Have you ever been struck by a golf ball? I’ve come close to being hit on a few different occasions. One time, years ago, my father sliced one so bad he sent me and my uncle scurrying from the bench that was parallel to the tee-box!
Another time, I had a ball bounce into my cart after striking the path directly in front of me. It ricocheted inside the cart a few times, then shot-out the back and into the fairway – it was pretty unnerving. And of course, there have been other balls that landed “too-close-for-comfort,” but fortunately, nothing serious.
So, have you ever hit someone with a golf ball? I have. I had just teed-off on the sixth-hole of a local mortar range when I noticed my ball was heading directly toward a person who was walking directly toward me from the adjacent fairway. I let out a blood-curdling “FORE!!!!” Everyone on the course hit-the-deck (including everyone in my group). Everyone, that was, save for the one person my “FORE!!!!” was intended towards.
Needless-to-say, my ball careened off this guy’s enormous gut, bounced through the rough and rolled back into my fairway. I mean, he left me an awesome approach – seriously, it was probably my best lie of the day. Anyway, the guy didn’t go down…he just kept walking! So I sheepishly approached him as he lumbered closer to me. “Sorry,” I said. “but I yelled fore…Are you OK?” “That’s alright,” he replied. “I’m hard of hearing!” WTF?
I’m sure most veteran golfers have a few good stories. But looking back on it, I got lucky. I mean, I could have been sued! It happens all the time – so much so, a recent article suggested it’s a good idea for all golfers to get golf insurance: “For a small cost, golfers can insure themselves against injuring another player during a round, having their golf equipment stolen, damaging property with a poorly hit shot, and even insured against having to pay for a round of drinks, the traditional ‘reward’ for achieving a hole in one.” Hahaha – drinks for a hole-in-one! There’s something I’ll probably never put a claim in for!
But seriously, do we really need golf insurance? I’ve been playing over 20 years and never even considered it…and I’ve hit a guy! Well, I guess the answer is, it depends on where you live. In the UK, courts mostly rule that golfers are liable for shots that cause injury, no matter how slight the risk and regardless of whether you yell fore. Thus there are a number of different golf insurance companies in the UK offering competitive prices ($2-$3 a day) and multiple coverage options. In the US however, court decisions are pretty much the opposite.
Court cases in the United States typically side with the defendant, claiming one takes an “assumed risk” while on the course. This stems from the prevailing thought in American law that for sports, there can be no fault from negligence-related injuries or those resulting from conduct that is considered part of the game. Basically, unless a golfer acts recklessly, it’s tough for a plaintiff to win their case – even if no one yells fore!
This is not to say you no longer have to yell fore here in the States. Please, please, please CONTINUE to yell fore! And if the person is hearing impaired, pray he has a nice, big gut to cushion the blow…
I’d have to agree with you on the insurance angle.
I do have an interesting story about hitting someone with a ball. I’ve never done it, but I’ve seen it happen. I was golfing with a couple guys who were hackers like me. On the 3rd hole the green is tucked just below the 4th tee (which is elevated).
One of the guys chipped a bit long, hit one of the foursome ahead of us. No damage to the guy, but the ball dropped, rolled down the back of the tee box and straight into the hole.
I’ve had a few memorable near misses myself. Last fall I yanked a 4-iron 20 yards left of the flag and it went screaming right at the cart occupied by the group ahead of us — this was a line drive right over third base and I screamed FORE! at the top of my lungs. The two guys in the cart stared at me as I watched the ball hit escape velocity between their heads, hit the roof of the cart (inside the cart) and rebound out into the fairway.
I felt sick to my stomach, but they just laughed it off on the ‘no harm, no foul’ theory.
I took one off the ankle once. Standing on the tee box, minding my own business, when all of a sudden….BANG!
Believe it or not, it really didn’t hurt all that bad. I wanted to get angry because, clearly, no one yelled FORE! But when I looked over to the nearby teebox from where the ball came, it was a young kid, no more than 11 or 12, who hit the ball. He was kind of trying to duck behind his father who apologized for him. I felt bad for him, so I laughed it off and told him it was no problem. The kid was obviously just learning the game, so I certainly didn’t want to discourage him. I just hope his father explained “FORE!” to him afterward!
I build and repair clubs, mostly as a hobby. When I tried to decide if I should make it more of a profit center I decided against it. The liability involved if a head I glued on came loose was more chance than I chose to risk.
I haven’t hit someone because I was on a range practicing… but the crazy part is that I had my brand new driver’s head totally snap off on the 3rd or 4th swing with that driver… The head was found around 80 yard mark.. Hell of a swing, eh!!
I wanted the head back so that I could take it back to the store, so the attendant at the range announced for everyone to stop so that he can go look for it… pretty embarrassing moment 🙂
Great story and a great visualization. I think this is something golfers in America are fortunate to not have to think about. Hopefully that law in the UK doesn’t punish people too badly.
I’ve accomplished both feats! As a golf course maintenance worker I’ve been hit at least five times that I can remember. Most of them were results of a bad bounce or ricochet so no harm done. My favorite was in the early spring, so I had lots of layers on, with the golfer at a 90 to me. He hacked at the ball, hit it off the toe and caught me square in the chest! We both stood stunned for a second then I laughed and he relaxed. I didn’t feel a thing but was still a bit shaken since it was too close to my face for comfort. To all the golfers out there, please make some sort of contact with the course workers you encounter while you’re playing because there’s a good chance we don’t know you’re there or won’t be able to hear you yell fore (mowers are way louder than you).
It was a Monday at the country club I worked at and no one was supposed to be playing golf except the employees. My buddy and I were pitching on to the 6th green when these two yahoos drove their cart from the surrounding neighborhood right down the the 7th tee. Instantly we through our hands up in a ‘What do think you’re doing’ manner and they blew us off. Sure we were younger but we were far better golfers than them. We were good and we were fast. The cutters literally ran to their cart as we walked off the green. After a few minutes is said, ‘Screw it, they should be clear by now’, and stepped up to the tee. The landing area was blind, can you say dangerous, I pured my best drive of the day. My buddy said something about dropping a bomb on their heads and we laughed. He teed off and as we shouldered our bags a cart came back over the hill right at us. We stopped and looked nervously at each other. As they got closer we noticed one of them was holding a towel to his head, ‘Oh crap’, I said, or something like it anyway. Dude got out of his cart, removed the towel and pointed to the swollen, bloody spot just above his ear and said, ‘That smarts!’ To this day I can’t believe my buddies response,’What’s smart is not cutting in front of us.’ His head was shaking with rage as he got back in his cart and drove off the course from where he came.
I learned a lot that day, blind holes are dangerous and always wait a little longer before you hit, erring on the safe side is a always better. I was fortunate the gentleman I hit knew he was more wrong than I was, but man, that had to hurt.