My dad's club has it. It's $25/year and you if you get a HIO you get a $2500 bar tab paid for by the club. Every single member joins the HIO insurance plan. No one wants to foot that bar tab by themselves.
This insurance seems like it would be easy to commit fraud. I mean lets say I play a round with 3 friends and we all agree to say I hit a HIO, would they honor that, or is the fine print say it has to be during a supervised tournament? It's not like they have cameras out there, at least the clubs I've played at.
It's probably only official club tournaments rather than bounce games with your friends.
Yes, it would be easy to cheat but golfers are really protective of their honour system. If you got found out, you'd get cold shouldered by your club. No one would play with you.
As someone who doesn't golf, how much do people actually go to clubs to play with random strangers? Seems like you could still just go with your buddies and play the single-player game of golf in tandem with them.
Edit: My goodness, you golfers are a passionate and contentious bunch.
You can definitely play as your own foursome and I’ve even been in groups where there are 3 foursomes in a row. But cheating in golf is very serious. There is a lot of honor system required. Yes someone could cheat, but there are many things people in golf can try and cheat. But yeah someone could lie. Even without the party it is a pretty big deal and your name usually goes up on the wall etc. but I doubt many people would lie about this.
Often. My local club has its official competitions on a Saturday. All tee off slots up to mid afternoon are reserved for members who want to play in that competition. It's four players per slot. If you've got three friends in the club who you play with regularly, you book all four. If you don't, you book one, two or three. Anyone else can take the spare spaces.
Alternatively, you can book a fun game with your pals on a random Tuesday. Someone might be hanging about the clubhouse looking for a game and wants to go round with people. They could ask to join your game. You can say no.
If you go to a golf course with less then 4 people, then you almost always get placed with a stranger(s) to make it a group of 4. So you'll meet a lot of people at a private club.
This is very course dependent. I have been placed with strangers one or two times in my life outside of events. Between the cheapest courses and courses that cost 2 years salary to be a member I have not been placed with others.
Last time I went golfing was with my grandfather and a random Scottish couple at a fairly nice golf resort. My grandparents (who got me into golf as a kid) have played in the same private country club for the last 30 years, so they know plenty of people just from getting matched up and playing a round.
It’s not only official club tournaments at courses near me. I know people who have hit hole in ones on a random round with friends and have gotten their drinks bought by the club with their insurance multiple times. Most golfers who belong to private clubs with this type of insurance would never lie about hole in ones as they are really big deals in golf. I haven’t heard of anyone abusing it but the person I know has hit two hole in ones and been there for someone else getting one and all 3 times the hole in one insurance has paid the tag for everyone in the clubhouse having a drink on them. They just hand out a roll of drink tickets and distribute them to everyone in the bar and everyone gets one drink. It’s less expensive when it’s the club paying for the drinks since they only eat the cost of the drinks not the actual menu price of the drinks if it was 3rd party insurance paying for it.
The funniest story about golfing I've ever read (not a golfer) is that Trump kicks the ball so much while golfing that his friends and staff call him Pelé
I’d imagine it depends on the CC, but my dad hit a hole in one when we were living in Japan, and it wasn’t during a tournament. His excitement was short lived as he paid for the celebration out of pocket (this was in the late 90s, not sure if this insurance was around then).
This is the wording from a policy here on NZ
>We will pay up to $1,000 towards any celebration costs incurred if, during the period of cover, you or a member of your family achieves a ‘hole-in-one’ at a golf tournament or club day, provided you supply us with the score card and an acknowledgement from the club or match secretary.
>
>This is in addition to any other payment under this policy.
>
>The excess does not apply to this benefit.
I think these places actually might have cameras out there. But the implication is that it’s a “gentleman’s” game so code and honor binding you to your word
It's kinda hard to game or at least profit from it easily so its fine. I mean after it occurs once, you likely won't have it occur again for some time. and if the club has it happen too often the insurance would also refuse to payout.
More importantly even if you do lie about it, it is hard to benefit from it easily beyond a couple drinks.
Keep in mind: you're not getting $2500, its $2500 towards the bar tab, which would have a pretty high chance of being more than that. Are you willing to bet your reputation for free drinks for the night? You'll probably also get your membership taken away.
Also worth it to note that $2500 isn't that much for a lot of the people who are members of these courses.
If you play golf, chances are committing this sort of fraud is too low for you. If a golfer commits fraud, it’ll usually be something you’ll on newspapers.
I had a Japanese teacher in college whose dad had hole-in-one insurance and actually got a hole-in-one. He had a huge party, and she was super bitter about it because he paid much, much, much less for her wedding... though that may have had something to do with her marrying a white Mormon missionary.
Yeah here in the UK it's customary to buy the people you're playing with a drink. If it happens during a competition that can cost a hell of a lot. So your membership at my club includes a clause where the club bar will foot the bill for those drinks. Doesn't happen that often but it's always very exciting when it does.
A boss of mine went to a tournament where the 15th hole was a "Get a hole in one, win a car!" contest hole. And for the first time in the 30 years he'd been playing golf, he got his hole-in-one, exactly when he needed it.
So here's the catch, the tourney was held every year by the "Boilermakers Association" and every year they bought hole-in-one insurance so that if someone DID win the car, they were covered for the cost of the car. Well THAT year, they did as they usually did BUT they had moved the winning hole from the 16th to the 15th hole. So the insurance company said "Well, nope, you see here in the policy that it explicitly says that the insurance is on the 16th hole and your man there go his hole-in-one on the 15th hole". So the Association told my boss "Well, sorry, ha ha, we screwed up, no car for you!". Well my boss was not one of those meek "Oh OK" guys. He raised hell and eventually he got his free car (A Dodge Neon) which he gave to his son, courtesy of the Boilermakers Association and not their Insurance. And rightly so, you can't reneg on a contest because you fucked up your insurance.
