Hit with golf ball on public footpath - How do I make a claim?

Question

I would like some advice please, I was walking with my family on a public footpath which runs adjacent to the local golf course, all of a sudden I get hit (very hard) on the back of the head with a ball. Cut a long story short there was lots of blood and I had to go to A&E to get my head glued. There is a fence between the path and course but obviously not high enough.
Where legally do I stand?
Trying to track the golfer down but he didn't know it was him (he may not of had insurance anyway), the club say it is not there responsibility, accident and claims people don't seem that interested as it must not be easy money for them??
I am detirmined to a) get the fence hightened b) compensation for nearly knocking a hole in my skull. (it could be a child next time).
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
What gets me is that OK if i'm on the course what do you expect? but not in a public footpath.

Thanks

Answer 1

I think you should contact a personal injury attorney who will prosecute the case for you on contingency, and have them go after the golf course (which, I think in this case is the liable party) as well as possibly locating the actual golfer. I'm sure the golf course has insurance to cover that sort of thing, and just because they tell you it's not their responsibility doesn't mean that that's the end of it.

Answer 2

Your best bet is to campaign for the fence to be raised - which you'll probably lose because you're *not* a child, you weren't killed or maimed, it's not something that happens all the time, and you weren't actually on the club's land.

However, if you were walking in a public park, maybe you can go to the county commissioner's office to talk with them about raising the fence.

Also consider that it was just an accident, not something done out of malice or ill-intent, mis-use of a golf club, or negligence, and that the golfer probably had no idea that anything happened, just that he lost the ball. Plus, head wounds bleed a lot.

I applaud your urgency to get into action and have something done for the safety of others, but I don't believe that you'll receive any financial compensation for it. Good luck on your fence-raising!

Answer 3

Unless someone disguised the fact that it was a golf course, or if they not only put the footpath where it was highly probable that people using it would get struck, but also put up signs that said "Walk here! It's safe!", there's no negligence on the part of the course (or the city if it were their footpath.)

Unless you could prove which golfer struck the ball, and that you were clearly visible in the likely and intended area of travel for the ball, the golfer is not negligent. A bad golfer, perhaps, but that's not likely to be enough to prevail.

I'm sorry, I just don't think there's a case here based on your facts.

Answer 4

I think its noble of you to try to get the fence height raised to protect others. As for getting a claim paid, I would weight the time and effort it takes to pursue that against the other things you could do with the time and forget it.

The golfer certainly didn't intend to hit it over there as he probably got an out of bounds penalty etc. If he saw you and went ahead and hit anyway, you could argue some kind of negligence or something, but its a big hassle for little gain.

Answer 5

You need to start local, and escalate your efforts until you get results.


Go to the golf course owner first.

Next, have your insurance company go after the golf course.

If that doesn't work, hire a lawyer to recover your costs, plus legal expenses.

The last option is adverse public opinion. Do you have a columnist in the local paper that can give the golf course enough bad press that they will have to improve the fence to appear to be good citizens?

Answer 6

whether or not you liked the first answer, it was correct.

The theory of assumed liability is the same walking next to a golf course or living next to one as it is in shopping at the city market.

you had advance knowledge of the fact that you were next to a golf course, knowledge that an errant ball could possibly escape the confines of the course and in spite of these potential hazzards, decided to walk next to the course.

There is no legal recourse unless you can prove that the person hitting the errant ball did so with intent to harm you or another person or somehow (perhaps being drunk) shifts the assumption of liability.

Answer 7

when you walk beside a golf course you assume the risk of getting hit with a golf ball

Answer 8

Sue the golf club for pain & suffering and to force them to raise the fence - easy win.

Answer 9

Go and see

Ronald McDonald and ask him for some compensation

Answer 10

quit being such a freakin puss!y! stop trying to fill up our legal system with frivolous crap! learn that life is funny, bad things happen, and you are eventually going to die, no matter how hard you try to prevent it.