Golf Law; Golf Course Safety, Security and Risk Management

Golf courses are complex environments blending the manicured with the natural, hosting people with different levels of knowledge and experience, and subjecting them to potentially unfamiliar hazards. Golf course safety, security and risk management is a process of minimizing those threats, or reducing the severity of accident if they do happen. This book exams that process and offers practical suggestions to protect golfers, golf course employees, owners and operators. Safety should not happen by accident.

Dr. Michael Hurdzan is an internationally recognized golf course architect, consultant, speaker, and writer on a wide range of golf related topics, but none that is more important than golf course safety, security and risk management. This is not a topic commonly taught in school, nor until now has there been an information source solely dedicated to golf course issues. The intent of this book is to provide a platform for golfers, golf course employees, owners and operators on which to build a safety program that fits their individual situation. Avoiding accidents, liability and negligence that could lead to the dreaded lawsuit is paramount, and it begins with foreseeing risks, assessing the probability of harm, and taking appropriate risk management strategies. Dr. Hurdzan explains each of those in great detail. Dr. Hurdzan draws on his over 40 years of active involvement at all levels in the golf industry, especially his experience as an expert witness in over 160 lawsuits, as well as hundreds of hours reading and researching materials related to the subject of this book. He shares that information in a practical way intended to allow others to develop their own methods, procedures and protocols for protecting others, their employers, and themselves.

Dr. Michael J. Hurdzan, ASGCA Fellow Dr. Hurdzan is also Colonel Hurdzan (Ret., USAR Special Forces), and an internationally sought after authority on golf course design, renovation and the environment. In February 2013 he joined Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, Robert Trent Jones,Sr.,Pete Dye, and close friend Rees Jones as the only men in golf history to hold the non-playing equivalent of golf's major championships "grand slam" as recipients of the highest honor bestowed by the American Society of Golf Course Architects (Donald Ross Award), the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (Old Tom Morris Award), and the Golf Course Builder's Association of America (Don A. Rossi Award). He is Past President and fellow of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, a member of the Ohio Golf Hall of Fame, and an USGA Committeeman. Dr. Hurdzan has written over 100 popular articles and 6 books on golf courses and golf course architecture, to include Golf Course Architecture: Evolutions in Design, Construction and Restoration Technology, that has been translated into German, Korean, and Chinese. His influence of course design is recognized globally. Over the past 40 years he has developed a personal and professional interest in the interrelationship of golf and law, particularly negligence and liability lawsuits. He has been an expert witness in over 160 cases ranging from wrongful death to non-payment of contractors. This book is based on that accumulated knowledge, experience and training. He currently practice golf course design with his son and business partner, Dr. Christopher M. Hurdzan, MBA, from their 5,000 square foot office in Columbus, Ohio, which serves to display one of he largest private collections of golf antiquities in the world.