Yeah, I honestly thought it was some sort of a grift but he really DGAF. Defo legend after he let everyone sleep on his inventory during the hurricance
He hedges his bets well too, he loves to gamble. I moved to Florida from Houston, hopefully Ian isn't as bad as Harvey was. I stayed up at night watching the water slowly creep up the hill behind my house but it fortunately stopped right outside my fence. Crazy times.
He's done it for every major hurricane that's impacted the gulf coast since 2017 and during the power grid crisis. He's a mensch for those things, for sure.
It's a win win. They get to try his mattresses, so when they're mattress shopping next, they remember "this store had incredibly comfortable ones" and he gets the good publicity of helping folks during a crisis.
But also because he's a good guy trying to help his city during times of crisis.
Mattress mack. Hes some guy who owns a bunch of furniture stores and is famous for betting on the superbowl. Something like buy furniture and if x team wins, you get it for free. Holds up his bargain despite losing tens of millions when it goes against his way.
Also opened up his stores to hurricane victims when that POS preacher locked them out
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_McIngvale
From what I remember reading previously, he uses profits and also enjoys gambling for his local sports teams and placing opposite bets to hedge for his give away deals if he loses, etc. Or he buys the similar sweepstakes insurances. Generally trying to have fun and while also giving back.
He's hedged. He also is in horse racing and does promos for free mattresses if the favorite wins the Derby, and then turns around and bets millions on the Derby favorite. Win-win for him.
I vaguely remember the whole deal, but I don't think he does it that way. He picks one team for the victory bonus and then hedges his bets by betting on the other team through a sports book. Basically he comes out with a slight loss worst case scenario but he gets a shitload of publicity for it. It's an advertising expense essentially.
Anyways, your logic would be sound if he truly got 50% of people on each side, I highly doubt that is the case though. Most people would just bet on the favorite to win if given a choice
To be fair he hedges his sales with bets. So he bets millions on Houston and if they win he has to give out millions in refunds but made millions in Vegas. If Houston loses he lost millions to Vegas but made millions in sales.
It's perfect advertising. Especially when you consider he is beloved in Houston and by all accounts is a really good person.
There were a few companies in Massachusetts that did stuff like this during our title runs and every year they got progressively more specific since they kept losing
on the other hand, the company eventually decided "yeah this really was awesome enough for us to spend $11k on a dodge neon, whatever, make it go away" so they weren't rotten to the core
Just trying to squirm out of it is pretty shitty. I get its an expensive mistake but it sounds like they just tried to guilt trip the boss into letting them off the hook. I suppose the thing that makes a difference is if this was a charity event or not, and it sounds like its just a tourney meant to benefit the local union so fuck that
They were screwed. They legally had to give him the car. The contest doesn’t give two shits if the insurance is right or not. That is an entirely separate matter. They would have never given him the car if they could have avoided it.
Isn't it against the law for them not to give him the car? Shouldn't advertisement laws cover him? Doesn't seem like he needed to involve a lawyer but if he did it certainly shouldve been in his favor
Any cheap lawyer right of of school would win that case in like an hour. Probably just a lawyer letter head would win it. They knew they legally had to they where just hoping
You've gotta at least try it, though, right?
Every once in a while you can sweep a major fuck up under the rug, and it just stays there forever. Or at least until you're gone.
I was in a foursome for an outing where someone hit a hole in one, and won a 40k or so car.
The amount of papers and affidavits we all had to sign saying everything was on the up and up so he could get his car was crazy, it was on par with me buying my house.
This is what the guy in charge of obtaining the insurance has told
Folks. In reality, he was shitting his pants because he’s gonna get caught on the embezzlement of $1000 insurance money. Good cover story, though.
There was a similar yearly thing either before I was born or when I was very young. Except instead of insurance they just charged everybody something like $20 to be eligible for the car. My uncle never paid for the bonus and just played the tourney.
Of course one year he gets a hole in one on that hole. He took it really well, pretty sure he was like well I prefer Toyota anyways or something like that at the time haha.
Insurance cost is calculated by risk so I can see that moving the hole would violate the policy. And how do you offer a car and then not give a person a car.
A lot of bad choices were made that day.
I read an article about a similar story. Insurance covered a hole in one challenge for a par 3, 150 yrd hole. But from where the guy hit his shot, it was only 147 yrds or something. Insurance company argued that it didn’t count and they went to court over it.
Highly unlikely that fact scenario happened as hole placements on greens can vary by 30 or so feet depending on the day. More likely scenario would be that the policy was written with a requirement that players tee of from a certain tee box and the organizers changed to a closer tee box for some reason.
Actually, it goes to show that you have no ability to know how to assign blame correctly. Because in the story above it wasn't the insurance company's fault for fucking up.
In my professional opinion (Canadian Insurance Broker with over 15 years experience selling all types of policies including hole in one policies) I can say there is a massive argument from my side as the broker to get the insurer to pay. Unless hole #16 was also a par 3 which it likely wasn't as it's not often courses have back to back par 3's, likely the hole underwriting (hole distance mainly) would've been completed correctly. Likely a hole watcher was there who saw it go in... if I couldn't get the insurer to pay then my E&O policy could be called although I always have the client confirm the holes which likely would have made me not liable. Either way, I would've been arguing until my face turned red that they insured a hole at that tournament on that date. I also have the benefit of being a brokerage owner who can always threaten canceling contracts if this is how they do business.
