A golfer who lost an eye playing golf for the very first time is pursuing compensation through a personal injury claim. The subject lost an eye when struck by an incoming golf ball from another player.

During personal injury claim proceedings, at Edinburgh’s Court of Session, the claimant, aged 44, explained that he had heard another player shout “fore” and did as instructed which was to duck and raise his hands, at which time the ball struck his eye. He went on to describe the feeling as though his eye had exploded. The eye had subsequently be removed following the incident at the Niddry Castle golf club.

He had been invited to play with work colleagues, none of whom were member of the club, when the incident took place.

“I heard a shout. The moment I heard the shout my hand went up. It was that instant, there was no delay.

“I did hear the fore and I did duck. I didn’t know where the fore was coming from. I didn’t know which direction anything was.

“I had no idea where the ball was coming from.”

While a compensation amount has been agreed, liability is said to be an issue, with the claimant seeking damages from both the club and the golfer who stuck the offending shot. This player claims that upon screaming “fore” at the top of his lungs, three of the golfing party in question ducked, while a fourth did not and looked up to the sky.

The claimant maintains that he did take evasive action, though if doing so it is extremely unlikely that the ball would manage to strike him in the eye.

The golf club in question state that there was no record of any incident such as this having previously taken place, and that it is standard practice to duck at the yelling of the word “fore”.