Landmark ruling goes against injured golfer who sued his club

A golfer who sued his own golf club after suffering brain damage when being hit on the head by a stray ball has lost his case in a landmark ruling.

The judge said his club could not have foreseen or prevented the incident.

The decision comes less than five years after a golfer at Niddry Castle Golf Club was awarded nearly £400,000 when he lost an eye after being hit by a stray ball. The money had to be paid by both the club and the golfer who hit the ball, and since then other golfers have received large payouts following similar incidents.

In this latest ruling, Iain Gray, 69, who had been a member of Workington Golf Club in Cumbria for more than 50 years, was playing the second hole when a ball struck from the first tee, 220 yards away, hit him.

The ball, which had been hit by Graeme Hodkin, 47, had veered off to the left and sailed over a copse of 20 feet-high trees before striking Mr Gray.

He suffered from a puncture to his skull, bruising and bleeding to his brain in the accident, a county court trial at West Cumbria court house was told.

The injuries left him with brain damage and a greater risk of epilepsy.

He told the court that he had not heard Mr Hodkin shout “fore”.

He said that he was unable to drive for eight months, had to take a break from his work as a school sports coach and his speech and word recall were affected.

The court considered the risk of such an injury occurring and whether the club had done all it could to assess and minimise the risk.

After hearing that there had been one accident in 44 years at the club, where about 20,000 games were played each year, the judge, Catherine Howells, dismissed the claim, saying that the club could not have foreseen or prevented such an incident.

Peter Burns, for the golf club, explained how the tree-packed copse on the left did provide effective shelter from balls heading towards the second green from the first. However, it was only effective, he said, if the balls travelled lower than the trees.

Mr Gray, who has been a member since the age of 17, said later: “When you suffer significant brain damage that affects your life and family but the law deems you have lost the case — it tells you everything.”

He said he had since returned to playing golf, but added: “Of course I am more nervous. But I had to take a necessary first step back to my recovery as I loved playing golf and looked forward to playing in my retirement.”