[Dan_Callahan]

Teed-off golfer who lost teeth to errant ball bites back

November 29, 2004

BY STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter (Chicago Sun Times)

Weekend duffers beware: That errant golf shot could be more costly than you think.

A lawsuit recently filed in Cook County Circuit Court claims not even a call of "Fore!" could have prevented one golfer from being left with "a mouth full of false teeth," his attorney said last week.

Vito Straziota claims the poor design of the Seven Bridges Golf Club helped cause Straziota to get hit with a golf ball.

The suit says that poor design, coupled with the offending golfer, Harry Cho, not paying attention, caused Straziota to become "permanently disabled."

Now he wants unspecified damages from Cho, of Chicago, and the DuPage County golf course, which he says poorly designed the seventh hole, from the tee to the green.

"This guy hit him right in the mouth with the golf ball," said Straziota's attorney, Robert Kosin.

"The guy hit the ball too soon, but there's really not even enough room to exit your cart out there."

Straziota claims he was golfing with friends when he was leaving the seventh hole and getting back onto his golf cart. That's when Cho, teeing off on the seventh, fired his ball toward the hole.

"Cho was guilty of negligently striking his golf ball at a point in time when [Straziota] was not far enough away from the seventh green," the lawsuit claims.

As a result, Straziota was "hit with great force and violence" in the mouth with the golf ball.

The suit also says Seven Bridges Golf Club owner Woodridge Golf Club was negligent because the seventh hole was "poorly designed so it unduly exposed" golfers "leaving the green" to injury by flying golf balls.

Club officials said while they were aware of the incident, they had no comment. Cho didn't return a call.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Dan,

Nothing new to me. I have always considered safety, and of course, there have always been lawsuits.

Generally, the law holds golfers responsible for their acts, unless it can be shown that the design and/or operation of the course is such that it contributes to the likelihood of golfers being in undue and/or unknowing danger.

It sounds like this attorney is trying to cover both bases, and the owner and gca will incur the costs of defending themselves, even if eventually, a judge or jury decides that they did no wrong, and it was a simple case of a golfer teeing off with someone else clearly in their line of flight.

That is a bit hard to tell from the newspaper summary, though.

[Dan_Callahan]

Jeff,

Has an architect ever been held liable for knowingly or negligently creating a dangerous design? If such a suit were successful, might that change forever some inherently dangerous architectural features? I'm thinking of double greens, double fairways, tee shots that cross a road or driveway, etc. At Shennecossett in Connecticut, for example, the opening tee shot crosses a road. Belgrade Lakes in Maine features a double green at 9/18 that could result in an injury.

It never occurred to me that an architect, in adddition to agonizing over best routing and other design features, would also need to consider exposure to litigation. Does insurance exist that would cover such a situation?

[Jeff_Brauer]

Dan,

I am certain that they have, but can't and wouldn't name any specific cases off the top of my head.  I also know that ALL of us have been accused of negligence at one time or another.  We don't carry insurance to cover us IF we get a lawsuit, we carry it for WHEN we get a lawsuit.....

It's called errors and omissions insurance, and it will cover us for such allegations of design defects.  Some policies aren't real clear on injuries to people, but my insurance company would cover that, if the allegation is specifically owing to design defects.

If St. Andrews was in the USA, I would say there would be a greater chance of it having to be changed than where it lay in Scotland.  However, most old courses get a bit of a pass on the safety issue. It seems that courts understand that standards have changed - the Wright Brothers didn't start out with a 747 after all.  However, if a death occurred where holes crossed the roads, and a lawsuit was filed, who knows what changes might have to happen. Its all a random process.

[Dan Kelly]

Re: Seven Bridges Golf Club, from http://www.golfable.com/golfcourses/courses/Woodridge_IL_Seven_Bridges_Golf_Club:

"This championship course is the centerpiece of a residential recreation complex of 350 homes. The regulars refer to the two nines as 'Jekyll and Hyde.' The front side is tree-lined, the back side is surrounded by the east branch of the DuPage River and Prentiss Creek, and they provide very different challenges. Eleven of the greens are two-tiered and all have some mounding or contour. Pay great attention to pin placement, this course can be had, but on a windy day it plays at least five shots harder. The club has been the site of some celebrity events, most notably the Michael Jordan Classic, and is angling to get more prestigious tournaments in the future. Caddies are mandatory if you choose to walk the course."

Good thing Michael didn't get hit in the mouth.

Can you imagine how much his teeth are worth?

-----------

According to another source -- http://www.golfersguide.com/regional/editorial.cfm?location=Illinois&id=771 -- that 7th hole is 441 yards long. Helluva tee shot, Mr. Cho!

[Scott_Burroughs]

Furthering Dan's comment on the hole being 441 yards long
(from the tips - it's 425 and 404 from the other two men's
tees), also, the hole is not a 90-degree-type dogleg, where
Mr. Cho could have cut the corner over some trees.  The hole
is almost dead straight along water:


and closer up:



and from above (nice wall by the water - sorry for the slight overlap in the middle):





quote from the club's website hole guide:  "Our most
challenging hole on the golf course. The only place to hit your
tee shot is down the middle leaving a mid to long iron into a
peninsula green. The ideal tee shot is a draw to the left side
of the fairway."

http://www.sevenbridges.com/

[Jeff Goldman]

Beating Shivas to the punch, this is just a horrible golf course IMHO.  They saved the best land for the homes, and wedged in the course mostly in valleys and you do get a big shooting gallery effect a lot (not quite as bad as Arboretum, but that's knee-high praise).  Once $100 a round, now generally a lot less to play.  Switched the nines, too, because the now 1 has a crowned, island fairway (and they wanted to get it out of the way early); Shivas probably tees off with a pitching wedge.  Big Goose problems too, though I don't know that the design had anything to do with that.  Yuck.

Jeff Goldman

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