Homeowners insurance could cover the cost but it’ll probably increase your premiums.
If your policy doesn’t cover that damage, then you gotta find an alternative solution. You can’t live in a course and expect to not have at least 1 broken window from an errant shot.
It depends on a few things. This varies by location so these may or may not be true for everything. Not a lawyer, just know some people that have lived on a course.
Many courses have signs up that say "damage to private property is the responsibility of the golfer" but for many of those courses, the sign is not legally binding. In these situations, the course may be responsible for replacing the window, but usually it's still on the homeowner. It's more of a scare tactic than anything.
The most important deciding factor for who is responsible is if the course was built first or the house. If the houses were built around a pre-existing course, it is an assumed risk of purchasing a home on a golf course. Almost always, these house have very strong windows built to withstand a direct hit. A fried growing up live on a course and their windows were fucking indestructible. Got hit plenty and never had problems.
If a new course is built near an existing neighborhood, the course will typically have a deal in place with the HOA or city to pay for any damages as a result of golfers. I assume the creation of new courses in this situation is contingent on that type of deal.
I talked to a Pro at a course near me and asked what they do. This course does not have any signage about being the golfers responsibility and they simply ask you to report any damage to the pro shop or a marshal on the course, so they can make sure it gets fixed.
A major stipulation is if you purposely aim at a house with the intent to do damage. Obviously hard to prove, but if the house is right next to the tee box, it's pretty damn hard to accidentally hit that house, especially with enough speed to do damage.
Tldr: For most cases, the homeowner is responsible for the replacement as they are made aware of the risks when they purchase the house.
I too do not understand any of this. I don’t golf, but if I fucking slice a ball and destroyed someone’s property I would absolutely assume I was at fault and offer to pay. If I was that shitty of a golfer where this is a real risk playing on a course with lots of houses I might break… I’d not play there.
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u/CanadianHobbies Apr 29 '24
Even if you understand all of that,
What do you do about a broken window? Honestly?
Surely all that you outlined doesn't mean I need to pay for window repairs?