Meet the neighbours with the most unique view of the PGA Championship

From left, Jim Hageney, Eileen Hageney, Katie Hageney and Sean Christman pose in front of a fence just outside of Aronimink Golf Club. Dana O'Neil/CNN via CNN Newsource

Newtown Square, Pa. — Doug Siberski grew up on Boulder Creek Lane, in a house his father designed and had built back in 1961. Stanley Siberski was a dentist – for some time the only one in Newtown Square – who loved to serenade his patients with country songs. He was especially partial to Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty.

Like Stanley, his house is decidedly quirky, and as the decades have passed and Newtown Square has risen in its socioeconomic status, it stands out even more among the traditional homes along the street. Doug moved into the house after Stanley and Doug’s mom Regina passed away, determined to keep it in the family. He’s even kept some neighbours at bay, who have promised him a song if he wants to sell the property.

Because like any good piece of real estate, Doug’s house is all about location, location, location: The backyard shares a border with the fairway on the first hole of Aronomink Golf Club.

Especially this week, there is no sweeter place to live than the club, which hosts the PGA Championship.

Siberski and his fellow enterprising folks along Boulder Creek have turned their backyards into private viewing parties. At the suggestion of Jai Biljani, they went in and rented platforms and scaffolding that rise above the eight-foot fence erected by the PGA, giving them an unimpeded view of the entirety of the first hole and clear across the course.

“The last time this event was here, it was 1962,” Siberski said. “My sister was one. And now we’ll all be here today, watching it again.”

Doug’s yard stretches long enough that he’s got a double-vantage point. At one end, he put actual construction scaffolding - think yellow paint, straight out of Home Depot - and built some makeshift steps, laying a piece of plywood to access them. “I have to keep it a little redneck,’’ he said with a laugh.

He plopped an American flag at the end, so people could find it, nestled among the trees. That offers a nice shaded view of the tee and fairway.

But ever ingenious, the family also made it possible to get eyeballs on the green as well. Doug’s nephew, Pat Corcoran, stood atop a ladder and watched the golf.

“It probably came with the house,” Corcoran said when asked about the ladder’s age.

Next to him, his buddy Joe Spence and two of Siberski’s business partners, Theresa Supe and Dietmar Freyhammer, hopped in the bed of a Dodge Ram 2500 truck, perfectly backed up to the fence. Supe, from Germany, and Freyhammer, from Austria, purposely picked this week for “business,’’ knowing they’d get to watch some golf.

“I’m more of a golf addict than him,” Freyhammer said.

Doug hilariously isn’t even a member at Aronomink and says he’s a golfer in the sense that “I beat a ball around the course. I have a 12 handicap, which means I bring 12 balls and lose them all.”

But he loves a good party, and happily joined in. “I thought, ‘Why not?’’ he said. “Sounded like fun.”

His neighbours, Jim and Eileen Hageney, are longtime Aronomink members (their daughter, Claire, is getting married there in August), but only just bought their house on Boulder Creek Lane in the past year and aren’t even living in it. Upon purchase, they took upon a full renovation. There’s still no running water and workers were crawling about the place on Friday morning. Some, who are working on rebuilding the chimney, used the actual work scaffolding to pause and catch some golf, too.

As members, they’ll actually go onto the course and watch from areas reserved for Aronomink members but even that exclusive perch doesn’t beat the privacy of their own backyard. They were all too happy to go in on the platforms, joining with three other families for the rentals that ran about US$2,000.

Theirs is slightly fancier than Doug’s, with handrails up the sides and stairs. They even put a “Quiet Please” at the top to remind friends that there is, in fact, a golf tournament going on beyond them. They also checked with the PGA to make sure no one would mind their free access.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Hageney said. “You can tell by the size of the crowd when someone more well-known is about to play.’”

As Hageney spoke, Tommy Fleetwood and his caddie ambled by beneath them, having just carded a par on the first hole.

Plenty of patrons have looked up and asked for a free invite but the Boulder Creek Lane folks know a good thing when they see one. The Hageneys attached a “Private - By Invite Only” sign to one of their dumpsters.

That was sure to come in plenty handy later on Friday night. The neighbours were to gather post-golf for a block party. The neighbours on the other side of the Hageneys had white tables and chairs scattered beyond their outdoor patio and someone else was even bringing in an E Street Band cover group.

“It’s going to be great,’’ Doug said. “I can sit here by the bonfire and enjoy it.”

Then he chuckled to himself.

“Just don’t tell anyone.’’

Dana O’Neil, CNN