‘Hole-in-Won’ Golf Tourney Insurer Charged With Not Paying Up

A Connecticut businessman who specializes in insurance for golf tournament hole-in-one prizes has been charged in Washington with multiple felonies after repeatedly failing to pay up.

Kevin Kolenda, of Norwalk, Conn., was charged Wednesday in King County Superior Court, Wash. with five counts of transacting insurance without a license, a class B felony. His arraignment is slated for Sept. 5.

Kolenda, 54, ignored a previous cease-and-desist order and a $125,000 fine from Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler.

“We’ve been warning the public about Mr. Kolenda’s scam for years,” Kreidler said in a statement. “He has a long history of selling illegal insurance, refusing to pay prize winners, and thumbing his nose at regulators.”

It was Kriedler’s special investigations unit did that undertook the investigation that led to the charges.

To payout hole-in-one winners charities in some cases have had to come up with the prize money. In others, the prize winners agreed to forego a prize.

Kolenda in 1995 started a business called Golf Marketing, working out of a home his parents owned in Norwalk. Since the business’ name has changed several times, including: Golf Marketing Worldwide LLC, Golf Marketing Inc., Hole-in-Won.com, and currently Hole-in-Won.com Worldwide. The company also has a regional office in Rye, N.Y.

Kolenda has allegedly failed to pay winning golfers in Washington on a repeated bases. Among those allegations:

• In 2003, Kolenda illegally sold insurance for a tournament in Bremerton. But when a golfer got a hole in one and tried to claim the $10,000 prize, Kolenda wouldn’t pay.
• In 2004, Kolenda sold insurance for a Vancouver tournament. Again, a golfer got a hole in one. Kolenda refused to pay the $50,000 prize. After a hearing at which Kolenda failed to appear, he was ordered in 2008 to pay a $125,000 fine. He never did.
• In 2010, Kolenda sold coverage to pay $25,000 for a hole in one during a golf tournament in Snohomish. A player got a hole in one. His golf partners signed notarized forms attesting to the hole in one. The prize remains unpaid, despite numerous calls and emails from the partners and tournament officials.

Similar allegations have been made against Kolenda and his business in numerous other states, including Montana, Ohio, Georgia, California, New York, Hawaii, Alabama, Massachusetts, Florida, Connecticut and North Carolina.