Injury on an icy course

[stevie_r]

I wish you a speedy and full recovery but I hope you receive not a single penny. This compensation culture we are currently living in is ridiculous. We grumble about a nanny state and yet is it any wonder we are developing one?

Quick question, once you realised that the course conditions were poor, or the course should have been closed, then why did you not select a safe route off the course? Because you took the decision to stay out there but now want compensating for your decision.

 

[pokerjoke]

Hello all.


The first few holes were fine, not particularly enjoyable to play but safe enough. Over the next few holes the course rises and by the tenth we were at the highest point. Course still looked as it had been down below.

We teed off at the tenth and started to walk the fairway. Just then I noticed a change in state of the ground. A massive area of solid ice where undrained water had frozen over. It didn't look any different because it has a layer of frost but it was like an ice rink underfoot. The bottom line here is that I slipped and broke my ankle.


You say here you" noticed a change in the state of the ground" as you walked up the fairway,
then you go on to say "it didnt look any different".
Unfortunately thats a contradiction of terms.
However i do have sympathy with you.
The crux of the matter will be having someone to blame,that in my view would be the club.
The problem is,if everyone started claiming for injuries caused,the clubs would have to start
putting up signs saying "you play golf at your own risk".
However there are insurances you can take out for these type of accidents.
Some on here have had quite a big dig at the op,in my view thats unfair.
The trouble is people dont put themselves in the shoes of the op,if this had happened to me
i would be claiming.
Just a couple of stories of things that happened to me in the past.
I was playing football for Ifracombe town,i got pushed into an advertising board very hard.
As i fell i whacked my shoulder,the unqualified physio we had told me to play on as it didnt
seem serious.
The next ball i played felt llike someone had stuck a red hot poker into my shoulder.
Resulting from this i had 7 dislocations.
Long story short,i had 6 months off work after the operation[and i got £48 pounds compensation].
I have still got problems with the shoulder and will have for life,if only i knew then what i know now.
Also i got hit at 70 miles per hour on the motorway as the traffic was stationary.
My car was a write off.
The police asked me if i was injured and i said i was a little sore on the wrist and my ankle,
however i was self employed and i had to carry on working.
A few weeks later my back was killing me and i had lots of physio.
I wish now i had claimed compensation.
On the back of peoples assumption of a claims culture,maybe there is some substance,however
there are many others that dont claim that should.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

As someone who made the decision to open or close courses I would hate to have had a 'will someone sue the club if I open it' added to this difficult task.
When it is touch and go to open a golf course you were under huge pressure from the golfers to open.
Once you had made the decision to open and the players had not enjoyed their round it was amazing how many would come up to me and say 'that course should never have been opened today'.

I remember once pointing to an adjacent plowed field and saying that if I put four flags in each corner there would be some golfers who would go out and play on it.

 

[bluetoon]

Hope you don't receive single penny and don't set foot on another golf course. Really cant believe i'm reading this.

So you slipped and broke your ankle - Boo Hoo, get a grip [Edit]!

You carried out your own personal risk assessment of the conditions and still choose to play. What makes you think this is anybody's fault other than your own.

If insurance has to pay it should be your own, why should someone else pay for you slipping on a golf course, jeez.

 

[MadAdey]

I do sympathise with you and I hope that your ankle recovers ok and you have no long term problems with it. But to say it was the clubs fault is a little bit harsh. If you had been walking through the clubhouse and someone had washed the floor and not put out any warning signs then fair enough they do have to take some responsibility for it.

I just get annoyed by this "where there is blame there is a claim" culture. How about people taking responsibility for their own actions for a change. I think people should assess a situation them self and then act accordingly. If that had been done in this situation then you would be aware of the risk of slipping over as you have already said it was icy. So when you did it was your own fault IMO as you knew the risk but still took it.

Obviously there will be a payout of a considerable amount as my mate got his ankle broke by an idiot on a golf cart and got £7K for his troubles. But he did get some benefits from it though. He went to watch the Open a couple of weeks later and got the complimentary bus from the train station, that is reserved for the disabled and elderly. When he was using was using a walkway across one of the fairways on crutches the camera zoomed in on him and Peter Alyss said "no there's dedication"

If you get injured by the actions of another party then sue them. If there was something you could have reasonably done to avoid being injured, but still took the risk, then IT IS YOU OWN FAULT, not someone elses.

 

[The Sclaffer]

I have sympathy with your injury but these things happen - it's called life. Move on please.

 

[upsidedown]

Hope the ankle heals soon but as for claiming you've not got a leg to stand on . I'll get ma coat

 

[CMAC]

I'm sorry you have a broken ankle but it's unbelievable you are suing the club (disguised as their insurers) for blame!

It's a big undulating field!! would you claim if you stood in a rabbit hole in the rough and broke your ankle as the club should have filled them in or made you aware of every eventuality that nature could possibly throw at you:angry:

It's a very dangerous and slippery slope (sorry) you are going down if you win the case, it will only cost everyone more money and have that club closing to protect itself under 'normal' conditions.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Something a bit whiffy about this post from a new poster.

Colin...are you the club's insurance company [in disguise] trying to build a case?

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Just a question, do you not have your own golf insurance and if you do, does that not cover personal accident on the golf course?

 

[cookelad]

To me it's a bit like the chav that breaks a window in a pub one week and complains about the price of beer the next!

I wonder if the OP will ask why his green fee has doubled the next time he visits the course in question?

