Houston, Saturday morning, River Oaks. You are walking to brunch with a latte when a golf ball rockets off the course and nails you in the shoulder. The latte is gone, the shirt is ruined, and the million dollar question arrives: who pays? The golfer who sliced it, the course that skimped on netting, or you, the pedestrian who just wanted avocado toast?
The answer, as always, lives in the details. Courts generally will not hang personal liability on an ordinary slice, but reckless shots change everything. The course is on the hook when design or netting falls short, which is why courses carry serious general liability. Your own auto policy, not the golfer's, fixes your windshield. And when the damage goes seven figures, umbrella coverage is the real MVP that picks up where everything else stops.
Then Jessica pours alcohol into the scenario, because half the reason people love golf is the drinks. After the Bloody Mary at hole 14, a slice that clocks a jogger stops being an accident and starts being a negligence question, and courts love the word intoxicated. Some policies carry quiet alcohol exclusions that can turn a friendly round into a six figure lawsuit with personal assets on the line.
Along the way you learn that stray golf balls break roughly 1,800 windows a year in America, that a pro's drive can outrun most Ferraris in Houston traffic, and that one lawyer jokes that living near a course should come with its own deductible, the golf tax. You cannot always control the swing. You can make sure the coverage is in place before the ball flies.
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