[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

I worked at two golf courses where this was a problem. It turns out that, in Massachusetts anyway, the golf course is responsible for any damage or injury that occurs.

I worked at one public course that actually was ordered by the courts to change the design of a golf hole because balls were frequently flying into a neighbor hood. A child was hit by one while playing in his yard. The thing that was troubling from the courses point of view is that the golf course was there before the development. When the golf course was built there was nothing by trees where these homes now stand. A developer went in, cleared the land, put in infrastructure and built numerous homes. People bought the homes with the full knowledge that the golf course was there.

The courts felt that the safety of the pubic trumped the fact that the homes came after the golf course.

At another course a hole ran right along the edge of a public road. Several cars were hit by golf balls during the five years that I worked there. People would come to the club house and sure enough, the club was responsible for paying for the damages.

The club planted trees and erected a fence to help to minimize the situation, but still occasionally, cars would get hit.