Sue pro for errant golf ball?

[WUTiger]

Pro golf tournaments have teams of marshalls at every hole. Besides controlling spectator movements, they have a safety function. At last year's Senior PGA Championship, one marshall always stood at the back edge of the tee box with a bright colored flag. After each tee shot...

• If the ball heads down the fairway, you point the flag straight ahead.
• If the ball heads toward the rough/rope line, you point the flag to that side.
• If the ball heads deep into the trees, you wave the flag vigorously toward the trees.

For these wayward shots, the fairway marshalls near the landing area shout a warning to the spectators that a ball is coming in.

MS256 noted that balls are hard to track sometimes. Hopefully, a couple of the spectators can spot the flight and warn their neighbors.

[Break80]

It always amazes me when people get hit at the courses during tournaments.  You are at a golf course! Pay Attention!

From being at tournaments, I can tell you that it's difficult to follow a ball when it is coming towards you. When you are behind a golfer, you can follow the ball flight very easily. But if you are by a green watching an approach come towards you, it's almost impossible to follow the entire flight of the ball, especially on longer shots. Not sure if there's a scientific reason for it...

On a more personal level, the same is true in my weekend rounds. I can follow a partner's tee shot on a par-3 easily. But if we are ever on a green and wave the group behind us down, we all scatter like bugs when they yell fore after contact. We have no idea where it's coming from.

[Fourputt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boogielicious

It always amazes me when people get hit at the courses during tournaments.  You are at a golf course! Pay Attention!

I've never been to a tournament but I would have to imagine that it is very difficult to see the ball come off the club face when your are 300 yards away near a landing area.

I was a volunteer hole marshal for 4 years at the International, the par 5 17th hole.  Everyone hit driver there because it was famous as a birdie/eagle hole (I witnessed Steve Lowery's Sunday double eagle there in 2002 when he came up one stroke short of catching Rich Beem).  When I was stationed in the landing area, it was nearly impossible to pick the ball up off the tee without my binoculars, and difficult to track all the way even with them.  I'm often amazed at how well the TV cameramen do it.

Pro golf tournaments have teams of marshalls at every hole. Besides controlling spectator movements, they have a safety function. At last year's Senior PGA Championship, one marshall always stood at the back edge of the tee box with a bright colored flag. After each tee shot...

If the ball heads down the fairway, you point the flag straight ahead.

If the ball heads toward the rough/rope line, you point the flag to that side.

If the ball heads deep into the trees, you wave the flag vigorously toward the trees.

For these wayward shots, the fairway marshalls near the landing area shout a warning to the spectators that a ball is coming in.

MS256 noted that balls are hard to track sometimes. Hopefully, a couple of the spectators can spot the flight and warn their neighbors.

We used the same method, but it assumes that the gallery is actually paying attention.  I think that it was more effective as a guide for us working the landing area to track and find errant tee balls, because most spectators weren't even looking.  It actually surprised me that people aren't hit more often than they are.

[flopster]

The only way I could see a lawsuit having a chance would be if a player either threw a club and hit someone or threw a ball into the crowd or hit it in disgust after holing and it struck someone.

[PuttsLefty]

I'm not an attorney, but I imagine that unless the pro was found to be willfully negligent, then getting hit is a risk that any spectator assumes when they step onto a golf course. Honestly, I can't imagine a scenario where a professional golfer would reasonably be found liable for spectator injuries. The closest I can come is John Daly teeing off into a crowded grandstand (I can't find the video on Youtube, but I saw it somewhere on old sports program), but even he successfully pulled off the shot, and it sailed harmlessly over everyone's head.

That said, in this litigious country of ours, any moron can sue for any reason, so I would definitely buy a personal umbrella policy if I were a pro.

That was at Jake Trout's get together up in the northwest (Fred Meyer Challenge) during the Peters Party event where a dozen or so Pros put on a show. Chi Chi went up to him and told him he had big brass balls for trying that. It's for sale on video which is probably why it's not on you-tube.