As rounds of golf go, it was more Caddyshack than Sunday at Augusta.

Four guys. Twenty-eight beers. A bottle of tequila and "some" weed. "Power slides" in the cart, which may or may not have flipped over. But who can remember?

At the ninth hole, the foursome ran out of booze and bought more. Someone ran out to the parking lot to fetch tequila. But according to a Nova Scotia Superior Court judge, things didn't really run off the rails until Travis Hayter shanked one off the tee on the 15th.

That prompted Hayter to plant a couple more balls and take a couple more whacks. On the third shot, Hayter took a running start – the sort Adam Sandler made infamous in Happy Gilmore – and gave it a great wallop.

Unfortunately, his bachelor party mates, including Alan Bezanson, cousin of the groom, were standing right in front of him. Hayter's ball struck Bezanson hard, ricocheting off his wrist and into his chest. Bezanson dropped like a sack, yowling in pain. He still managed to attend the wedding.

That was in 2002. Bezanson, a logger, hasn't worked since. Despite surgery, his wrist, the judge noted, may never fully heal.

Hayter's defence rested in large part on his wretchedness as a golf player. He noted in his defence that Bezanson's thwacking with a close-range missile was "part of the natural risk of golfing."

Justice Arthur J. LeBlanc, whose own golfing prowess goes unnoted, didn't buy that.

After years of legal wrangling, he has awarded Bezanson $227,500 in damages. The judge noted the mitigating effects of alcohol but took particular aim at the swing.

"I am convinced that the 'Happy Gilmore' shot would have been less controllable than a normal tee shot," LeBlanc wrote in his decision.

While the judge's decision does not preclude idiocy during the commission of golf, it does raise the question of whether the Happy Gilmore shot is an imminent danger to others, whether done with a snootful of beer or not.

"I don't know if (golf manufacturer) TaylorMade's ever done a study on that," Jeff Thompson, Chief Sport Development Officer at Oakville's Royal Canadian Golf Association, wondered.

Thompson said he's never tried the Happy Gilmore, never even seen someone try it. He wouldn't completely damn the shot – "I mean, if you're by yourself and there's no one anywhere near you" – but he wouldn't endorse its propulsive aspects either.

"I can see why people would think they'd get more distance, since they have momentum going into the ball," Thompson said. "But there are other factors. It's a lot harder to hit a target while running, for instance."

Not, apparently, for Travis Hayter.

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For now, the Happy Gilmore will continue to be frowned upon at better courses everywhere.

No word on tequila and power slides.