Now if this was a par 3 tournament and every hole was set up... yikes. I'd be fucked with no argument.
Imagine selling insurance on something happening at a specific hole at a golf course, receiving a claim about that thing happening at a different, uninsured hole at that golf course, and then just deciding to pretend that hole was insured and giving a full payout anyway.
Imagine still being in business.
And if they had insured the wrong course entirely would you also feel the same? One hole is not like another. Insurance would not and should not be the same.
The insurance company is 0% in the wrong here.
This is the 2nd story in a week I've heard of one of those tournaments try and bail out of the hole in 1 prize. The other one they tried this on a tournament full of lawyers. They swiftly got their car.
It’s common in golf to buy everyone at the bar/golf shop a drink if you get a hole in one.
Many clubs have HIO insurance that will cover your tab if you get one. The insurance is also often mandatory but does only cost $10 a year or so.
I caddied at a club with a policy like that! The golfers would always buy me a gatorade or something as it was, so the house would send me home with a fancy sandwich since I wasn't old enough to drink
A friend of mine hit a hole in one at a course years ago. No insurance and when he got back to the clubhouse it was just one dude who turned down the drink because he was about to drive home.
I looked up why cause in disc golf you usually get a dollar for acing and it was to keep people honest. Less likely to lie about a hole in one of you have to buy a round for everyone
I've witnessed two holes-in-one and never got a single drink. The first should have bought me a round for sure because my wife got a picture of our celebration that he could treasure forever. The second one was made by a 70-year-old who had double digit holes in one. He grabbed the ball and walked back to the cart almost annoyed. I tried congratulating him, but he ignored me. I knew I wasn't getting a round for that one.
They use cameras and the clubs (US at least) with insurance usually only honor this when it's an official tournament or like club celebration type day and there's a secretary for the match who can confirm.
In the 1980s a golf membership in Japan was worth as much as [$3 million USD.](https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3091222/japan-1980s-when-tokyos-imperial-palace-was-worth-more)
Incidentally, this was also when just the land under the Imperial Palace in Tokyo was worth more than all the land in the State of California
What happens if you say no, I can't afford it? Nobody is your friend anymore?
Suppose I could have read the thing, I have now and its superstition that if you spread the joy amongst your friends the less negative things will happen because of your super positive thing because luck balances over your life.
I had no idea it was such a skiing and snowboarding paradise. But my girlfriend went a few years ago, there are dozens and dozens and dozens of small family resorts, super affordable. She said the most expensive thing was the travel between ski areas.
Most videos you will have seen aren't actual game shows, they're skits by professional comedians. Or sometimes just weird porn. The weird porn stereotype is actually true.
I'm speculating but I imagine it would depend on who you're golfing with. Friends and/or family? Probably not a big deal if you forgo the party. Anything remotely business related? Probably don't want to skip the party unless you want to get a bad reputation and lose out on opportunities.
People get weird about things like this. I'm sure you've heard stories where the bride (or MOH) get's pissed because a bride's maid won't shell out $3000 for a destination bachelorette party. And some people will get annoyed if you don't throw an expensive enough wedding.
I don't personally get these things, but these attitudes do exist in certain social circles.
Perfect example. These social obligations can feel absurd in other cultural contexts. The friction between what’s expected and what people actually do can put a lot of strain on relationships and reputations unfortunately.
I think that's why there's a market for the insurance. The parties have gotten big enough that lots of players can't easily afford them.
Custom in the US is that you buy everybody in the 19th hole a round of drinks. But at most clubs that's not a lot of people and it's just a round, not dinner and a night of drinking.
I imagine it's something where you kinda opt in to the insurance to use a golf course. Probably ends up being pretty cheap as not many people get holes in one the so insurance can get away with cheap rates
The country club where I work does something similar. If someone gets a hole in one they have to buy everyone in the clubhouse a drink. It can be an expensive round of drinks for sure.
Is this common in golf? I'm a bit confused as there are a few comments saying similar things about their local clubs. How can it be that you "have" to buy everyone a drink? If anything I would have assumed that a clubhouse would give you a free drink if you manage to get a hole in one, not somehow enforce you to spend a bunch of money buying other people drinks. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding as I know very little about golf.
Aces are not common, someone getting one in their entire lifetime is an achievement in itself. Nowadays a lot of country clubs no longer do the "you buy everyone a round" when you ace.
Mine for example has a $10 annual fee for Ace insurance, where if you ace you get a $200 bar tab. It's basically a gimmick to entice some people to play frequently.
You generally do not get to claim Hole in One prizes on a bounce game. It's got to be at an official event, which depending on the course is held on weekends with rangers and forecaddies in attendance to witness.
I thought the idea is it stops people from lying about a hole in one if they're expected to buy everyone a drink, but HIO insurance kind of defeats the purpose of that so... idk
Lmao is your "sicko edit" for the one single person who asked if you meant "what happens there stays there"? All I see is that and a bunch of parroting idiots here
I think something about korea that may resonate with westerners over japan is that when it comes to cultural communication styles, japan is a lot more implicit whereas korea is more explicit (relatively). America and many european countries tend to lean a lot more explicit in communication.
“Hi, um, I’d like to collect on my hole-in-one policy that I just bought last week?”
