Would like to get people's opinions on this.
Updates
After leaving a message to follow up on my membership suspension, Have a voicemail from the golf club acknowledging the tree root is a problem and this isn't the only one they need to fix in the carpark.
I'm not a Karen or Sue-friendly. As mentioned many times in the thread, I don't want to take legal action. Its not the type of person I am. I like to be pragmatic and get on with life but now this inury is starting to become a more serious/long term issue which I feel was caused in some part by the poor upkeep of facilities.
To people saying tree roots are everywhere and it's my fault for not seeing it. This is an asphalted car park that I would like to assume that it is flat. I'm not sure how this would differ from a slippery surface in a store that someone slips or an unmarked step/level raise in a walkway that causes someone to trip. This is a man-made structure and you're not expecting a root to be there. The closest tree is about 5m away. If I was running around a park on grass/dirt directly under trees…. a totally different story.
To those who say I'm a karen for blaming them for letting me drive home, I actually address this in the exact same sentence. I know driving home is totally on me. I guess its selective reading. In hindsight I was just surprised that there was no duty of care on their behalf in regard to incident reporting or attempts at first.
TLDR at the bottom
Almost three months ago, I completed a round of golf at a club I am a member of. I put my gear in the car and then headed up to the clubhouse for a beer (Had not had anything to drink as that stage). It was drizzling a little so jogged to avoid it.
As I was jogging up, I rolled my ankle severely on a tree root that had grown up from underneath the asphalt that I hadn't seen. I went down in more pain than I had ever felt before in my life. I thought I had broken it as fully expected something to be sticking out from my skin.
Tree root pics were taken yesterday
https://ibb.co/nwVVxKM
https://ibb.co/ZJ9x4D0
After sitting there for some time trying to recover from the pain and assess how injured I was, I got to my feet and hobbled to the clubhouse. No one had actually come past in this time.
I sat for a moment with the boys. I think my body was still in shock a little. I decided it best not to drink. As I sat there, I felt and saw my ankle swelling up. I didn't take my shoe off at that stage as I didn't think i'd get it back on, and it was probably helping with compression. At this stage, I thought it was best for me to leave and address the ankle.
I walked out of the clubhouse and ran into one of the pro shop staff who saw me in a lot of pain. He empathized with me and gave me a ride in a cart back to my car. Which was a huge relief.
***After the fact, I realized they should have/needed to fill out an incident report form and probably not let me drive home but I guess thats just as much on me.
I was about to gingerly drive home as I was less than 1km from the course. As soon as I got home and took the shoe off, the wife looked at it, and we both agreed I needed to go to emergency.
Picture of injury WARNING GRAPHIC: https://ibb.co/CKPH00M
Long story short, there was a minor fracture and basically the worst sprain possible without needing surgery. The doctor said there was nothing they would do to help the tiny fracture, and it would heal by itself.
THREE MONTHS LATER (Today)
My ankle is still nowhere near healed. It's still constantly swollen (The whole ankle) and sore by the end of the day. I cannot jog on it nor train my lower body at the gym. I am currently getting weekly physio on it, but they are actually perplexed at the extended swelling as well. As you can imagine, this has meant golf, either. I have an exercise science background so I rehabbing correctly)
After jumping through a few hoops and getting certificates, I've had my membership put on hold (No refund, just credits) until I'm better again.
As this has now extended out much longer than I thought it would, it's really having a big impact on my life.
I am on good terms with the guys at the club and kindly commented to them about the exposed tree root and the fact they didn't do an incident report form. I've heard nothing since.
As this has become a more significant and ongoing injury, I feel like I might need to seek further advice surrounding this. I feel as though the tree root is a safety hazard, has caused injury and then the incident was managed poorly.
I enjoy my golf club but I feel as though if I pushed this further (Ie Legal action or threat of), I'd probably need to find a new club.
What would you do?
TLDR
- Rolled ankle in golf club car park on an exposed tree root coming through asphalt.
- No incident report or first aid administered/offered and let me drive home
- Severe sprain and fracture and still on constant pain with limited mobility three months later
- Wondering if I should take matters further with the club
Look where you're going next time :P