Club/ Course Insurance

[olydiscgolf]

Does anybody have any experience in obtaining liability insurance for a local club or course? We are moving forward with a new course in Woodland Creek Park (Lacey, WA) but we may need to obtain insurance.

Thanks

[sillybizz]

Chris you should ask Keith about this, I'm pretty sure he has lots of information on the subject.

[Flingin fireman]

Hi Chris,
We have been through this in the West Sound with every new park entity we have worked with. Bottom line is there is no general liability insurance that fits what parks departments are looking for. There is amateur insurance your club can get but if your club plays at any private courses or if anybody gets paid cash money (like Tuesday night doubles) it would nullify amateur insurance.
There is tournament insurance available with PDGA tournaments. Professional club insurance is cost prohibitive.
If they are concerned about insurance for course installers, again there is nothing that is not cost prohibitive.
Also, be very careful before having the club sign maintenance agreements that could stick you with large charges for illegal dumping, HazMat clean ups, etc.
Remember you are offering the parks a tremendous asset that will help them meet their mission and functions much the same as skate parks and other more risk prone parks activities.
Keep up the good work Chris

[olydiscgolf]

You bring up some good points about the maintanence agreement Paul. And I don't really know why we would even need insurance. It seems that our volunteering is no differant than any other group that volunteers to clean up a park. And we are fully prepared to insure our events.


From what I understand, there is at least one club in the area that does have insurance. I don't know all of the details, but Im going to contact the agent this coming week and see what kind of info I can get. Im really hoping we can get around the issue, but I wanna cover all of our bases anyway.

[kemi]

Francis L. Dean & Associates out of Florida specializes in Sports events/organizations and club insurance. Our dg club got a general liability insurance policy from them for less than 1/3 of the price of our previous liability policy. They also did the additional certificates of insurance for no additional cost (to list the local Parks & Rec as additional insured, or whoevers land we were going to be on as required for the permits to build a new course and also as needed for some event permits, etc). They don't have much info on the website regarding disc golf events/club insurance, but if you call Julie Sordam she'll have all the info to you shortly and will take care of you:
Julie Sordam
jsordam@fdean.com or 1-877-671-3326
www.fdean.com

[olydiscgolf]

Originally Posted by kemi

Francis L. Dean & Associates out of Florida specializes in Sports events/organizations and club insurance. Our dg club got a $1M general liability insurance policy from them for less than 1/3 of the price of our previous liability policy. They also did the additional certificates of insurance for no additional cost (to list the local Parks & Rec as additional insured, or whoevers land we were going to be on as required for the permits to build a new course and also as needed for some event permits, etc). They don't have much info on the website regarding disc golf events/club insurance, but if you call Julie Sordam she'll have all the info to you shortly and will take care of you:
Julie Sordam
jsordam@fdean.com or 1-877-671-3326
www.fdean.com

Thank you. I will check into it, and let you know what we come up with.

[ScottW]

If you still need more info on Liability Insurance let me know in a PM and I'll give you my phone number. The North Idaho Disc Golf Club has pretty extensive liability insurance and we are in our second year with it now. The nice thing is also that if we hold PDGA events we don't have to pay the $50 or more for their coverage. We do have to pass some cost on to the players though but we charge non-members more

[olydiscgolf]

Originally Posted by ScottW

If you still need more info on Liability Insurance let me know in a PM and I'll give you my phone number. The North Idaho Disc Golf Club has pretty extensive liability insurance and we are in our second year with it now. The nice thing is also that if we hold PDGA events we don't have to pay the $50 or more for their coverage. We do have to pass some cost on to the players though but we charge non-members more

PM sent.

[Rideout]

Originally Posted by ScottW

The nice thing is also that if we hold PDGA events we don't have to pay the $50 or more for their coverage.

Just to make sure you know - all sanctioned events are automatically insured (just for being sanctioned), but if you need a hard copy "proof of insurance" - that's what will cost you $50.

"Their coverage" is paid with the cost of sanctioning.

[Flatroc]

Originally Posted by olydiscgolf

Does anybody have any experience in obtaining liability insurance for a local club or course? We are moving forward with a new course in Woodland Creek Park (Lacey, WA) but we may need to obtain insurance.

Thanks

We've used Rotary's and Lion's Club insurance before.
This was done for specific events though and not just for a course.
Still may be something worth inquiring about.
bueno suerte

[Flatroc]

Originally Posted by Rideout

Just to make sure you know - all sanctioned events are automatically insured (just for being sanctioned), but if you need a hard copy "proof of insurance" - that's what will cost you $50.

"Their coverage" is paid with the cost of sanctioning.

Wow, I didn't know it worked that way.

[olydiscgolf]

I think I have come up with an inexpensive way to get the insurance coverage we will need. I'm still working out the details to maximize our coverage, but it looks like we should be around the $250/ year range. Taking into account that we won't need certificates of "additional insured" when we run events, we will be "saving" $50 each event. I was pleasantly surprised in the cost.

If anybody would like info on it, let me know.

Thanks everybody for your input and PM's on the subject.

[WestsoundBT]

looks like you guys might want to to run a fundraiser tournament for the insurance costs...

...wait...who insures that?...ha (you could sanction that... see the wheel keeps on spinning)

[ScottW]

olydiscgolf, I responded to your PM and my dad who obtained the policy for our club said it is the same group as the one mentioned above Francis L. Dean & Assoc. feel free to call him if you have any questions though.

[chainbanger'z]

Originally Posted by olydiscgolf

Thank you. I will check into it, and let you know what we come up with.

Thats the same group the DOS uses to insure Lakewood and Seatac.
Good rates,and pretty knowledgable about Disc Golf events.
At least our agent is.
Sounds like you got a grasp on it,but if you need any info feel free to ask.
Cheers

[ScottW]

The liability insurance really is a good way to go even though it makes more work for the club. You can save the $ of insuring a PDGA event but still take $1 or $2 out from each players entry for insurance, it covers league & non-sanctioned events too. We will typically do $1/player for a c-tier or non-sanctioned event to cover insurance and $1/club member and $2/non-club member to cover league events. The nicest thing is that it covers your @$$ from the idiots who are only there to do stupid stuff like drink too much etc.

[explorediscgolf]

Originally Posted by olydiscgolf

I think I have come up with an inexpensive way to get the insurance coverage we will need. I'm still working out the details to maximize our coverage, but it looks like we should be around the $250/ year range. Taking into account that we won't need certificates of "additional insured" when we run events, we will be "saving" $50 each event. I was pleasantly surprised in the cost.

If anybody would like info on it, let me know.

Thanks everybody for your input and PM's on the subject.

I'd love to hear what insurance company you used.

[olydiscgolf]

Originally Posted by explorediscgolf

I'd love to hear what insurance company you used.

pm sent.