Golfer Liability—A Fore Warning
March 26th, 2008
I played golf again recently, after a very long break. It was a busy Saturday morning, and there were far too many people hanging around the first tee for my liking. To my considerable surprise, I hit a peach of a shot, one which drew murmurs of golferly approval from the ‘gallery.’
With my eyes modestly downcast and my heart singing with a hacker’s secret joy, I was just bending to retrieve my tee when a familiar voice rang out, and punctured this moment of rapture: ‘Aye, Martin, it’s a shame that’s not a repeatable shot!”
A little later, in a vain effort to keep up with my more skilful playing companions, I lashed a drive badly to the left, which then headed straight at a retired business man and a prominent lawyer in the prime of life. The ball seemed to hang and waver in the air, as if deciding which of these gentlemen to strike.
I am not sure whether or not it was divine intervention but mercifully my ball did not hit either of them. But what if it had? What if I had injured or even killed one of them? Could he or his estate have sued me and/or the golf club?