Fast Focus
	Advances in technology and the growing popularity of contests help underwriters learn the contours of hole-in-one and other prize coverage.
	The Internet is home to more and more promotions each year, made possible by insurance to cover major prizes.
	Hole-in-one insurance is relatively new, originating in the 1970s.

Odd Ball

Odd Ball

By  Becky Squires

[Page 2 of 4]

While the companies’ names are similar, there’s a difference in approach. With the exception of New Jersey’s Hole-in-Won, the companies use their Web sites not only to promote their own affiliation with A-rated insurance companies, but also to warn prospective customers against buying coverage that isn’t backed by an insurer.

“If the company will not tell you [which insurer underwrites the coverage], hang up immediately. There is no legitimate reason to be hiding this information from consumers, other than that they won’t tell you because they have no underwriter,” warns U.S. Hole in One Insurance.

At Hole-in-Won, managing director Paul Harris says its underwriting varies “anywhere from self-insurance to Lloyd’s.”

“We have a kitty with lots of money in it,” he says.

From the beginning of the hole-in-one era in 1981 until the mid-1990s, almost all of the coverage was obtained through wholesale brokers or surplus line agencies, primarily because these were the ones that were willing to find coverage for what was then an unknown risk. However, as hole-in-one contests became increasingly popular among the non-profits, charities and corporations that discovered their perfect blend of low-cost coverage and high visibility, some retail brokers also jumped into the prize-indemnification pool. Most important, the quantum increase of sophisticated data-mining technology, enabling companies to calculate risk history and odds online, contributed enormously to the success of both the hole-in-one organizers and their insurance underwriters.

How They Do It

Because the major hole-in-one coverage providers use the same odds of someone actually making an ace to price their coverage, their prices are also similar, ranging from around $250 to insure a $10,000 prize for a 100-player amateur tournament to more than $20,000 for a $1 million hole-in-one reward, depending on whether it’s paid out as an annuity or all at once.

The companies’ requirements and services for tournament organizers do not vary much, either:

· Coverage cost is based on the prize value itself, the number of people playing and whether they’re pro or amateur, and the yardage of the Par 3 hole selected as the hole in one. Almost all companies will provide a quote online.

· Minimum yardage for a target prize Par 3 hole is 135 yards. (The National Hole-in-One Association (NHIOA) drops this requirement if none of the Par 3 holes on the course are that long.)

· Witnesses are required on all prize holes in most cases; again, NHIOA is different, requiring witnesses only when the prize is more than $5,000.

· Most companies, working with outside vendors who’ve discovered what a big bang these tournaments offer for their promotional bucks, provide bonus prizes for other Par 3 holes in one made during the tournament.