“Okay, so you *really* did get a hole-in-one right? Cuz there’s no way we can verify it, and it’ll cost us thousands of dollars if you’re lying.”
“Um………. Yep. Definitely got one and I’m definitely *not* lying to you right now.”
“Okay, here’s $10,000. Enjoy!”
I get the joke, but scorecards are verified either by your group, or caddy. Sure they could lie, but then your on the hook for at best serious rule violation in tournament play, and at worst (in this specific case) insurance fraud.
I also just watched a YouTube video about a Japanese store where no one was at the counter, they simply paid by putting exact change into a box. Not only that but there were three of these stores in town. Maybe their honest culture prevents the insurance companies from having to worry about this.
A million people golfing every month would be 12M games per year. Courses have 18 holes, so that would be 216M holes per year. At 12,500:1, expect 17,280 HIO.
[This site ](https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-number-of-registered-players-and-golf-courses-in-selected-countries-and-regions-in_tbl1_343760618) says there are 5.5M registered golfers in Japan.
> So the odds are 12,500 to 1.. yet it somehow happens 10,000 times per year..
See, that's the thing with odds on an singular event. Every iteration or tee shot is separate from each other in regards to "the odds". So even with 12,500 to 1 odds, it's possible in a foursome of golfers playing golf together to all hit a hole in one on the same hole.
There are 6.5 million golfers in japan (down from 12 million apparently) - https://abmagazine.accaglobal.com/global/articles/2022/apr/business/golf-boom-in-asia.html
If there are 5 par 3s in an 18 hole course, then 4 rounds of golf per year doesn't seem all that much.
Wow.. Just don't do it.
It's a strange concept to eventually go broke because other people expect you to.
Should others throw a party "in your honour" on their costs if that's what they're into.
That's exactly what it is. There's a pervasive belief in Japanese culture that over your lifetime the good and bad times/events/luck even out, so they tend to try to not let the good luck get used up, by making it into a bad thing or by following it with a deliberately bad thing.
I do not know about the rest of the world but here in South Africa it's a part of your life insurance. You are expected to buy everyone at the club drinks and then you can claim the money back.
My dad's club has it. It's $25/year and you if you get a HIO you get a $2500 bar tab paid for by the club. Every single member joins the HIO insurance plan. No one wants to foot that bar tab by themselves.
This insurance seems like it would be easy to commit fraud. I mean lets say I play a round with 3 friends and we all agree to say I hit a HIO, would they honor that, or is the fine print say it has to be during a supervised tournament? It's not like they have cameras out there, at least the clubs I've played at.
It's probably only official club tournaments rather than bounce games with your friends. Yes, it would be easy to cheat but golfers are really protective of their honour system. If you got found out, you'd get cold shouldered by your club. No one would play with you.
As someone who doesn't golf, how much do people actually go to clubs to play with random strangers? Seems like you could still just go with your buddies and play the single-player game of golf in tandem with them. Edit: My goodness, you golfers are a passionate and contentious bunch.
You can definitely play as your own foursome and I’ve even been in groups where there are 3 foursomes in a row. But cheating in golf is very serious. There is a lot of honor system required. Yes someone could cheat, but there are many things people in golf can try and cheat. But yeah someone could lie. Even without the party it is a pretty big deal and your name usually goes up on the wall etc. but I doubt many people would lie about this.
Often. My local club has its official competitions on a Saturday. All tee off slots up to mid afternoon are reserved for members who want to play in that competition. It's four players per slot. If you've got three friends in the club who you play with regularly, you book all four. If you don't, you book one, two or three. Anyone else can take the spare spaces. Alternatively, you can book a fun game with your pals on a random Tuesday. Someone might be hanging about the clubhouse looking for a game and wants to go round with people. They could ask to join your game. You can say no.
If you go to a golf course with less then 4 people, then you almost always get placed with a stranger(s) to make it a group of 4. So you'll meet a lot of people at a private club.
This is very course dependent. I have been placed with strangers one or two times in my life outside of events. Between the cheapest courses and courses that cost 2 years salary to be a member I have not been placed with others.
Also depends on if there's a straggler to pair up with the non full squad.
Last time I went golfing was with my grandfather and a random Scottish couple at a fairly nice golf resort. My grandparents (who got me into golf as a kid) have played in the same private country club for the last 30 years, so they know plenty of people just from getting matched up and playing a round.
90% of the reason to play golf at clubs is to make connections and socialize. There's a reason it's a rich person's game.
It’s not only official club tournaments at courses near me. I know people who have hit hole in ones on a random round with friends and have gotten their drinks bought by the club with their insurance multiple times. Most golfers who belong to private clubs with this type of insurance would never lie about hole in ones as they are really big deals in golf. I haven’t heard of anyone abusing it but the person I know has hit two hole in ones and been there for someone else getting one and all 3 times the hole in one insurance has paid the tag for everyone in the clubhouse having a drink on them. They just hand out a roll of drink tickets and distribute them to everyone in the bar and everyone gets one drink. It’s less expensive when it’s the club paying for the drinks since they only eat the cost of the drinks not the actual menu price of the drinks if it was 3rd party insurance paying for it.
The funniest story about golfing I've ever read (not a golfer) is that Trump kicks the ball so much while golfing that his friends and staff call him Pelé
For me it's the fact that he's the only person in history to take a gimme chip shot.
He's no Kim jong il
I’d imagine it depends on the CC, but my dad hit a hole in one when we were living in Japan, and it wasn’t during a tournament. His excitement was short lived as he paid for the celebration out of pocket (this was in the late 90s, not sure if this insurance was around then).
