Timothy F. Rayne, Esquire

Last Summer, my brother, Steve, almost killed me. Good, one less lawyer you may be thinking, but, alas, I recovered quickly….

It happened on a par five at Moccasin Run Golf Course during a charity best-ball tournament (a "scramble"). In a "scramble", each player in the foursome hits a shot and and the best shot is chosen. Then, each player hits from the best ball. That process is repeated until the ball is in the hole.

On the hole where our "incident" occurred, our best drive was in the fairway and we were all walking toward the ball to hit our second shots. I was about forty feet ahead of Steve, who decided to casually knock a ball with his four iron toward the spot of our best drive. Unfortunately for me, he caught the ball quite squarely (his best contact of the day) and the ball rocketed off the clubface and into my left ear.

I am told that the sound was like a hammer hitting a coconut and I admit to screaming a colorful word upon impact.

Luckily, the bleeding stopped quickly, without stitches, and there was no permanent damage (at least none that I can detect). Of course, Steve was quite remorseful for his carelessness and it is now one of my more interesting golf stories.

But, what if I was seriously and permanently injured? And what if it wasn't my brother who nailed me?

Not surprisingly, Pennsylvania Courts have addressed legal liability for injuries sustained on golf courses. The following is a summary of some of the court decisions relating to the great summer pastime of golf:

The 1925 Slice - On June 30, 1925, Nicholas Brosko was eleven years old and caddying for the first time at Aronimink Golf Course. Nicholas stood 25 to 30 feet to the right of the first tee and just six feet in front of it. He watched the first player's drive land safely in the fairway and, as he was turning back to the tee, the second player whiffed on one swing and then shanked the ball right into Nicholas' left eye.

Regarding the issue of legal liability, the Court determined that the offending driver could be held liable for the terrible shot and, more importantly, for his failure to give an adequate and timely warning to Nicholas.

The 1938 Hook - On July 25, 1938, Leon Benjamin was lining up a putt on the sixth green at Schenley Park Golf Course. At the same time, Maurice Nernberg was teeing off on the seventh hole. The sixth green was located about 120 feet to the left and 100 feet in front of the seventh tee. Nernberg hooked his drive severely. One of Nernberg's partners yelled "fore", but it was not soon enough to help Benjamin. The ball hit him right in the mouth.

The Court held that Benjamin had no case, because by playing golf, he assumed the risk of such injury. The Court stated that "it is well known that not every shot played by a golfer goes to the point where he intends it. If such were the case, every player would be perfect and the whole pleasure of the sport would be lost." The risk of bad shots injuring someone is a danger which all golfers must accept. Accordingly, Benjamin had no legal claim.

The 1951 Mulligan- On September 8, 1951, Claude Freed was playing the first hole at Lebanon Country Club. He hooked his first drive over a stone wall 30 to 35 yards in front of the tee box and 30 feet left of the fairway. As was permitted by the rules of golf, he played a second shot - another bad one, which rolled 40 yards from the tee into the fairway. Freed's playing partner, Charles Getz, offered to look for Freed's first ball and Freed turned to go to his golf bag. When Getz was looking for the ball, without advance warning, Freed hit a third drive which hooked like the first one. At the last second, Freed yelled "look out Charlie", but it was too late. The ball hit Getz in the back of the head.

In this case, the Court determined that Getz had a legal claim against Freed because Freed had violated the rules of golf by hitting a third drive without warning Getz.

The 1958 Hook - William Boynton and his partner both hit poor drives off the tee and realized that their balls were lost. They invited Gordon Ryan's threesome to play through. Not wanting to get hit by their drives, Boynton stood near a tree off of the fairway to the left and about 100 yards from the tee. As bad luck would have it, Ryan hooked his drive, Boynton was not looking, no one in Ryan's threesome gave any warning and Boynton was hit and injured.

The Court found that Boynton had no case, because it was careless of him to invite Ryan to hit and then to stand well within the range of the drive without watching Ryan tee off.


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