To those folks knowledgeable about Japan’s golfing scene, would you consider Japanese golfers – even casual ones – paying for a monthly premium for a hole-in-one insurance rather over the top?
By: Ringo Bones
Question: “Why do Japanese golfers, even casual ones, buy and pay monthly premiums for a hole-in-one insurance?” The answer is, is that established Japanese golfing tradition requires them to share their good luck when they get that rather rare hole-in-one shot by giving gifts to all their golfing buddies. It is a Japanese tradition that can cost the (un) fortunate hole-in-one shooter as much as 10,000 US dollars or around one million yen depending on the prevailing FOREX rate of the US dollar to the Japanese yen. Is this dedication to the game or what?
When it comes to their dedication of Western-sourced hobbies and pursuits, the Japanese have always been blessed (or is it cursed?) with a healthy disdain for – as Robert Frost puts it: “Playing tennis without a net”. The Japanese understands and appreciate the challenge of creating something within a strict set of guidelines. You know someone really enjoys a hobby when they are willing to pay (a somewhat steep?) monthly insurance premium to afford to give gifts to friends – as in golfing buddies.
By contrast, golfers in America who hit a hole-in-one are traditionally supposed to buy drinks for everyone in the clubhouse, and this seldom cost more than 500 US dollars. At Cherokee County golf tournaments, a golfer can often win a new car by making a hole-in-one on a specific hole. And it is the car dealers who provide the insurance to pay the cost of giving away the brand new car to the lucky golfer who is lucky enough to have made that hole-in-one shot.
Sometimes I do wonder what a Japanese golfer actually gets for the (mis) fortune of getting a hole-in-one shot? A better afterlife? If it doesn’t equal or exceed the 10,000 US dollars that he or she gives away in gifts, then: “What’s really the point other that sharing their good fortune from a golfer’s perspective?” Probably you have to be Japanese too to answer such an existential question satisfactorily? Golfing insurance, anyone?
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7 comments:
Given the Japanese seriousness on Western-sourced hobbies and interests, will the Japanese Hole-In-One Golfing Insurance be competing with a Japanese Single-Ended Triode Amplifier Insurance?
I only avail of such insurance if i ever have the (mis)fortune of playing golf in Japan if it includes being-hit-by-lightning-insurance.
Assuming I even have the good fortune of playing actual golf on Japanese soil and even if the rates are as competitive as that of the Geico car insurance, I will only chose the Japanese golfing insurance policy that provides coverage of being hit by lightning while playing golf.
I wonder which is more likely to happen - hitting a hole-in-one in a prestigious Japanese golf course or having enough money to confidently play in one? By the way, is the hole-in-one insurance a pursuant of the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986?
Is the Japanese golfing hole-in-one insurance a pursuant of the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986?
You must be referring to a Risk Retention Group, Madison. Risk Retention Group or RRGs are a type of insurance company that is different from a "traditional" insurance company because each of its policyholders are also the company's stockholders. In addition, most insurance companies are formed under state laws but Risk Retention Groups are formed under federal laws - i.e. the Federal Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986.
Maybe I should be researching more on Risk Retention Groups, but ever since the Federal Liability Risk Retention Amendments were enacted by the US Congress in 1986, many top insurance companies in the United States had been involved in the formation and regulation of Risk Purchasing Groups and Risk Retention Groups.
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