Golfer describes shot which hit woman as a ‘freak’

A golfer being sued by a woman who suffered a stroke days after being struck on the head with a golf ball has told the High Court his shot was a “freak”.

Patrick Trundle said his shot out of the rough on the 18th hole of Old Conna Golf Club, Bray, Co Wicklow, was “wayward beyond belief”.

“I was playing away from the clubhouse. If I had seen the flight of the ball heading towards the clubhouse I would have had an automatic reaction of shouting fore. I was very confident the ball was going towards the green. I was happy with my shot until I discovered my ball landed on the balcony.”

Mr Trundle was giving evidence on the third day of the action by his fellow Old Conna member, Mary Brennan, who is suing him over the April 2009 incident, in which his golf ball struck her head as she stood on the clubhouse balcony.

Mrs Brennan (56), The Park, Cabinteely, claims Mr Trundle should have called a warning when hitting his ball from the rough. She had three weeks earlier become a full member of the club.

Mrs Brennan told the court she started vomiting eight days after the incident and had double vision and headaches. She was admitted to St Vincent’s Hospital and told she had had a stroke. She told the court she still has pain, difficulties with her vision and problems with her right hand.

Counsel for Mrs Brennan told Mr Justice Michael Peart there was no suggestion Mr Trundle deliberately shot at the clubhouse.

In his evidence, Mr Trundle, who has played golf since the 1980s and has a handicap of eight, said he was playing a game of fours, and Mrs Brennan’s husband, Philip, was on the other team. “When I hit the ball, I felt I got a good hit of the ball. I looked up expecting to see it fly over the trees. I looked to my play partners expecting them to see where the ball landed,” he said.

Shocking feeling

He became aware of a commotion at the clubhouse and had “a shocking feeling” his ball may have gone in that direction. “Next thing I see Philip running along the fairway and I know there’s a serious problem.”

Shouting fore was like a reflex action if a ball was heading towards a person or a group of people, like you would move your foot on to the brake of a car, he said. “To me, it is an automatic reaction. On that day, if I had seen my ball head for the clubhouse, let alone the balcony, I would have shouted fore.”

His shot was so wayward it could be described only as a freak shot, he said. “It is my responsibility because I played the shot.”Looking back on how the shot went wrong, he said the most likely scenario was the nine-iron club got caught and turned in the rough grass.

The case has been adjourned until later in June.