Cooper Brown was enjoying himself at a Topgolf facility in Dallas when an allegedly drunken golfer sent a ball into his right eye.
You've never seen golf played like this.
It's called Topgolf and it features high-tech driving ranges where you can blast golf balls while drinking alcohol. While the popular venues, enjoyed by millions of customers at 56 locations across the globe, can be a ton of fun, Inside Edition found that all that the party atmosphere may be turning some inexperienced golfers into goofballs and contributing to several serious accidents.
Videos of shenanigans at Topgolf venues are posted all over the web. One shows a man streaking naked down the range; another a man chugging vodka and then letting go of his driver, which goes flying.
Although Topgolf has warning signs posted, many golfers end up falling off the tee. Some are even pushed off by their buddies. Fortunately, there's a safety net.
Even though it’s against the rules, some customers can’t resist trying a “Happy Gilmore” swing. Adam Sandler made the move popular in his hit comedy “Happy Gilmore,” where he charges up to the ball and takes a giant swing, like a hockey player. Videos online show customers repeatedly wiping out after trying it.
Several golfers have sued Topgolf after getting seriously hurt.
"Clubs are snapping, spearing people in the face, hitting people in the head, people are falling over and balls are bouncing all over the place taking people's teeth and eyes and causing all sort of head injuries," Dallas attorney Marc Lenahan of Lenahan Law Firm, who represents a number of clients suing Topgolf, told Inside Edition.
He added: "We get phone calls from all over the country of people getting hurt at Topgolf."
Lenahan said his firm has seen three people lose an eye from injuries at Topgolf and one person end up paralyzed.
Cooper Brown was enjoying himself at a Topgolf facility in Dallas when an allegedly drunken golfer sent a ball into his right eye. He showed off the prosthetic he now wears to Inside Edition.
"I'm just dripping blood all over the ground," he recalled of the moment the ball hit him. "It went from disbelief, to shock, to 'oh my god.'"
"When you combine inexperienced golfers and alcohol ... you're going to have people losing their clubs, hitting each other, hitting themselves and sending people to the emergency room," Lenahan said.
The waiters at Topgolf are instructed to provide safety briefings before customers can tee off. Topgolf declined to comment on Inside Edition's report and directed us to the safety rules on its website.
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