired the golf course,” said Bill Vestal, who moved into his home 12 years ago with his wife Barbara after relocating from Oakland.

“We came up from Marin because Marin was getting a little too crowded for us,” McIntosh recalled. “I’m a small-town guy and my wife’s a small-town girl.”

They found a friendly neighborhood at Adobe Creek, he said.

“We have dogs, so we walk the neighborhood and meet a lot of people,” McIntosh said. “The cul-de-sacs seem to foster a close feeling. It’s really cool to see the extreme friendships that develop among those neighbors.”

For the second year in a row, his cul-de-sac held a Fourth of July party a few weeks ago, John McGuinness said.

“That’s helped a lot of people get to know each other better,” said McGuinness, who moved into the neighborhood with his wife, Donna, 10 years ago.

But social gatherings aren’t limited to holiday celebrations. Adobe Creek has a men’s club, a women’s luncheon club and a book club, to name a few.

Residents Karen Spratt started the book club with another woman shortly after she moved into the neighborhood with her family.

“It’s been going strong for almost 10 years now,” Spratt said. “Most of us have been in it the whole time, too.”

Such get-togethers are in addition to the monthly gatherings — including a New Year’s Eve party — that take place at the golf course clubhouse, just east of the homes.

“When new people come, they get to meet all of us” at the clubhouse, Osman said. “That’s sort of our hangout.”

The regular gatherings help reinforce neighborhood camaraderie, residents said.

“It’s a real good community,” said Ruth Parsons, who moved to Adobe Creek 11 years ago after spending 45 years in the same house in Kentfield.

“I know more of my neighbors here than I did in Kentfield,” the retired dental office manager said. “We have a very diverse mix of people — young people with children teenagers and older people.”

Several residents said the demographics of the neighborhood have changed, noting that more young families are moving in.

“I like children being here. They are next door and all around us,” said Dolores Hellmuth, who moved into the neighborhood with her son, Walter, two years ago.

“There is a wide range of ages on our cul-de-sac, from toddlers to retired people in their 80s,” Vestal said.

But its not just the human residents that make Adobe Creek interesting. The ponds that act as water hazards for golfers double as an attraction for bird life, neighbors said.

Julie Ahrens, who moved into the neighborhood with her husband, Scott, 11 years ago, said birds such as swallows, Grackle and Black-crowned Night-Heron frequent the pond behind her home.

The ponds are such an attraction that a signet swan with an injured wing somehow made its way from Rooster Run golf course to Adobe Creek, said resident Sheryl Nadeau.

The swan was first spotted at Rooster Run, about a mile and a half north of the neighborhood, and then rescued by the animal shelter when it re-appeared near her home, Nadeau said.

All the bird activity can sometimes have unexpected repercussions.

A few years ago, Canadian geese that roamed around the course proved to be a distraction for golfers, so the golf club set up foam coyote statues to scare away the unwanted birds.

It didn’t work quite as well as hoped, neighbors said.

“The geese figured out the situation, so now they go right up to the coyotes,” said resident Cami Dubbs, who moved into Adobe Creek 10 years ago with her husband Harold.

And Nadeau said some newborn ducklings once fell into a storm drain, sparking a neighborhood-wide rescue effort.

Residents created a net to try and snag the ducks, and Nadeau crawled into the drain to capture the creatures.

“Everyone was out for one cause — it was like the baby in the well,” she recalled.

All but one of the ducklings were saved, but the rest had a happy ending, said the eight-year resident of the neighborhood, who moved into husband Ronald’s home after they got married.

“They got back to mama and got back in the pond,” Nadeau said.

More recently, a more unusual critter has been spotted, she added.

For the past two winters, a river otter has been seen running around the fairway, apparently making its way up Adobe Creek from the Petaluma River to create quite a scene on the golf course.

“On frosty mornings, he will slide on his belly across the grass,” Nadeau said.

(Contact Corey Young at corey.young@arguscourier.com. Reporters John Jackson and Dan Johnson and intern Linnea Grayson contributed to this story.)