 

[bladeplayer]

Im surprised at some of the answers to be honest , dont get me wrong i hate a suing culture as much as anyone else on here

But
id be surprised if the OP has not got a case here , ok the ammount maybe affected somewhat by own responsability etc, but if you take someones money & let them out on a course that is or maybe have dangerous areas there is a duty of care & responsability on the seller/provider (ie the club), & there is no doubt if there are inclines & declines on a course then a danger exists on this course.. i agree its a shame but its reality .. if any part of the course is in a "dangerous" condition , open to interpetation of course , it should not be open ,



Dodger might have a better insight into this than most, be interesting how this goes tho

 

[MadAdey]

Im surprised at some of the answers to be honest , dont get me wrong i hate a suing culture as much as anyone else on here

But
id be surprised if the OP has not got a case here , ok the ammount maybe affected somewhat by own responsability etc, but if you take someones money & let them out on a course that is or maybe have dangerous areas there is a duty of care & responsability on the seller/provider (ie the club), & there is no doubt if there are inclines & declines on a course then a danger exists on this course.. i agree its a shame but its reality .. if any part of the course is in a "dangerous" condition , open to interpetation of course , it should not be open ,



Dodger might have a better insight into this than most, be interesting how this goes tho

Maybe the club should have done more and identified that it was not safe to use due to some ice. But a course is a very large area of land, so it would mean the ground staff going out all morning checking every where that is within the course boundary, to make sure of no ice. To do that is going to take most of the morning though, so the course would not open up until around 11:00, then people would not have time to get a game in.

The other thing that will happen is courses will just shut at the first sign of frost like people have already said. Because the insurance companies will start to put disclaimers in that if the club do let people out in icy conditions, they will not be covered for any personal injury claims, meaning the club would have to foot the bill if anyone did get injured.

So either way the golfer is going to loose out.

 

[sydney greenstreet]

So you slipped and broke your ankle - Boo Hoo, get a grip [Edit] !

OUT OF ORDER, reported and this is the first time I have ever done it.

 

[sajkox]

club is insured for a reason. imo you got full right to TRY to get compensation.
I can't believe anyone to pass on occasion to get few grand just because clubs insurance will go higher.
Its not like you are taking them down and getting money of them directly

Myself, if it was about my own course I would prob prefer to get the deal like free play for myself and family for next X years

 

[sydney greenstreet]

Do not know if the guy has a case, but I for one am glad of able to claim if injured in todays society, as a Union rep I see all the time Employers disregard for health and safety at work and injury's caused by this. Should the injured party sit on his/her bahookie and not get compensated for pain and suffering or reimbursed for loss of earnings ? I have a member who just recently was sacked for falsely claiming sick pay despite having a Doctors line and hospital reports from an injury at work so he has a claim in as well as seeking an outcome in a tribunal which I have no doubt he will win, should he just say aw well i dont want to be a claim seeker. I agree there are a lot of scam claims out there but that should not distract from the genuine seekers who are entitled to reimbursement for injury/injustice.

 

[dufferman]

I've read this with some interest. I'm surprised at how many people there are who think the OP is a lowly individual and suing the club is a terrible thing. I'm not party to 'sue everyone for everything', but there has to be some responsibility from the club for opening the gates? If you can't check the course after very extreme conditions, then maybe there should be a sign to say 'Dangerous conditions underfoot' - I know it sounds lame and pathetic, but it covers any unforseen injuries like this.

I'm sure we've all seen the 'Golfer gets £4000 for lost eye' story from that golf insurance company. The club themselves had to pay part of that fee as the didn't have signs that informed visitors to the course of the dangerous activity taking place (or something similar). That proves that, unfortunately, where there is a blame, there is a claim. For all we know, the guy who lost his eye was a darts player by trade and could no longer play and now is unemployed and unable to support his family.

Seems that the OP has gone silent though (probably due to the ear bashing he got) so we'll never know more info about the case...

 

[MadAdey]

club is insured for a reason. imo you got full right to TRY to get compensation.
I can't believe anyone to pass on occasion to get few grand just because clubs insurance will go higher.
Its not like you are taking them down and getting money of them directly

Myself, if it was about my own course I would prob prefer to get the deal like free play for myself and family for next X years

Your just highlighting the problem with this new american style culture we are getting. HE chose to go out and play on an icy course and he got injured from doing it. While I have the up most sympathy for his injury and hope he makes a full recovery, it was the risk he took by going out onto a frozen course.

If came up your garden path and slipped over on ice, would you be happy if I sued you for £20K for loss of earnings, pain and suffering? No I thought not.....:mmm:

 

[MadAdey]

Do not know if the guy has a case, but I for one am glad of able to claim if injured in todays society, as a Union rep I see all the time Employers disregard for health and safety at work and injury's caused by this. Should the injured party sit on his/her bahookie and not get compensated for pain and suffering or reimbursed for loss of earnings ? I have a member who just recently was sacked for falsely claiming sick pay despite having a Doctors line and hospital reports from an injury at work so he has a claim in as well as seeking an outcome in a tribunal which I have no doubt he will win, should he just say aw well i dont want to be a claim seeker. I agree there are a lot of scam claims out there but that should not distract from the genuine seekers who are entitled to reimbursement for injury/injustice.

This to me is a different thing though mate. A company not putting into practice safe procedures and ensuring employees have the correct IPE is a case of blatant disregard for it's employees safety, which they should not get away with and any injured parties should be suitably compensated.

 

[Qwerty]

Id be happy to sign a disclaimer everytime I played if it cut this kind of thing out. It may be the direction were heading in.