There are times that the game of golf can be dangerous. A golf ball struck by an average golfer can exceed 100 miles per hour coming off the face of the golf club. Golf balls routinely travel several hundred yards and are still moving briskly at that point. In short, a golf ball is like a small missile, and sometimes unguided.
In August of this year the Pennsylvania Superior Court considered a case of a golfer struck in the face and seriously injured by a golf ball hit by a playing companion. The golfer who was struck had driven his golf cart ahead of his playing partners to determine whether the golfers in front of them had cleared the fairway. While returning to the tee in his cart he was struck in the face by a ball hit by one of his companions. (It is ironic that injury was caused in a circumstance where the golfers were actually trying to prevent injury to other golfers by checking the fairway ahead of them!)
Don’t be surprised if you start seeing golfers wearing highly stylized helmets in the very near future.