[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Wardad:
Q: Who is responsible... Golfer, Golf Course, or County?

A golfer hits a ball over a high fence and it hits a car and that car causes an accident.

I'll tell you who I think, although I seriously doubt the courts would agree. I say the golfer. And I am a golfer myself. As a golfer I think you are responsible to being aware of your limitations.

Many will say an errant shot is a "fluke" and we shouldn't hold the golfer responsible. But I don't agree it's a fluke. If you don't have a reasonable expectation of hitting the ball towards the hole, you should not be taking the risk of cutting too close to the corner or along the edge of the property. Golfers are all perfectly aware of the principle of risk and reward, but we tend to limit our thinking to the "risk" of adding to our score. We don't think about the real risk of damage to others personal property.

If your game isn't up to the level of playing those high risk shots, you play it safe. You aim down the other side of the fairway, you take less club, you don't try to swing out of your own shoes. You decrease the chance of hurting someone, and in all likelyhood you will lower your score to boot. Of course you you eliminate the possibilty of hitting those towering drives that bend over the treeline and land four inches form the cup. But wake up dude, if you could hit shots like that you wouldn't be playing the back 9 at your local muni at 4:45 anyway.

If the course you are playing puts you in too many of these dangerous situiations, you need to find a course with more open space. One that is better suited to your ability level.

And get some lessons.

If someone goes to a firing range and doesn't know what the heck they are doing and starts shooting off in totally different directions then the targets, I think we would all agree they bear the responsibility if some poor shmuck gets hit by an "errant" bullet while sitting on his back porch.