Just hit someone with an errant tee shot

[DaveyG]

I have played a few times at a hotel course near Crickhowell. It is basically a bit of a ploughed field with some smooth bits (greens) and only a 9 hole par three but the holes seem to zig zag around each other. On Sunday mornings they have the members comp - shot gun start. The horn goes off. 9 people hit the tee shot. Almost everyone shouts 'FORE' and 36 people hit the deck. Absolute quality every time.

Haha this is brilliant

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I have played a few times at a hotel course near Crickhowell. It is basically a bit of a ploughed field with some smooth bits (greens) and only a 9 hole par three but the holes seem to zig zag around each other. On Sunday mornings they have the members comp - shot gun start. The horn goes off. 9 people hit the tee shot. Almost everyone shouts 'FORE' and 36 people hit the deck. Absolute quality every time.

I put my litigation hat and scream - CLOSE THE PLACE - too dangerous unless the club issues hard hats to all players to be worn mandatory

 

[Paul_Stewart]

We have some people on this forum who have been watching a bit too much daytime television and noticing all the "Where there's blame there's a claim" adverts.

This one was all taken care of, everyone did exactly what they should have done in the situation and it is all dealt with happily now. Accidents do happen in life. Not every single one needs wannabe lawyers involved.

 

[gryffindor]

Not quite as funny as one of the local rules - the field to the left of the 8th hole has horses in it. Due to complaints from the owner the correct (and only accepted) shout is 'FORE LEFT AT THE HORSES' - I think it is a two shot penalty for not complying Not entirely sure if the horses duck though.

PS The other great thing with this course is most of the players leave their big trolley bags under the tree in the middle and just pick up whatever club(s) they require for the next hole when they pass.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

We have some people on this forum who have been watching a bit too much daytime television and noticing all the "Where there's blame there's a claim" adverts.

This one was all taken care of, everyone did exactly what they should have done in the situation and it is all dealt with happily now. Accidents do happen in life. Not every single one needs wannabe lawyers involved.

Think what you will - and I'm not for one second suggesting lawyers would always get invoilved - however...

It is surely better that the club knows of all incidents - whether you think it's 'daft' or not. So you lose an eye on the golf course and you think that the club could have done more to prevent such things happening and you would say - ah well - accidents happen. I don't think so.

 

[Paul_Stewart]

Wow I bet you're fun at parties.

 

[Paul_Stewart]

Not quite as funny as one of the local rules - the field to the left of the 8th hole has horses in it. Due to complaints from the owner the correct (and only accepted) shout is 'FORE LEFT AT THE HORSES' - I think it is a two shot penalty for not complying Not entirely sure if the horses duck though.

PS The other great thing with this course is most of the players leave their big trolley bags under the tree in the middle and just pick up whatever club(s) they require for the next hole when they pass.

Was that the course Harry Colt designed?
I'll get my coat.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Wow I bet you're fun at parties.

My job is a Risk Manager

And seriously - my club does require any incidents such as this - or near misses - to be reported to the secretary - I'm not making it up. All part of the risk assessment the secretary has to do for every hole.

 

[malek988]

If he had ducked and it had cracked his knee, would that mean it was his fault for not jumping whilst ducking?

dont ask me why but that reply was hilarious! cheered me right up

 

[DappaDonDave]

My job is a Risk Manager

And seriously - my club does require any incidents such as this - or near misses - to be reported to the secretary - I'm not making it up. All part of the risk assessment the secretary has to do for every hole.

You can shove your risk assessment somewhere dark, you can shove your risk assessment somewhere dark...you know the song. RA's are in 95% of the time, testicles. The other 5% of the time, they are a waste of paper.

Anyway, with regards to the 376yard drive, i had a similar problem recently, but I hit a PW and I carried the groundsman and landed 4ft on our par 4 4th.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Oh well - don't go bleating if you ever get hit and badly hurt by a golf ball when it was avoidable. Actually - given the litigious sociy we live in today it seems to me common sense that a club does it's bit on the risk assessment and mitigation side. And if that means all hits and near misses are reported to the club secretary then that doesn't actually seem very much to ask - whether or not you think RAs are a load of a**e or not.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Don't know if this is a wind up or not ? the last thing I would think about if I melted someone with my ball was at least it's still in play/ it's his own fault. If I hit a ball and skelp someone it is my fault.

And going by the title it seems strange to reach for the mobile to post about it on a golf forum right away too.

Joking aside hope it all turns out well, sports injuries are never nice but if all they leave are battle scars then its OK

 

[Fish]

My job is a Risk Manager

Now come on, that's not a real job, is it

Oh well - don't go bleating if you ever get hit and badly hurt by a golf ball when it was avoidable.

I'm not sure you could ever safe guard against any situation or state that any wayward shot could become "unavoidable" or put in any changes by doing a risk assessment on a golf course unless we have 80ft high nets down each side of every fairway! Nothing is avoidable when various levels of ability are all around you on a course, especially when a metal stick and a small solid ball come together.