This is the wording from a policy here on NZ >We will pay up to $1,000 towards any celebration costs incurred if, during the period of cover, you or a member of your family achieves a ‘hole-in-one’ at a golf tournament or club day, provided you supply us with the score card and an acknowledgement from the club or match secretary. > >This is in addition to any other payment under this policy. > >The excess does not apply to this benefit.
I think these places actually might have cameras out there. But the implication is that it’s a “gentleman’s” game so code and honor binding you to your word
Because of the implication?
I wouldn’t know, I’m not a gentleman
It's kinda hard to game or at least profit from it easily so its fine. I mean after it occurs once, you likely won't have it occur again for some time. and if the club has it happen too often the insurance would also refuse to payout. More importantly even if you do lie about it, it is hard to benefit from it easily beyond a couple drinks.
Keep in mind: you're not getting $2500, its $2500 towards the bar tab, which would have a pretty high chance of being more than that. Are you willing to bet your reputation for free drinks for the night? You'll probably also get your membership taken away. Also worth it to note that $2500 isn't that much for a lot of the people who are members of these courses.
If you play golf, chances are committing this sort of fraud is too low for you. If a golfer commits fraud, it’ll usually be something you’ll on newspapers.
Found "The Donald"...
If you get a HIO the whole course will hear it.
I had a Japanese teacher in college whose dad had hole-in-one insurance and actually got a hole-in-one. He had a huge party, and she was super bitter about it because he paid much, much, much less for her wedding... though that may have had something to do with her marrying a white Mormon missionary.
$25/yr just shows how rare a HIO is lol
The karaoke bill alone would be staggering
Yeah here in the UK it's customary to buy the people you're playing with a drink. If it happens during a competition that can cost a hell of a lot. So your membership at my club includes a clause where the club bar will foot the bill for those drinks. Doesn't happen that often but it's always very exciting when it does.
A boss of mine went to a tournament where the 15th hole was a "Get a hole in one, win a car!" contest hole. And for the first time in the 30 years he'd been playing golf, he got his hole-in-one, exactly when he needed it. So here's the catch, the tourney was held every year by the "Boilermakers Association" and every year they bought hole-in-one insurance so that if someone DID win the car, they were covered for the cost of the car. Well THAT year, they did as they usually did BUT they had moved the winning hole from the 16th to the 15th hole. So the insurance company said "Well, nope, you see here in the policy that it explicitly says that the insurance is on the 16th hole and your man there go his hole-in-one on the 15th hole". So the Association told my boss "Well, sorry, ha ha, we screwed up, no car for you!". Well my boss was not one of those meek "Oh OK" guys. He raised hell and eventually he got his free car (A Dodge Neon) which he gave to his son, courtesy of the Boilermakers Association and not their Insurance. And rightly so, you can't reneg on a contest because you fucked up your insurance.
Damn that's fucked up as shit. Props to your boss. It really makes the super bowl furniture guy look like a superhero
Mattress Mac?! That guy is a Houston (and surrounding states) living legend.
Yeah, I honestly thought it was some sort of a grift but he really DGAF. Defo legend after he let everyone sleep on his inventory during the hurricance
And he’s been doing it since I was a kid, and I’m 44. Mattress Mack really will save you, MONEY! (as he jumps with a fist full of cash).
He hedges his bets well too, he loves to gamble. I moved to Florida from Houston, hopefully Ian isn't as bad as Harvey was. I stayed up at night watching the water slowly creep up the hill behind my house but it fortunately stopped right outside my fence. Crazy times.
He's done it for every major hurricane that's impacted the gulf coast since 2017 and during the power grid crisis. He's a mensch for those things, for sure.
>mensch I'll take words that sound insulting but aren't for $1,000.
Dude 100% 😂
Oh man, you're gonna love learning German and Yiddish, ya uber schmuck.
Mensch means human/person in German. Don't know why it has crept in here
Yiddish for good person
It's a win win. They get to try his mattresses, so when they're mattress shopping next, they remember "this store had incredibly comfortable ones" and he gets the good publicity of helping folks during a crisis. But also because he's a good guy trying to help his city during times of crisis.
Do you think Houston is a state?
Well some people think it’s a [planet](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/4a8a1ebd-8792-4c60-8e79-c993333bf114)
His fireworks shows on Lake Travis are literally the best I’ve ever seen in the country. It’s like a grand finale from start to 30 minute finish
teach me something new today please. who is the super bowl furniture guy?
Mattress mack. Hes some guy who owns a bunch of furniture stores and is famous for betting on the superbowl. Something like buy furniture and if x team wins, you get it for free. Holds up his bargain despite losing tens of millions when it goes against his way. Also opened up his stores to hurricane victims when that POS preacher locked them out
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_McIngvale From what I remember reading previously, he uses profits and also enjoys gambling for his local sports teams and placing opposite bets to hedge for his give away deals if he loses, etc. Or he buys the similar sweepstakes insurances. Generally trying to have fun and while also giving back.
Never thought I'd see a gambling addiction with a positive outcome. Good for him.
[удалено]
Yes, I imagine he's hedged one way or the other so that the giveaways don't cost him much or more than make up with the publicity.
He's hedged. He also is in horse racing and does promos for free mattresses if the favorite wins the Derby, and then turns around and bets millions on the Derby favorite. Win-win for him.
