A long-time member of Workington Golf Club is suing the club after an accident on the course left him with brain injuries.

Iain Gray, of Winscales Avenue, Distington, suffered head injuries when he was struck by a ball while playing golf in April 2011.

It has left him with a continuing increased risk of epilepsy as a result of the focal injury to his brain.

A county court trial in Workington yesterday heard that Mr Gray was on the fringe of the green at the course’s second hole when fellow golfer Graeme Hodkin struck a ball from the first competition tee around 220 yards away.

The ball travelled over a copse of trees, around five to six metres high, to the left of its starting point before striking Mr Gray.

Mr Gray told the court he had not heard Mr Hodkin shout "fore" to warn of an approaching ball before he was hit.

The trial is considering the risk of such an injury occurring and whether the club had done all it could to assess and minimise that risk.

The judge, Her Honour Recorder Howells, said: “There’s no doubt that Mr Gray sustained significant injuries in this incident.”

Golf expert Trevor Homer told the court the angle of the ball when it left the tee was within the margin hit in 92 per cent of shots.

He added that an out of bounds area to the right of the tee made it more likely that players would angle their shots slightly to the left.

Peter Burns, barrister for the golf club, told the court the copse provided effective shelter from balls heading towards the second green from the first, unless they travelled higher than the trees.

Mr Gray, a club member since he was 17, said: “It doesn’t have to be an unusual shot to hook a bit that way. The way the clubs are made now I think they could go that far and high.”

Fellow golfer Richard Scraggs, of High Harrington, said that since the incident he had taken particular notice of balls being played from the tee in question and had seen a number land on the green, which he thought must have flown over the trees.

Kenneth Frazer, another club member, also of High Harrington, recalled an incident in which a ball had ricocheted through the copse and hit the green. Since the incident, the court heard, the trees had been thinned out.

Mr Gray has since returned to playing golf. 

The case continues.