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What is your strangest experience on a golf course?


Chad Collins
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Originally Posted by Chad Collins

I just started playing a few months ago.  Tonight was a VERY odd and a bit scary ha.  I was teeing off and a bear came out of the woods about 90 yards from me.  What made this even more insane for me was that I am 36 and I have never seen a bear in my life until tonight!  What about you ?  What are some of your odd experiences?  Anyone ever get hit by lightning etc

I share your experience.    First year I played, my buddy & I just tee'd off and started walking down the fairway & a black bear walked out around 75 feet in front of us - waaaaaaaay to close for comfort.   I've seen alot of bears, but this was the biggest one I've ever seen.     We stopped & he was looking right at us ... he continued & sat down right in the middle of the fairway & started licking his paws.    My buddy is military & thought there was enough room for us to still get by him on the fairway & I said are you F---- nuts !!      We backtracked (slowly) and cut over 2 fairways & continued playing.     I can't think of another time in my life I puckered up so much ...

Always reminds me of the old joke ... two guys out camping & happen upon a bear in the woods & instead of running, the one guy bends over & starts taking off his boots & puts on his sneakers ... the other guy says whats with that - you'll never outrun that bear ... he says ... hey, all I have to do is OUTRUN YOU !!

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John

Fav LT Quote ... "you can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen"

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Not very exciting, but I was playing with my buddy Mike, and the final hole is a shortish par 3, about 140 from an elevated tee box, but it's all water until you reach the green. Anyway, there's one power line way up in the air. Sure enough, he hits a beautiful looking tee shot that hits the power line dead center and the ball drops straight down into the water. I lost it...

Ryan M
 
The Internet Adjustment Formula:
IAD = ( [ADD] * .96 + [EPS] * [1/.12] ) / (1.15)
 
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Not necessarily strange, but unusual . . .

Saw two red-tailed hawks way up in a tree off of the 18th fairway (Sherrill Park, course 1) a few weeks ago. Suddenly, it swoops down, grabs a squirrel, and goes back up into the tree for a quick snack.

Just off the #3 tee box (Sherrill Park, course 2) the guy in one of the houses feeds the geese and ducks from the nearby pond on the course at about 6:00 P.M. (we usually get there at that time in our Thursday league). It's quite a scene to see about 20 geese and the same number of ducks running (not flying) about 50 yards from the pond to this guys house to get dinner.

Bob E.

Dallas, TX

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This wasn't me, but a buddy of mine was playing a course in North Arkansas where there is a grass runway that runs parallel to one of the holes. When he teed off, a small airplane was taking off next to him, and he hooked the ball terribly and hit the windshield of the plane. The pilot stopped and did not take off.

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This wasn't me, but a buddy of mine was playing a course in North Arkansas where there is a grass runway that runs parallel to one of the holes. When he teed off, a small airplane was taking off next to him, and he hooked the ball terribly and hit the windshield of the plane. The pilot stopped and did not take off. a3_biggrin.gif

Wow, could've been a disaster! :~( Did your buddy talk to the pilot? Did he at least offer to pay for the damage?

In David's bag....

Driver: Titleist 910 D-3;  9.5* Diamana Kai'li
3-Wood: Titleist 910F;  15* Diamana Kai'li
Hybrids: Titleist 910H 19* and 21* Diamana Kai'li
Irons: Titleist 695cb 5-Pw

Wedges: Scratch 51-11 TNC grind, Vokey SM-5's;  56-14 F grind and 60-11 K grind
Putter: Scotty Cameron Kombi S
Ball: ProV1

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Originally Posted by David in FL

Wow, could've been a disaster!

Did your buddy talk to the pilot? Did he at least offer to pay for the damage?

I don't think there were any damages, just ricocheted off the front. I'm not sure if they talked to him or not, I don't think they did.

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I don't think there were any damages, just ricocheted off the front. I'm not sure if they talked to him or not, I don't think they did.

Pilot may have needed to go home and change his skivvies!

In David's bag....

Driver: Titleist 910 D-3;  9.5* Diamana Kai'li
3-Wood: Titleist 910F;  15* Diamana Kai'li
Hybrids: Titleist 910H 19* and 21* Diamana Kai'li
Irons: Titleist 695cb 5-Pw

Wedges: Scratch 51-11 TNC grind, Vokey SM-5's;  56-14 F grind and 60-11 K grind
Putter: Scotty Cameron Kombi S
Ball: ProV1

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Oh I have another one....My playing partner and I had just teed off on a long par5 when a large eagle picked up my partners ball and flew it 30-50yds further down the fairway before dropping it...LOL

My partner looked at me and said something to the effect of ..."Play it where it lies, right?"......... LOL...that's exactly what he did!

