Golfer killed by errant ball

A man has died days after being hit on the head by a golf ball.

Jaden Goldfinch-Booker, 27, was playing a round of golf with friends when he was struck in the temple by a golf ball while standing to the right of his playing partner on the second tee at the Frankton Golf Course in Queenstown on February 17.

Goldfinch-Booker, who lived in the resort town, was in Dunedin Hospital’s intensive care unit on life support for several days, undergoing surgeries to try and release the pressure on his brain and control the brain bleed.

In his February 24 death notice, Goldfinch-Booker’s family wrote that their boy had died at peace with his world: “Our worlds are totally shattered. He was the boy with the biggest heart that lit every room with his contagious smile and warmed their hearts.”

The golf course is owned by the Queenstown Lakes District Council. A council spokesman declined to answer questions about the tragedy, directing correspondence to the coroner’s office, which is reviewing the death.

Goldfinch-Booker went to New Plymouth’s Spotswood College, but later moved to live in the South Island.