When you walk out on that course, you do so knowing that you will hear a few shouts of FORE and react accordingly, you'll see people in the distance on YOUR fairway or, you may not see them all as it may be YOU shouting FORE and YOU sharing their fairways, so were those shots unavoidable?

We unfortunately live in a claim society now and I hope it doesn't affect our game too much as the more claims any club/s suddenly find its self involved in, through no real fault of its own other than the personal claim mentality which we are seeing grow, the more your club may come under scrutiny of a health & safety visit and then they could insist your club make changes to your course layout, which, will possibly still make no difference or make accidents and miss-hits unavoidable but, it could affect the enjoyment of the course and lose its members and the nett result, another closed club!

 

[USER1999]

I nearly hit our pro the other day. I didn't shout fore either.

I hit a 5i out of the rough on the right of our 18th. I blocked it a bit right, and there is a road to the 10th tee running along side the fairway. The ball hit the road, and bounced straight at him in his buggy. I figured the road would ping the ball off to one side or the other, but no, second bounce was straight too. And the third, which just cleared the top of the buggy. Fourth bounce was also straight, and the fifth kicked the ball into a large bush by the shoe cleaner, saving it from OB by about a yard. Penalty drop, wedge on, bogey.

A real tin cup moment. It must have travelled a good 250 yards, may be more.

 

[TheClaw]

It's getting too dangerous out there. I've sent away for one of these...

http://rideapart.com/2013/03/when-motorcycle-helmets-look-like-golf-balls/

 

[bobmac]

It's getting too dangerous out there. I've sent away for one of these...

http://rideapart.com/2013/03/when-motorcycle-helmets-look-like-golf-balls/

Brilliant.
You could incorporate
a head up GPS display to the front middle and back of the green.
built in mp3 player playing Bob Rotella audio books
a compass
Anemometer
thermometer
Incoming golf ball seeking radar
external air bags

 

[Paul_Stewart]

And going by the title it seems strange to reach for the mobile to post about it on a golf forum right away too.

Joking aside hope it all turns out well, sports injuries are never nice but if all they leave are battle scars then its OK

I did wait until I got to work before I posted! And to quote Keanu Reaves in The Replacements, "Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lives forever"

 

[TheClaw]

Brilliant.
You could incorporate
a head up GPS display to the front middle and back of the green.
built in mp3 player playing Bob Rotella audio books
a compass
Anemometer
thermometer
Incoming golf ball seeking radar
external air bags

And this would all be fine because there's no in-built phone

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

We unfortunately live in a claim society now and I hope it doesn't affect our game too much as the more claims any club/s suddenly find its self involved in, through no real fault of its own other than the personal claim mentality which we are seeing grow, the more your club may come under scrutiny of a health & safety visit and then they could insist your club make changes to your course layout, which, will possibly still make no difference or make accidents and miss-hits unavoidable but, it could affect the enjoyment of the course and lose its members and the nett result, another closed club!

And that is absolutely the point - have H&S getting involved and you could have problems. Look - we all know on our own tracks the places that you have to be watchful. So fo instance I know that if I'm in the heather on the left of our 7th I have to watch for players tee-ing off on our 6th as I could easy get hit. Now if I am a visitor I will not know that.

So my club is considering asking all visitors to read a 'risk' guide to the course. This would for instance say that when playing the 7th - if you are on the left in the heather watch out for players playing towards you off the 6th tee. Whether the visitor actually reads this or not - matters not - the club has done it's bit in respect of duty of care to visitors. This doesn't need fences or anything else. But if we don't do this, and as a result players get hurt, then H&S might plough in and tell us - 'move the 6th tee' - or 'put up a fence to avoid players balls going into the heather on the left'. And they might well unless we recognise where risk is and do something about it. There is no point in burying your head in the sand or being indignant telling Risk Assessors or whatever to stick it WTSDS.

So - for the club to be able to show it's duty of care to golfers it has to know where there is risk of being hit. And anecdotal stuff isn't good enough. The club has to know from players of incidents and keep a record of them. A clear audit path form the record of incidents; to understanding why the incidents occurred (context); to putting measures in place that are reasonable to mitigate against incidents happening (signs, trees, hedging, maybe fencing) ; to providing written guidance to golfers of where there is a greater than 'normal' risk of encountering flying balls. Thereby the club and it's members are reasonably covered from the possibility of litigation and perhaps even worse - H&S.

 

[Hacker Khan]

So - for the club to be able to show it's duty of care to golfers it has to know where there is risk of being hit.

As it's golf played by a wide variety of people wouldn't that be any adjoining fairway then? May be not even that as I nearly hit someone about 60 degrees and 50 yards away from where I was teeing off once. So in conclusion, everywhere?