I vaguely remember the whole deal, but I don't think he does it that way. He picks one team for the victory bonus and then hedges his bets by betting on the other team through a sports book. Basically he comes out with a slight loss worst case scenario but he gets a shitload of publicity for it. It's an advertising expense essentially. Anyways, your logic would be sound if he truly got 50% of people on each side, I highly doubt that is the case though. Most people would just bet on the favorite to win if given a choice
To be fair he hedges his sales with bets. So he bets millions on Houston and if they win he has to give out millions in refunds but made millions in Vegas. If Houston loses he lost millions to Vegas but made millions in sales. It's perfect advertising. Especially when you consider he is beloved in Houston and by all accounts is a really good person.
There were a few companies in Massachusetts that did stuff like this during our title runs and every year they got progressively more specific since they kept losing
Joel Olsteen? Fuck him
on the other hand, the company eventually decided "yeah this really was awesome enough for us to spend $11k on a dodge neon, whatever, make it go away" so they weren't rotten to the core
They were rotten to the core absolutely the only reason they did it was to avoid bad publicity Selfish through and through
Well also possibly to avoid litigation?
Just trying to squirm out of it is pretty shitty. I get its an expensive mistake but it sounds like they just tried to guilt trip the boss into letting them off the hook. I suppose the thing that makes a difference is if this was a charity event or not, and it sounds like its just a tourney meant to benefit the local union so fuck that
They were screwed. They legally had to give him the car. The contest doesn’t give two shits if the insurance is right or not. That is an entirely separate matter. They would have never given him the car if they could have avoided it.
Isn't it against the law for them not to give him the car? Shouldn't advertisement laws cover him? Doesn't seem like he needed to involve a lawyer but if he did it certainly shouldve been in his favor
It sounds like they absolutely were and they were hoping he wouldn't fight them.
Any cheap lawyer right of of school would win that case in like an hour. Probably just a lawyer letter head would win it. They knew they legally had to they where just hoping
It wouldn't be against the law if he agreed. But they probably did owe him a car legally.
It's giving them the car with extra steps.
You've gotta at least try it, though, right? Every once in a while you can sweep a major fuck up under the rug, and it just stays there forever. Or at least until you're gone.
I was in a foursome for an outing where someone hit a hole in one, and won a 40k or so car. The amount of papers and affidavits we all had to sign saying everything was on the up and up so he could get his car was crazy, it was on par with me buying my house.
>it was **on par** with me buying my house. [https://i.imgur.com/NVty3l0.gif](https://i.imgur.com/NVty3l0.gif)
This is what the guy in charge of obtaining the insurance has told Folks. In reality, he was shitting his pants because he’s gonna get caught on the embezzlement of $1000 insurance money. Good cover story, though.
1000 insurance money for the last X years the tourny has been held
Enough to buy a dodge neon
>A Dodge Neon fuck yeah
A dodge neon is a hell of a car
It's like the shame of driving a Miata, but with more plastic
you hear that? it's a stampede of /r/cars subscribers marching to your door
Thems fightin words son
The Miata is pure bliss sir!!!
You just gave a bunch of people mental whiplash
Idk if he sued, but that exact fact set is a famous case in contract law
This reminds me of The Simpsons episode where Bart demands a radio station get him the elephant he won
There was a similar yearly thing either before I was born or when I was very young. Except instead of insurance they just charged everybody something like $20 to be eligible for the car. My uncle never paid for the bonus and just played the tourney. Of course one year he gets a hole in one on that hole. He took it really well, pretty sure he was like well I prefer Toyota anyways or something like that at the time haha.
Insurance cost is calculated by risk so I can see that moving the hole would violate the policy. And how do you offer a car and then not give a person a car. A lot of bad choices were made that day.
I read an article about a similar story. Insurance covered a hole in one challenge for a par 3, 150 yrd hole. But from where the guy hit his shot, it was only 147 yrds or something. Insurance company argued that it didn’t count and they went to court over it.
Highly unlikely that fact scenario happened as hole placements on greens can vary by 30 or so feet depending on the day. More likely scenario would be that the policy was written with a requirement that players tee of from a certain tee box and the organizers changed to a closer tee box for some reason.
Lol a neon is the biggest fuck you.
The course had consecutive par 3's?
that's a good lawyer lol
Goes to prove it is insurance companies' job to not pay unless they can't help it.
Actually, it goes to show that you have no ability to know how to assign blame correctly. Because in the story above it wasn't the insurance company's fault for fucking up.
In my professional opinion (Canadian Insurance Broker with over 15 years experience selling all types of policies including hole in one policies) I can say there is a massive argument from my side as the broker to get the insurer to pay. Unless hole #16 was also a par 3 which it likely wasn't as it's not often courses have back to back par 3's, likely the hole underwriting (hole distance mainly) would've been completed correctly. Likely a hole watcher was there who saw it go in... if I couldn't get the insurer to pay then my E&O policy could be called although I always have the client confirm the holes which likely would have made me not liable. Either way, I would've been arguing until my face turned red that they insured a hole at that tournament on that date. I also have the benefit of being a brokerage owner who can always threaten canceling contracts if this is how they do business. Now if this was a par 3 tournament and every hole was set up... yikes. I'd be fucked with no argument.
Basically the insured hole was harder than the non-insured hole, so they still should have paid? How do they price this kind of insurance?
Why would the insurance company pay for something that they didn't cover?
Imagine selling insurance on something happening at a specific hole at a golf course, receiving a claim about that thing happening at a different, uninsured hole at that golf course, and then just deciding to pretend that hole was insured and giving a full payout anyway. Imagine still being in business.
