Golfer Injured by Own Shot Awarded $8,500 in Lawsuit

All that golfer Tom Stafford wanted to do was improve his game. He already lived near the Casta Del Sol Golf Course here. So he decided to take instruction.

Wrong move.

On Friday, a Municipal Court jury awarded Stafford $8,500 as compensation for injuries suffered when a golf ball he hit ricocheted off a metal pole behind a net and struck him on the forehead.

Stafford, 51, president of the Heat Factory, which manufactures ski glove warmers, had sought $150,000 for any future medical costs from American Golf Corp., the golf course operators, and the course owner, Tokai Rayon of Japan.

“I’m very unhappy with the amount of the award,” Stafford said, “but I’m happy that this is over with.”

Neither defendants could be reached for comment Friday.

The lawsuit stemmed from an incident at the golf course on July 3, 1991, during lessons with an instructor. As Stafford stood about 12 to 15 feet from a net, he became concerned with three metal poles behind the net.

“I’m worried about a ball hitting a post,” he told the instructor.

Stafford said the instructor told him, “Don’t worry about hitting the posts. You worry about hitting the ball.”

The left-handed player then took a 9-iron and swung away. The golf ball hit one of the poles, rebounded and hit him. The impact nearly knocked him off his feet, he said.

“He later got this ringing in his ears and it was driving him crazy,” said Stephen Blanchfill, Stafford’s attorney.

The ball’s impact knocked the lenses out of Stafford’s glasses and cut a deep gash in his forehead, Blanchfill said.

Stafford was treated by paramedics and taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, where a physician sewed 15 stitches to close the wound.

A month later, Stafford began hearing a low-level ringing in his ears. At first it was only a distraction. But at night, the ringing intensified and became unbearable, Blanchfill said.

The golf course offered to pay his medical costs, Stafford said. But the company wrote on the back of the checks that cashing them releases American Golf Corp. from any future damages.

“I got hit in the head, this was a head injury,” Stafford said. “Doctors who I have spoken with told me that if I had been hit in the temple at that velocity, it would have killed me instantly. I know, I’m ever so thankful it didn’t.”

American Golf and Tokai must also pay Stafford’s legal fees.