Buffer Zones Through the Lens of Golf: A Negligence Case Content Analysis
Natalie Bird & Merry Moiseichik
What the paper says
Buffer zones are a risk management strategy used within sport and recreation to protect participants and spectators from injury. Within the recreational golf sector, buffer zone standards do not exist. Recreational golf courses serve a wide range of customers in terms of age, skill level, and experience. A legal case content analysis of 1,561 golf negligence lawsuits answered research questions related to locations of incidents, circumstances, and injuries or damages that resulted from errant golf shots. A Westlaw search provided 133 cases within the scope of this study, 85 of which could have been possibly prevented with proper buffer zones. In lawsuits in which the golf course was sued, the course prevailed 47.5% of the time and most cases specifically alleged a failure to provide reasonably safe conditions or negligent course design. This article concludes by providing practical recommendations for practitioners to protect golf courses from litigation stemming from errant golf balls.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.00 × 0.4 = 0.00 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.