Golf Course Insurance

A golf program is assembled from the following coverages. Which ones you need depends on whether you are public or private, serve food and alcohol, host sanctioned tournaments, rent carts, or operate lodging alongside the course.

• General and premises liability. Injuries to golfers, guests, and spectators anywhere on the property: errant ball strikes, cart paths, bunkers and steep terrain, clubhouse and locker room slips, pro shop, range, and practice facilities. This is also the line that pays defense costs on suits that go nowhere.
• Golf cart liability and physical damage. Carts are vehicles, and standard property and liability forms treat them inconsistently. Coverage responds to rider injury, damage to the cart itself, and damage to homes, vehicles, and neighboring property when a cart leaves the path.
• Liquor liability. Claims alleging injury caused by an intoxicated patron served at the bar, in the grill, at a banquet, or from the beverage cart on the course. Beverage cart service in particular is a detail underwriters ask about and general liability alone rarely answers.
• Commercial property and business income. Clubhouse, pro shop and inventory, cart barn and fleet, maintenance buildings, irrigation and pump stations, halfway houses, and bridges — plus lost green fee, membership, and food revenue while a facility is out of service.
• Course, greens and turf coverage. Endorsements that respond to damage to the golf course itself — greens, tees, fairways, trees, and landscaping — after fire, storm, vandalism, or vehicle damage. Standard property forms treat land and growing things as excluded, so this has to be added deliberately.
• Mobile equipment and inland marine. Mowers, tractors, aerators, sprayers, utility vehicles, and irrigation controls — high-value machinery that is not licensed for the road and therefore falls outside both auto and building property coverage.
• Herbicide, pesticide and pollution liability. Turf chemical application, fertilizer and fuel storage, and runoff into adjoining water or property. Applicator licensing is regulated, and chemical drift claims from neighbors are excluded by most standard liability policies.
• Workers' compensation. Medical care and lost wages for grounds crew, mechanics, kitchen and beverage staff, caddies, cart attendants, and pro shop employees. Grounds maintenance and kitchen classes carry the frequency; equipment and heat-related incidents carry the severity.
• Special events and tournament liability. Sanctioned tournaments, pro-ams, charity scrambles, weddings, and corporate outings — including spectator exposure, hole-in-one contests and prize indemnity, vendor and volunteer requirements, and event cancellation for weather.
• Directors and officers, and employment practices. For member-owned and nonprofit clubs: board decisions on membership, dues, and assessments, plus wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment claims from a large seasonal workforce.
• Umbrella, cyber and crime. Excess limit above general liability, liquor, auto, and employers liability; cyber coverage for member data and tee-time and point-of-sale systems; and crime coverage for employee theft from pro shop inventory, cash, and member accounts.