Insurance for the whole golf operation.
Private clubs, semi-private and daily-fee courses, municipal tracks, 9-hole layouts, par-3s, and driving ranges. We place the full program — course property, maintenance fleet, grounds payroll, and the liability that comes from letting people hit hard objects at speed across 150 acres.
What we cover
Coverage is built around your operation — these are the pieces we most often place.
Commercial Property
Clubhouse, cart barn, maintenance building, halfway house, irrigation and pump stations, bridges, cart paths, and signage. Watch coinsurance — carried values on golf property are stale more often than not.
Tee-to-Green / Outdoor Property
The coverage generic commercial forms miss entirely: greens, tees, bunkers, trees, and landscaping. Golf programs extend property to the course itself, including tree replacement after a storm.
General Liability
Slip-and-fall, errant ball strikes to neighboring property and passing cars, cart-path accidents, and spectator injury during events. The backbone of every golf program.
Pollution / Environmental
Pesticide and herbicide application, fertilizer runoff, above-ground fuel storage for the fleet. Standard GL excludes pollution outright — this needs a deliberate carve-back or a standalone policy.
Commercial Auto
Maintenance trucks, member shuttles, and anything titled for road use. Carts operating only on the course usually sit under property and GL instead — but carts crossing a public road change that answer.
Workers Compensation
Grounds crew, F&B, pro shop, and management, each on a different class code with very different rates. Seasonal staffing and payroll audits are where courses lose money if the classes are wrong.
Inland Marine / Equipment
Mowers, aerators, sprayers, utility vehicles, and the cart fleet if owned rather than leased. Scheduled or blanket, with off-premises coverage when equipment goes out for service.
Employment Practices (EPLI)
Wrongful termination, harassment, and discrimination claims. High-turnover seasonal workforces make this one of the most frequently filed lines at a club — and the most frequently omitted.
Cyber Liability
Member rosters, tee-time platforms, POS terminals, and stored payment credentials. Increasingly a contractual requirement for courses running online booking or tournament registration.
Directors & Officers
For member-governed and non-profit clubs, the board needs its own protection — membership disputes, assessment decisions, and expulsion claims land here rather than on the GL.
Liquor Liability
Clubhouse bar, beverage cart, and tournament service. Detailed on the clubhouse page, but it's rated as part of the overall course program.
Umbrella / Excess
Golf programs routinely offer $25M and up. Given the catastrophic potential of a ball-strike head injury or a dram-shop verdict, primary limits alone are rarely the right answer.
What underwriters ask
Golf markets weigh these very differently from one another — which is the whole reason to shop more than one.
- Holes and total acreage (9, 18, 27, 36) and course routing relative to roads and homes
- Ownership and access model — private member-owned, semi-private, daily fee, municipal, or resort
- Annual revenue split across green fees, memberships, F&B, retail, and outings
- Payroll by class code, plus the seasonal headcount swing between peak and off-season
- Liquor receipts as a share of total revenue
- Five years of loss runs — frequency matters more than severity to most golf underwriters
- Statement of values, with a realistic clubhouse replacement cost rather than a decade-old number
- Chemical application program, who applies it, and fuel storage on site
- Proximity of holes to public roads, parking, and neighboring residential property
- Additional amenities — pool, tennis, fitness, lodging, or event space
- Maintenance fleet value and whether the cart fleet is owned or leased
- Catastrophe exposure — wildfire, hail, named storm, and flood zone for low-lying holes
Frequently asked
How much does golf course insurance cost?
There are too many variables for a single useful number, but a full program on an 18-hole course commonly lands somewhere between $25,000 and $150,000+ a year depending on revenue, payroll, property values, and liquor exposure. Small daily-fee and 9-hole operations often package for far less. In our experience the bigger question is usually whether the program has holes in it, not whether the premium is a few points high.
Can you write my course if it's not in Tennessee?
Yes. Golf is our national line and the specialty programs we use are licensed in all 50 states. Our office happens to be in Tennessee; the book is not.
What's the deal with errant ball strikes?
Nearly every course eventually sees a ball hit a car, a window, or a person. General liability responds, but golf-specialty carriers underwrite this far more sensibly than generic commercial markets, which tend to either exclude it or price it as an unknown. If holes run alongside a road or a subdivision, this belongs at the front of the submission rather than buried in it.
Are golf carts covered under commercial auto?
Usually not. Carts operating only on course property typically fall under property and general liability. That changes the moment carts cross or travel a public road, or if you rent carts to the public — then you're into auto or a specific cart endorsement. This is a common gap we find on courses insured by generalist agents.
Do you handle municipal and county-owned courses?
Yes, though the structure differs. Municipal courses are often insured through a public entity pool or the city's master program, and the real question becomes what the management company or concessionaire is contractually responsible for. We're glad to review where that line falls before you buy anything.
What do you need from me to start a quote?
Current declarations pages for every policy, three to five years of loss runs, a statement of values, payroll by class code, and your annual revenue split. If you don't have all of it in hand, we can request loss runs from your current carrier with a signed letter of authorization.
When should I start the renewal process?
Ninety days out. Golf programs want a complete, well-packaged submission, and underwriters get selective in the final two weeks before an expiration date when they know you're out of options.
Get a golf course quote
Tell us about the operation and we'll come back with real markets — not a lead form sold three times over.