By Ashley Wiebe

Local woman teed off, wants more safety measures around golf courses

Jul 19, 2017 | 5:18 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A local woman says changes need to happen at golf courses, after her SUV was hit by a stray golf ball earlier this summer.

“[We were] just driving, minding our own business and all of a sudden there was a big bang,” Lesley Pardy said.

Last month, Pardy and her daughter were driving along College Avenue near Connaught Golf Course when a ball smashed into her vehicle.

“I initially thought it was my engine, but I checked out all my gauges, they were fine,” Pardy said. “I looked in the mirrors, there’s nobody around me. I didn’t really realize what happened.”

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It wasn’t until she got at home and saw the golf ball sized dent just above her windshield.

Pardy said she called Connaught to let them know what had happened while trying to figure who was to blame, but was told it wasn’t the course’s fault.

“They basically told me that there was nothing that they could do,” she said.

We reached out to Connaught Golf Club, but haven’t heard back.

Their website simply states, “golfers are liable for any property damage, resulting from their shots.”

Insurance broker Gord Cowan said the golfer is responsible, and as long as they have homeowner or tenant insurance, they can cover the damage.

“There is a coverage in those policies called voluntary property damage,” he said. “The voluntary property damage will normally have a limit of say $2,500 to $5,000. That insurance will then repair the victim’s damaged car, no deductibles apply at all.”

Cowan said it’s not something he’s seen a lot of people use.
“The insurance companies recognize that it’s a type of incident that happens every once in a while,” he said. “We don’t see a lot of those claims. I’ll be quite honest, I think we don’t see a lot of those claims because people don’t know that they’re covered for that.”

Pardy isn’t sure she’ll get the dent fixed, but she doesn’t want to see it happen to anyone else.

“I’m more concerned about the safety and somebody getting hurt, even if, no, they’re not going to pay for the damage to the vehicle, at least put up nets so it doesn’t happen to somebody else and something else more serious happens.”