There was a recent thread that ties into this. I am in Omaha working a hail storm that hit about 6 weeks ago. Today, I had a claim near where I'm staying, so I know that it was spared from the hail damage. The house has a wood shake roof.

As I was driving into the neighborhood, I noticed that there weren't any roofing company signs displayed, which is always a sign that hail hit the area. When I got there, the roofing contractor was there. Two young guys were also there, one of them had convinced the home owner to call in the claim.

I commented on the lack of roofing signs in the area, and they said that another insurance carrier had paid to replace the expensive roof just two doors down. I asked about the damage and they said that almost all the exterior damage was on the back of the house, and a little on the left side.

We started inspecting from the ground, looking for damage to gutters and windows. Nothing until we got the back side. Then window frames, gutters and downspouts were beat to pieces. I immediately knew what it was and I told them that it wasn't hail damage. They were incredulous that I would deny the very obvious hail damage.

We walked up on the back deck where there was patio door with several large dings on it. I shined my flashlight on the damage and could see what caused it. I turned around and pointed to the golf course behind the house. The contractor came over and I showed him the dimpled imprint from the golf balls that had been striking the house. There were several dents with the same imprint. He shook his head and started laughing.

The home owner didn't believe what I was saying when I explained what the damage was from. To his credit, the contractor asked her to walk around back so he could show her. He told her that he thought I was crazy when I first said what it was, until he saw the dimples.

We finished the inspection and observed that there was no hail damage to the house - but there was damage from golf balls the size of hail.