A Guide to Golf Insurance

We don’t sell or organise flights or insurance for our golf holidays, but we can help steer you in the direction of information to make your trip easier.

We’ve built the best golf insurance guide by collating a lot of tips and answers around golf travel insurance to help you learn how to compare golf insurance deals and find the right policy.

What is golf travel insurance?

Golf travel insurance keeps you, your equipment, and the people and property around you covered while playing the game. Some travel insurance policies include golf coverage by default, others do not.

If your policy provider does not offer golf cover, you may need to take it out as an optional add-on, or via specialist golf travel insurance.

Some golfers prefer to take out specialist golf travel insurance either way, as it is tailored to your needs as a golfer and comes with essential extras.

What is covered with golf travel insurance?

There are two strands to golf insurance:

  • Equipment cover:
    • Cover for lost golf clubs and equipment, theft of golf clubs or equipment, or damage to golf clubs or equipment. Typically covered around £1000-£1500, and equipment includes clubs, bags, and shoes.
    • Cover for hired golf equipment: typically covered around £150-£300.
    • Some policies offer a daily golf hire fee in case your clubs are sent to the wrong airport.
  • Public liability and third party cover
    • Protection if you cause damage or incur repair or hospital bills. Think broken windows, smashed windscreens, etc.
    • Cover against your travel providers going bankrupt.
    • Cover for non-refundable green fees on cancelled trips, or due to accident, sickness, or bad weather: typically covered around £300

You may notice injury is missing from golf coverage from general insurance providers. This is because golf is considered a low risk activity, so unlike skiing or winter sports, injuries acquired while golfing do not require specialist coverage.

Equipment insurance is especially if your clubs aren’t covered on your home insurance.

Did you know?

Some specialist golf travel insurance policies offer hole in-one insurance: this covers the cost of a round of drinks after the game, so you can celebrate in style.

Nice touch!🍻

Who needs golf travel insurance?

The game carries risk of accident regardless of how good or careful a player you are, so golf insurance is just as important for keen golfers going on a specialised golf holiday as for casual players considering a couple of rounds.

If your shot goes awry and damages someone’s property (or someone) you are responsible. Golf insurance covers you against any such mishap.

It’s hard to imagine, but a stray golf ball can cause hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage! And of course you’re protected too: against injury, cancellations, and other eventualities.

What other golfers are saying

We looked around some golf forums to see what other golfers thought about travel insurance. Here are some of the best insights:

Insurance comes recommended for the circumstances you can’t easily predict or avoid:

“Imagine you hit a bad one and clatter someones brand new £50K Mercedes, put a dent in the wing and they hand you a £1K bill for the repair work” (source)

Having more people in a golf cart than you’re allowed can violate insurance:

“If a body is in a cart you pay a “rider fee.” No exceptions. […] Any breach of this rule renders all insurance void in the event of some sort of accident” (source)

Some golf bags come with golf club insurance (source).

Rumour has it that golf clubs are more likely to get lost on certain routes. This isn’t something we’ve heard, though.

“My buddy had 3 of his friends fly to [destination] and their 3 sets were stolen.” (source)

Can I add golf cover to single trip and annual travel insurance policies?

According to most people we spoke to, yes.

It’s an optional extra for regular travel insurance policies, so providers like Churchill, Post Office, InsureAndGo, and the other big names will help you get the right policy.

Comparing golf insurance quotes

Most providers offer a range of coverage, increasing in price and extent of what’s covered

Look for:

  • Where you are covered (UK only? Europe only? Worldwide?)
  • Cost of equipment covered: £1k? £5k?
  • Is repair covered as well as replacement?
  • Is loss or damage in a vehicle covered?
  • Is usage of a buggy covered?
  • Are there restrictions on age of equipment for it to be eligible for replacement
  • Amount of personal liability and personal accident coverage
  • Whether extra medical costs are covered: dental, hospital stays, etc
  • Whether accidental damage is covered and if so for how much
  • As above with loss, cancellations due to transport or weather, etc
  • Is there hole in one coverage?

Closing tips

Here are a couple of tips that didn’t fit into the other sections, but might be helpful:

If you’re travelling with a group, see if you can save money with a group travel insurance policy.

Don’t try to hide pre-existing medical conditions. Even if they don’t seem relevant to your holiday, if something happens and you haven’t declared it, this could invalidate your entire policy.