Sliced a ball into an expensive window. Did I do the right thing?

[saevel25]

I disagree.  If you buy a course-side house, you're taking that risk. That's why most people have netting or screens up.  I see it the same as if you accidentally injure someone (accidentally as in, not hitting into them, something like you flare one into the trees where someone from the hole on the other side has ventured, they don't hear your warning, and your ball hits and injures them).  The person who hit the shot is not liable.  Golf is classified as a "contact" sport, where you assume risk for non-negligent injury by someone else.  And not just lawyer speak, but generally, that feels right to me.  I go on the golf course and I expect respect and yells of "fore", but I realize I'm putting myself at risk and it's not everyone else's job to be a low single digit who never hits an errant, risky shot.  Seems the same buying a house right next to a fairway to me.  You're assuming the risk that your property will be damaged by errant shots by buying a house right next to a hole.

I disagree, the correct thing to do is to man to the accident. That is like saying, if a car runs a red light, goes through an intersection and crashes into a home, its the owners fault that he had a house there. Just sounds stupid to me.

Actually the person who hit the ball is liable. In many cases the course will specify, any damage done to cars, homes, ect.. are the responsibility of the golfer, not the golf course.

Is there a risk for homes on a golf course, yea, I get that. Still man up and at least apologize for breaking the window.

[David in FL]

I disagree, the correct thing to do is to man to the accident. That is like saying, if a car runs a red light, goes through an intersection and crashes into a home, its the owners fault that he had a house there. Just sounds stupid to me.  Actually the person who hit the ball is liable. In many cases the course will specify, any damage done to cars, homes, ect.. are the responsibility of the golfer, not the golf course.  Is there a risk for homes on a golf course, yea, I get that. Still man up and at least apologize for breaking the window.

It's also worth noting that the house is not ON THE GOLF COURSE. The golfer had to hit the ball completely off the course in order to damage the house . Beyond that though, it's all about accepting personal responsibility for your actions. Without that personal integrity, you have nothing ...

[Jmdmbike]

I know a guy who once shanked/line-drived a ball into a road to his right.  It nailed one car, richocheted and hit another.  Both cars stopped.  One was driven by a state trooper, the other a priest.

I bet he couldn't pull that one off again, matter how many shots you gave him

[jusanothajoe]

You should do what you would want someone to do if they broke your window.

[Bridge]

You should do what you would want someone to do if they broke your window.

^Ding!^

[MSchott]

You should do what you would want someone to do if they broke your window.

While I think the OP should confess what happened, it's not the same as if they broke your window on a house not on a course. There is some shared liability when someone decides to build a house adjacent to a golf hole. It's an assumed risk IMO. I'd bet the owner has insurance for this if this is really a $5M home.

Also, this window will cost well over $1K to repair so that's a huge amount of money for the non-wealthy golfer.

[jusanothajoe]

While I think the OP should confess what happened, it's not the same as if they broke your window on a house not on a course. There is some shared liability when someone decides to build a house adjacent to a golf hole. It's an assumed risk IMO. I'd bet the owner has insurance for this if this is really a $5M home.

Also, this window will cost well over $1K to repair so that's a huge amount of money for the non-wealthy golfer.

Think about it from another prospective. You park your Mercedes in the course parking lot, you get out and see a golfer hit a ball so bad it comes into the parking lot and breaks your windshield. Is the broken windshield your responsibility because you parked close to a golf course ? Remember you saw the guy hit the ball, would you expect him to cover any of the damage ? That Mercedes windshield will be expensive, would you let the poor golfer off the hook and let your insurance cover it ? heck if you can drive that car you must have good insurance.

[Aguirre]

your Mercedes

dooouuuuuccccchhhhheeee bag

[tmac20]

I probably would have done the same thing. Screw paying thousands of dollars because I hit a bad shot. I'd just act like nothing happened or get the hell out of there if somebody saw me. Most people here would do the same thing, they just don't want to admit it. ;-)

[MSchott]

Think about it from another prospective. You park your Mercedes in the course parking lot, you get out and see a golfer hit a ball so bad it comes into the parking lot and breaks your windshield. Is the broken windshield your responsibility because you parked close to a golf course ? Remember you saw the guy hit the ball, would you expect him to cover any of the damage ? That Mercedes windshield will be expensive, would you let the poor golfer off the hook and let your insurance cover it ? heck if you can drive that car you must have good insurance.

That's a lot less likely than the OP's scenario. No question though that the Mercedes driver has comprehensive coverage for this. I'd offer to pay the deductible if there is one. That would be the same for the house. I'd offer to pay the deductible if the homeowner is insured. If not, it's on the homeowner.

[Shindig]

Anyone know what the law says about this? It seems to me it's come up a few times before. I seem to recall the homeowner is responsible, not the golfer nor the course, especially if the course pre-dates the home. As far as moral culpability, I think OP did the right thing. It isn't as though you hit a drive a few miles to a house far from the golf course. You didn't tee it up on someone's front lawn, aim at the living room window, and let 'er rip. As far as I'm concerned, this should be the homeowner's responsibility; whether or not he or she goes through homeowner's insurance isn't your concern. Maybe if the homeowner thought the course was a strange free-range chicken farm or something. And the same is true if you park your car somewhere that golfers might reasonable hit yours. Putting something valuable near a golf course where a ball can reasonably hit it is your fault. It isn't like the red light example -- "well off the road" isn't within even most unusual car paths (certainly not far enough off the road to hit a house). And to anyone who would ask if I'd feel differently if the situation were reversed: yes, I think if OP hooked a ball into an expensive window, I'd feel the same way.