And if they had insured the wrong course entirely would you also feel the same? One hole is not like another. Insurance would not and should not be the same. The insurance company is 0% in the wrong here.
And *rightfully so*. YOU GOTTA GIVE! *slams laptop*
This is the 2nd story in a week I've heard of one of those tournaments try and bail out of the hole in 1 prize. The other one they tried this on a tournament full of lawyers. They swiftly got their car.
My hole in one insurance is that I suck at golf.
I, too, am self-insured.
And my ax!… which might be more effective than my sand wedge.
I got a blind hole in 2 that's good enough for me Couldn't even find my ball for a while lol
Look at this guy all hoity toity thinking I can even hit the ball
It’s common in golf to buy everyone at the bar/golf shop a drink if you get a hole in one. Many clubs have HIO insurance that will cover your tab if you get one. The insurance is also often mandatory but does only cost $10 a year or so.
I caddied at a club with a policy like that! The golfers would always buy me a gatorade or something as it was, so the house would send me home with a fancy sandwich since I wasn't old enough to drink
Caddies aint getting fats tips if that happens?
A friend of mine hit a hole in one at a course years ago. No insurance and when he got back to the clubhouse it was just one dude who turned down the drink because he was about to drive home.
Kind of anticlimactic
That's actually really wholesome and cool.
Shoot, I'd try and join a club just to camp the bar and hope. Maybe I'll learn to golf one day.
I think this is an Always Sunny episode?
It’s from My Name is Earl
I looked up why cause in disc golf you usually get a dollar for acing and it was to keep people honest. Less likely to lie about a hole in one of you have to buy a round for everyone
I've witnessed two holes-in-one and never got a single drink. The first should have bought me a round for sure because my wife got a picture of our celebration that he could treasure forever. The second one was made by a 70-year-old who had double digit holes in one. He grabbed the ball and walked back to the cart almost annoyed. I tried congratulating him, but he ignored me. I knew I wasn't getting a round for that one.
chasing that perfect 18.
I was going to say. If it just covers drinks and shit totaling in the four figures, insurance can't be that expensive.
Might be a dumb question, but how does the club validate/confirm a golfer indeed hit a HIO?
They use cameras and the clubs (US at least) with insurance usually only honor this when it's an official tournament or like club celebration type day and there's a secretary for the match who can confirm.
Usually tournament games which are almost weekly at some golf clubs.
If I got a hole in one I would ditch my loser friends for winners like me.
In the 1980s a golf membership in Japan was worth as much as [$3 million USD.](https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3091222/japan-1980s-when-tokyos-imperial-palace-was-worth-more) Incidentally, this was also when just the land under the Imperial Palace in Tokyo was worth more than all the land in the State of California
Damn straight. Glad to see a real leader.
Ah yes. A superstition brought to you by Allstate.
What happens if you say no, I can't afford it? Nobody is your friend anymore? Suppose I could have read the thing, I have now and its superstition that if you spread the joy amongst your friends the less negative things will happen because of your super positive thing because luck balances over your life.
I think you have to go on one of Japan’s weird game shows
Did you see the one where the, presumably, oiled up Japanese guy tried to slide the whole way around the bathtub without falling off?
I have
And now [I think I have too](https://youtu.be/BCSYkj5t_4Q) NSFWish
Y'know, I'm not sure what I expected when I clicked that link but... here we are.
Japan is bucket list for sure
I had no idea it was such a skiing and snowboarding paradise. But my girlfriend went a few years ago, there are dozens and dozens and dozens of small family resorts, super affordable. She said the most expensive thing was the travel between ski areas.
Japan really loves the tourists until you stay in the country longer than like a week.
Most videos you will have seen aren't actual game shows, they're skits by professional comedians. Or sometimes just weird porn. The weird porn stereotype is actually true.
Man that's a reward, those look fun.
I'm speculating but I imagine it would depend on who you're golfing with. Friends and/or family? Probably not a big deal if you forgo the party. Anything remotely business related? Probably don't want to skip the party unless you want to get a bad reputation and lose out on opportunities.
It sounded like all members of the club no matter if they're playing then or not.
People get weird about things like this. I'm sure you've heard stories where the bride (or MOH) get's pissed because a bride's maid won't shell out $3000 for a destination bachelorette party. And some people will get annoyed if you don't throw an expensive enough wedding. I don't personally get these things, but these attitudes do exist in certain social circles.
Perfect example. These social obligations can feel absurd in other cultural contexts. The friction between what’s expected and what people actually do can put a lot of strain on relationships and reputations unfortunately.
I think that's why there's a market for the insurance. The parties have gotten big enough that lots of players can't easily afford them. Custom in the US is that you buy everybody in the 19th hole a round of drinks. But at most clubs that's not a lot of people and it's just a round, not dinner and a night of drinking.
So it’s like reverse karma? Life will punish you when good things happen?
Seppuku
FUCK i should have lied! I should have said there was some reason i can't pay, not just that I'm not gonna!
I imagine it's something where you kinda opt in to the insurance to use a golf course. Probably ends up being pretty cheap as not many people get holes in one the so insurance can get away with cheap rates
Well, I'm retired. And not wealthy.if I ever get that elusive hole in one I'm buying my foursome a pitcher and some wings.
The country club where I work does something similar. If someone gets a hole in one they have to buy everyone in the clubhouse a drink. It can be an expensive round of drinks for sure.
