6-Year Old Girl Dies After Being Struck by a Golf Ball

When comparing it to other sports in the world, golf is seen as one of the safer games to get involved in. But that isn’t always the case as demonstrated by the awful news coming out of Utah this week.

On Monday, Aria Hill and her father headed to the golf course to enjoy a round and some family time together. But tragedy struck quickly thereafter when Aria’s father hit an errant shot that ended up striking his daughter. Aria was sitting in a cart when her father hit a shot that went straight into the cart and struck the base of her neck.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, 911 was called just before 10:30 a.m. and a life flight was brought in to fly Aria to the hospital in critical condition. After hours in the hospital, Aria was pronounced dead that evening from the golf ball. This devastating event is something that you don’t see often but a sobering moment for all golfers out there that this could happen at any time.

Aria was only with her father because she loved going out with him and being his “little golf buddy.” As her uncle described, she loved watching her dad play. “She loved doing it and had a good time with it all,” David Smith told KSL. “That was one of their things that they would do together. It was something that was really important to them and something they did all the time.”

This moment will likely bring even more attention to golf’s safety policy. It isn’t rare for spectators to get hit during a professional tournament and one woman had her eye explode last year after being hit. There doesn’t seem like there is much that can be done, with raising nets on the sides of holes not likely to be a practical solution, but the safety of fans looks to be something that the golf world will have to approach sooner rather than later.

Hill’s family has set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for their medical and funeral expenses if you would like to contribute to their cause. We feel terribly for the Hill family and wish them nothing but the best as they deal with this unimaginable tragedy.