GOLF HAZARDS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20541, 16 February 1935, Page 12

GOLF HAZARDS.

Players Must Be Prepared to Take Risk. Lawyer-golfers express the view that when a band of people gather together to play golf they must be prepared to take the risk of suffering damage to their persons with little hope of redress, unless the damage is caused through absolute carelessness. This opinion bears out the reserved judgment for the defendant given by Mr E. Page, S.M., in Wellington, in a case where the plaintiff had been hit in the eye by a ball sliced from the tee by the defendant, a lady player. From a golfing point of view the case was complicated by the fact that the plaintiff had himself pulled his ball and was therefore likely to be off his own fairway. One prominent low handicap lawyerplayer said that every case had to be judged on its merits. No hard and fast rules could be laid down, but with accidents that were liable to happen in the best clubs, players had to take a chance. In one case a woman who had been cycling through Hagley Park had been struck in the eye by a player. The woman made a claim and, as she had every right to be cycling through the park, the player could do nothing but pay up and smile. “ I often wonder what will happen if a ball is sliced on to a road and someone is struck. In that case I suppose the player will be liable,” he said. Members of the public wandering on to courses and getting hit did so without any chance of compensation as they were trespassers, but It would be different if the accident occurred in Hagley Park. Then the case would have to be judged on its merits. Cases of absolute negligence would , be different. If two players were standing together and one had a trial swing and hit the other player on the head, then the injured person would, if he so desired, have a claim for damages. The. onus of making sure that by swinging his club no one would be hurt rested with the swinger and if he blindly swung without first looking round then he would have to pay. A few years ago at Ilarewood a player was walking along a fairway parallel with another from which some players were driving off. One of tht players sliced and the unfortunate player walking along the adjoining fairway was struck in the mouth, losing a few front teeth. Though no claim was made, the player could still talk, which he did to some pur pose. A case in Ireland in which a caddie was struck in the eye by a ball played by the man he was caddying for is of more than usual interest. The caddie sued the player and the club for damages. The jury found against the club, awarding £2OO damages, but disallowed the claim against the player. The judgment made clubs liable for any damage done by its members provided there was no contributory negligence by the member, and this, quite apart .from any question of compensation as between the club and an employee on duty.