[redwitch]

Russ, I may have had a legal responsibility to pay for the damage, but I didn't have to. I could have simply driven away and no one would have been the wiser but me. I could no more walk away from that ding than I could walk away from an errant ball. Just isn't in me.

AJ already answered your question on the braking example. Just because you didn't mean to hit the brake is entirely irrelevant. Reality is the driver behind you was at fault for following too close. A better example might be you got a foot cramp and accelerated jumping a curb and causing minor damage to a bicycle. You didn't mean to hit the bike that was chained to the pole (which, for whatever reason, was illegal) but you did. It wasn't your fault, it was an out and out accident. Even so, you're responsible in my mind and should pay for the damages.

If your golf ball hits a window, breaks a Ming vase (worth a bit more than $2K), you man up and take responsibility regardless of the fact that the homeowner assumed the risk by buying and building where s/he did. To deliberately run away is, to me, at best craven, at worst obscene (I'd say criminal but I can't because it isn't illegal and the golfer has no legal obligation, just a moral one).