A recently published piece in The New York Times highlights the ways golfers and clubs can find themselves in legal trouble from hitting other players, inaccurate yardage signs, and obscuring the view from nearby houses. The time-honored tradition of yelling “Fore!” might help a golfer avoid hitting others in the first place, but it is not a legal defense in the event that someone is hit.
The New York Times recently published a piece about the ways golfers can find themselves in legal hot water, with a series of tips for how golfers can avoid the issues in the first place.
- Busy courses with a par 3 hole can see traffic bottlenecks happen, prompting some golfers to become impatient while waiting at the tee for the group ahead to either drive away or walk a safe distance from the green. If the impatient golfer opts to swing anyway, essentially firing a warning shot, and hits someone, he or she is likely to be found liable by a court and could pay significant damages, the Times reported.
“The golfer is responsible for making sure that other golfers are out of the way before they hit,” said Robert Lang, a New York-based lawyer who has handled dozens of golf-related cases. “Yes, it’s true they aren’t responsible for hitting someone one or two holes away because they slice a ball, but if you’re on the tee and someone is near the green of the hole you are aiming at and you hit that person, you’re liable.”
In other words, multiple courts have ruled that golfers aren’t accountable for errant shots, but hitting someone in your intended line of fire is not an accident, the Times reported.
- The second tip is to be careful when hitting mulligans. A lot of lawsuits are generated by the act of reteeing and smacking a second tee shot, especially by the last golfer to tee off in a group. That’s because everyone reasonably expects each golfer to hit only one tee shot, and the rest of the group starts driving or walking down the fairway or otherwise does not stand in a protected area, the Times reported.
“You really have to be careful on the golf course because you’d be amazed at all the ways the law can come into play,” said Dalton B. Floyd, a South Carolina lawyer who has represented many golf courses, clubs and golfers. Floyd teaches a class in golf law at the Charleston School of Law. “We take the law students out on the golf course and go over some things,” Floyd said.
- Third, a golf course is responsible for making sure the yardage markers embedded in the fairway or marked on a cart path are reasonably accurate. One golfer hit another golfer standing on a green because an inaccurate yardage marker indicated he was farther away than he actually was. The golfer sued the club for misleading him and causing injury, for which he was initially held liable. When the yardage marker was proved to be incorrect, the club was then held responsible, the Times reported.
Floyd instructs golf course owners to scrupulously check all their cart paths, bridges and other walkways for irregularities or dangerous conditions, the Times reported.
“Slip-and-fall cases are more common than anything,” Floyd said. “The club can be found negligent.”
- Golf courses can also be sued for design flaws that lead to the beaning of golfers—imagine a tee on the first hole that too easily endangers golfers on the adjacent second hole. The remedy might be to plant a line of trees, the Times reported.
However, if those trees obscure the view of some nearby homeowner who always loved the view of the second hole from his patio, that could prompt another suit. Of course, if another house on the golf course is being peppered by an inordinate number of wayward golf shots, the golf course could be compelled by a court to put up some more trees or a screen to protect that house, the Times reported.
- The time-honored tradition of yelling “fore” if you think someone might be hit by your shot does not protect you from liability, the Times reported.
“Yelling ‘fore’ is not a legal defense,” Lang said. “It might avoid someone getting hit and it might be acting reasonably, but if you shouldn’t have hit your shot in the first place because someone was in your intended flight, you’re still in trouble.”
- Keep your golf cart on the path whenever you can, avoid steep hills—going up or down—and keep your feet inside the cart, the Times reported.
“People treat the golf cart like a toy,” Lang said. “It’s easy to tip it over, and there are no helmets or restraints. Once you’ve seen that happen, you’ll never think about a golf cart the same way.”
- Golf rage is more dangerous than rage in the grocery store line, the Times reported.
“At the grocery store, there might be shoving or maybe a punch,” Lang said. “On the golf course, people sometimes start swinging a golf club. These are not pillow fights. If someone angers you or vice versa, it’s a good idea to avoid a confrontation.”
In closing, the Times suggests buying some flamboyant outfits, and don’t be conservative about your choices. It’s hard to get all worked up or act like a jerk when you’re wearing goofy golf shoes, a pink argyle vest or bright blue slacks. And perhaps then you will remember that you’re out there trying to have some fun.
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