[Pretzel]

Just to give a counterpoint here, it could also be argued that the homeowners accepted the inherent risk of golf ball damage by moving to a house that borders directly up against a golf course.

As for the situation, I'm fairly certain that regular homeowner's insurance would cover the costs of the window. While the insurance is likely to be at a higher rate than if the house were not on the course it should be included. You'd have to be pretty dull to get homeowner's insurance without golf ball damage coverage if you lived on a course. That being said, I would have recommended that you at least left a note.

I've hit cars twice on a course that has a hole that doglegs towards a road with medium height trees between the fairway and the road. The optimal tee shot is to carry the trees on the corner into the fairway (assuming you play a draw, it doglegs left to right) and if your shot hits the trees it's in danger of being deflected into oncoming traffic. That or if someone fans it. Each time I hit a car I made sure to wait by the teebox on the edge of the road to see if the car had been coming towards me or away (the road by the landing area is obscured, so it's not visible but it is audible when you hit a car) at the very least to make sure I didn't put it through a windshield and hurt someone. Both times it was someone traveling away though.

[flopster]

Today I played well, relative to my handicap of 21, I shot 92 (with five three putts).  I'd love to be happy, but I sliced badly on hole number five  (on which course specifically is irrelevant) and I heard a smashing unlike anything I've ever heard before. It was a large expensive window on at least a five million dollar home.

The people who live in such houses, so they say, cannot obtain insurance against golf ball damages because such a thing it too expensive.

I did not know what to do.  Leave a message saying sorry about the window, but that will teach ya to build on a golf course idiot?  So I just ran away like a ten year old playing knock a door ginger.

What should I do?  Confess to a wealthy man that I'm poor and can't afford to pay for the damages?

Inform him he can't sue poor people?  Please help, my conscience is killing me.

Next time you go see the doctor get a few extra business cards for such situations.

[David in FL]

I don't care what "the law" says. If I do something that hurts another person or damages their property, I accept responsibility for that. Sadly, I recognize that others may live by a somewhat lesser moral standard.

[Aguirre]

How about just splitting it?  I mean, I can see arguments from both sides.  People build their homes in flood plains, on the coast, on the residue of lahars, in earthquake zones, etc., and then, well, you know what happens.  I've played plenty of courses with homes lining fairways and while I've definitely hit in into yards (including a pool, where the owner was outside and DOVE IN THE POOL to retrieve my ball, nice guy) I don't remember hitting a single one.  So, if you can't hit it straight, it's partly on you as well.

Still, there should be a limit to such things.  If you have a $3000 bay window, sorry, we'll have to settle this in court.

[jusanothajoe]

dooouuuuuccccchhhhheeee bag

Hmmm, would you like to elaborate on this ?

[Shindig]

I don't care what "the law" says. If I do something that hurts another person or damages their property, I accept responsibility for that.

I doubt that's literally true. If you're mowing your lawn, and I wander over barefoot and put my foot in front of your mower, are you going to pay my hospital costs? How about the lost wages I didn't earn while recovering? [quote name="David in FL" url="/t/76349/sliced-a-ball-into-an-expensive-window-did-i-do-the-right-thing/18#post_1034662"]Sadly, I recognize that others may live by a somewhat lesser moral standard.[/quote] Your so-called moral standard absolves others of their responsibility. Claiming that the golfer should pay for the damage is a huge swipe [i]against[/i] personal responsibility: it places the entire blame for the situation on the one who [i]didn't[/i] choose to be in the situation and did less (relative to the situation) to avoid it. I'd hope you wouldn't pay hospital bills in the case I describe above; any reasonable person would say that I should have seen the lawnmower and known the risk. No one would fault you for trying to avoid running me over -- and that happens in golf, too. In fact,the rules are even written so as to encourage us to avoid hitting houses near the course (that's part of why O.B. is stroke and distance instead of one or the other: to provide a large enough penalty to encourage everyone to play away from that trouble).

[David in FL]

How about just splitting it?  I mean, I can see arguments from both sides.  People build their homes in flood plains, on the coast, on the residue of lahars, in earthquake zones, etc., and then, well, you know what happens.  I've played plenty of courses with homes lining fairways and while I've definitely hit in into yards (including a pool, where the owner was outside and DOVE IN THE POOL to retrieve my ball, nice guy) I don't remember hitting a single one.  So, if you can't hit it straight, it's partly on you as well. Still, there should be a limit to such things. If you have a $3000 bay window, sorry, we'll have to settle this in court.

So, you place a dollar limit on your personal integrity? Don't bother. Just drive on and pretend it never happened........ [quote name="Shindig" url="/t/76349/sliced-a-ball-into-an-expensive-window-did-i-do-the-right-thing/18#post_1034668"] I doubt that's literally true. If you're mowing your lawn, and I wander over barefoot and put my foot in front of your mower, are you going to pay my hospital costs? How about the lost wages I didn't earn while recovering? Your so-called moral standard absolves others of their responsibility. Claiming that the golfer should pay for the damage is a huge swipe [i]against[/i] personal responsibility: it places the entire blame for the situation on the one who [i]didn't[/i] choose to be in the situation and did less (relative to the situation) to avoid it. ).[/quote] The responsibility lies with the person who HIT THE BALL OFF THE FREAKING GOLF COURSE. Pretty simple.