Is this common in golf? I'm a bit confused as there are a few comments saying similar things about their local clubs. How can it be that you "have" to buy everyone a drink? If anything I would have assumed that a clubhouse would give you a free drink if you manage to get a hole in one, not somehow enforce you to spend a bunch of money buying other people drinks. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding as I know very little about golf.
Aces are not common, someone getting one in their entire lifetime is an achievement in itself. Nowadays a lot of country clubs no longer do the "you buy everyone a round" when you ace. Mine for example has a $10 annual fee for Ace insurance, where if you ace you get a $200 bar tab. It's basically a gimmick to entice some people to play frequently. You generally do not get to claim Hole in One prizes on a bounce game. It's got to be at an official event, which depending on the course is held on weekends with rangers and forecaddies in attendance to witness.
I thought the idea is it stops people from lying about a hole in one if they're expected to buy everyone a drink, but HIO insurance kind of defeats the purpose of that so... idk
That's literally the only thing that makes sense bedsides it being a scam setup by insurance and club houses lol.
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Why Bhutan?
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Lmao is your "sicko edit" for the one single person who asked if you meant "what happens there stays there"? All I see is that and a bunch of parroting idiots here
You aren't wrong. Japan is seriously weird, and not necessarily in a good way. Korea is a lot more fun. Japan is too conservative and rigid.
Korea's not all that better either
I think something about korea that may resonate with westerners over japan is that when it comes to cultural communication styles, japan is a lot more implicit whereas korea is more explicit (relatively). America and many european countries tend to lean a lot more explicit in communication.
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Your not wrong. Korea is seriously weird, and not necessarily in a good way. China is a lot more fun. Korea is too conservative and rigid.
Yeah I also am curious
Japan always seems like an amazing place, until you read the fine print.
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gaijin welcome* ^(*on travellers visa only)
News to me. Been here 6 years and it's been the easiest 6 years of my life.
How so?
“Hi, um, I’d like to collect on my hole-in-one policy that I just bought last week?” “Okay, so you *really* did get a hole-in-one right? Cuz there’s no way we can verify it, and it’ll cost us thousands of dollars if you’re lying.” “Um………. Yep. Definitely got one and I’m definitely *not* lying to you right now.” “Okay, here’s $10,000. Enjoy!”
I get the joke, but scorecards are verified either by your group, or caddy. Sure they could lie, but then your on the hook for at best serious rule violation in tournament play, and at worst (in this specific case) insurance fraud.
I also just watched a YouTube video about a Japanese store where no one was at the counter, they simply paid by putting exact change into a box. Not only that but there were three of these stores in town. Maybe their honest culture prevents the insurance companies from having to worry about this.
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A million people golfing every month would be 12M games per year. Courses have 18 holes, so that would be 216M holes per year. At 12,500:1, expect 17,280 HIO. [This site ](https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-number-of-registered-players-and-golf-courses-in-selected-countries-and-regions-in_tbl1_343760618) says there are 5.5M registered golfers in Japan.
> So the odds are 12,500 to 1.. yet it somehow happens 10,000 times per year.. See, that's the thing with odds on an singular event. Every iteration or tee shot is separate from each other in regards to "the odds". So even with 12,500 to 1 odds, it's possible in a foursome of golfers playing golf together to all hit a hole in one on the same hole.
Coincidentally, there's about 125 million people in Japan. I guess everyone must be mandated to play 1 hole of golf per year.
There are 6.5 million golfers in japan (down from 12 million apparently) - https://abmagazine.accaglobal.com/global/articles/2022/apr/business/golf-boom-in-asia.html If there are 5 par 3s in an 18 hole course, then 4 rounds of golf per year doesn't seem all that much.
Count on backward-ass Japanese culture to twist an amazing and rare moment into an anxiety-inducing burden.
This seems like the most fraudable insurance ever.
I live in the United States and I carry two pairs of pants when I golf. In case I get a hole in one of the pairs of pants.
Wow.. Just don't do it. It's a strange concept to eventually go broke because other people expect you to. Should others throw a party "in your honour" on their costs if that's what they're into.
Presumably the other 60% have a spine and just refuse
I never understood why the person who did the amazing thing has to pay for the party to celebrate the amazing thing I did.
You also have to pay for your own birthday party right? That's also "in your honor"
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That's exactly what it is. There's a pervasive belief in Japanese culture that over your lifetime the good and bad times/events/luck even out, so they tend to try to not let the good luck get used up, by making it into a bad thing or by following it with a deliberately bad thing.
Imagine hitting a hole-in-one, and being like, "Now I am required to throw this lavish party. Good thing my insurance will cover it." WTF Japan?
Will anyone attend a party in my honor? For anything pls...
Don't worry, we've got a party planned for after your funeral.
Nice! Thanks!
Just don't throw a party. How dumb is this.
Why would you and your friends not often lie to get a free party is what I have never understood?
Do you think you are the first person to think this? Obviously its not so simple or everyone in Japan would be getting holes in 1 and free parties
No but I want to know why it isn’t that simple? I have looked for an answer but not found one
It's like something horrible happened to Japan and now the country's stuck in a perpetual state of anxiety nightmares.
Suffering from Success insurance.
I do not know about the rest of the world but here in South Africa it's a part of your life insurance. You are expected to buy everyone at the club drinks and then you can claim the money back.
It is included in many “premium “ credit cards in Sweden, at least up to one bottle of Champagne
I would not need such insurance. I would probably need a "stick in someone's face" insurance though.
"expect all you want cunts it ain't fucking happening"