Golfer struck by stray ball wins £10,000 payout

Man awarded damages after suffering head injury

A GOLFER has won £10,000 in damages after he was hit by a ball from another player’s wayward tee shot.

John Ure was on the fairway at another hole at Bellshill Golf Club, in Lanarkshire, when he sustained a head injury after the errant drive.

Mr Ure, 46, of Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, raised an action seeking compensation against Stewart Muir following the incident on March 9, 2013.

Following a hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, a judge has ruled in his favour and accepted liabilit y has been established.

Lord Brailsford said that in the circumstances the risk of an errant shot creating a danger to a person in Mr Ure’s position was “reasonably foreseeable”.

One of Mr Muir’s playing party had already struck a drive that prompted a warning cry of “fore” before he teed off.

The judge said this should have alerted him that the group Mr Ure was playing in was in range of an errant drive.

“His shot was, on his own admission, a bad one,” said the judge.

The court heard that a study had shown that 92 per cent of golf shots fell within a 30 degree cone of the intended line but the shot played by Mr Muir fell into the eight per cent outside that group.

A golf expert who gave evidence said he considered there was “a materiel risk” of a bad or poorly struck shot from the 9th tee impinging on the 10th fairway.

He described the shot as “a slice” and said: “You just wouldn’t surmise your ball going that far right.”

Mr Muir, of Blantyre, said he had been a member at the Bellshill club since 2005. He was playing the ninth hole with two others taking part in a sweep at the club.

He told the court that another player in his group had already played “an errant shot” towards Mr Ure’s group on the 10th fairway, prompting a shout of “fore”.

He said the second player to tee off in his party hit his ball “straight down the middle”.

Mr Muir said he would normally hit a drive about 200 yards and was aiming to hit the middle of the fairway.

But when he struck his shot he noticed “the ball was going out of control”. He said he shouted “fore” and put an arm up. One of his partners also made a warning call.

He said two players on the 10th took cover, but Mr Ure did not and the ball struck him.

Mr Muir, 45, was asked if he had thought about the people on the 10th fairway before he took his shot.

He replied: “I wouldn’t have thought of any problem arising. I wouldn’t have surmised anything that far right that would create a problem.”

“It never came into my mind as any sort of risk. If it came into my mind as a risk I would not have played the shot,” he said.

In the action it was said that Mr Ure suffered a head injury and was knocked to the ground. It was said he felt nauseous and was physically ill later that day and went to hospital.

It was said that he suffered intermittent, severe headaches and nausea and lost enthusiasm for playing the game.

Mr Ure’s counsel, Geoff Clarke QC, said that damages in the action had been agreed at £10,000 if liability was established.

‘‘ I wouldn’t have thought of any problem arising. I wouldn’t have surmised anything that far right to create a problem

ARTIST Rona Taylor puts the finishing touches to an eye-catching installation that is part of a new exhibition.

The not-for-profit Hidden Door art festival at a derelict building in King’s Stables Road in Edinburgh started yesterday, with 35 artists displaying their works until next Saturday.

Organisers won acclaim for their inaugural event last year, at the city’s Market Street Vaults. Ms Taylor has taken over one room for her “series of paintings, drawings and prints, installed to create a space that the viewer can explore and walk around.”