What's in Paul's Bag:
- Callaway Big Bertha Alpha Driver
- Big Bertha Alpha 815 3-wood
- Callaway Razr Fit 5-wood
- Callaway Big Bertha 4-5 Rescue Clubs
-- Mizuno Mx-25 six iron-gap wedge
- Mizuno Mp-T4 56degree SW
- Mizuno Mp-T11 60degree SW
- Putter- Ping Cadence Ketsch

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I was waiting for my turn to putt when I noticed a family of dark brown coloured Minks going on about their business  in the stream at the edge of the green. I have never seen a live Mink before........very cool!

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I have two I thought were really interesting and/or disgusting:

One's a little sick and wasn't my personal experience. While caddying at the same country club where I worked, my friend watched while a goose flew into the fairway about 50 yards from the tee box while a member was teeing off and the thing got decapitated. The members and other caddies confirmed it the next time I was there. Scout's honor. Pretty darn nasty.

Another just happened about two months ago, and is probably the most unlikely coincidence I've ever seen. I got a free tee time from a friend at a course in Fountain Hills, AZ that is out of my normal price range, and I happened to be paired with a retired member of the Canadian Parliament (he dressed like he shopped at Wal-Mart, but he had a nice wad of hundreds in his pocket and he shot like 83 even though he must have been over 70 years old. Really nice person and very interesting). Anyway, we caught the foursome in front of us and were waiting at the tee box. The man saw the glint of a ball buried in a bush well down a hill, and walked down to retrieve it. He was surprised that it had a Canadian flag emblem on it. He then noticed that the logo on the ball was from an energy company in Ontario that he used to own and had sold ten years ago. He swears he'd never played that ball before, knew of no one else who'd ever lived in Arizona who worked there or lived on that course (and he'd know because he owned a house overlooking the 12th fairway), and the company had been out of business for many years. I have to believe his memory had failed him a bit, but if not, I think that's a pretty strange coincidence.

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I have two I thought were really interesting and/or disgusting: One's a little sick and wasn't my personal experience. While caddying at the same country club where I worked, my friend watched while a goose flew into the fairway about 50 yards from the tee box while a member was teeing off and the thing got decapitated. The members and other caddies confirmed it the next time I was there. Scout's honor. Pretty darn nasty. Another just happened about two months ago, and is probably the most unlikely coincidence I've ever seen. I got a free tee time from a friend at a course in Fountain Hills, AZ that is out of my normal price range, and I happened to be paired with a retired member of the Canadian Parliament (he dressed like he shopped at Wal-Mart, but he had a nice wad of hundreds in his pocket and he shot like 83 even though he must have been over 70 years old. Really nice person and very interesting). Anyway, we caught the foursome in front of us and were waiting at the tee box. The man saw the glint of a ball buried in a bush well down a hill, and walked down to retrieve it. He was surprised that it had a Canadian flag emblem on it. He then noticed that the logo on the ball was from an energy company in Ontario that he used to own and had sold ten years ago. He swears he'd never played that ball before, knew of no one else who'd ever lived in Arizona who worked there or lived on that course (and he'd know because he owned a house overlooking the 12th fairway), and the company had been out of business for many years. I have to believe his memory had failed him a bit, but if not, I think that's a pretty strange coincidence.

That's pretty good about the Canadian lol. Are you sure he wasn't talking to a person on his shoulder?

:titleist: 913 D2 w/ Oban Kiyoshi Purple :ping: G25 3 Wood w/ Graphite Design Tour AD-DJ6 :titleist: 913H 21* w/ Diamana Blue :ping: G25 4 - PW :vokey: SM4 Oil Can - 52, 56, 60 :cameron: Studio Select Newport 2 :golflogix: :bushnell: Tour V3

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Originally Posted by saturday

That's pretty good about the Canadian lol. Are you sure he wasn't talking to a person on his shoulder?

Lol. I wish I could remember hisname. He said he served for 22 years. You might recognize the name.

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I have two. First was about 4 years after I started playing the game. I used to play at a little 9 hole course that was not maintained at all. Despite the crappy conditions, I loved to play there for practice. The 5th hole was a par 5 of about 495 yards. The left side of the hole is bordered by dense woods from tee to green, and the right side was bordered by slightly less dense woods running about 300 yards down the right. Frequently, there would be wild turkeys that would cross the fairway. On this specific day, I absolutely killed a tee shot up the left side of the fairway. For me, it was a huge shot that flew around 240 yards, hit a turkey on the back, bounced forward and hit another turkey that had been spooked just as it was beginning to flap its wings... this ricocheted the ball about another 60 yards further up the fairway. I didn't have GPS and it was pretty difficult to tell how far I was from the green since there were no markings... but, my best estimate is that the ball traveled about 300 yards before ending up in the middle of the fairway. Considering my 'good' drives are around 245 and my average drive is closer to 230... that was massive for me. The second was just about 3 years ago. I had some time to myself one early evening and decided that I wanted to play a quick nine at a local course. I got sent out alone since it was really hot and I essentially had the course to myself. As I got to the 5th green, I was pretty oblivious to things around me as I was working on a decent score at the time. The 5th green has 3 very distinct tiers... and the pin was way back on the 3rd tier. My ball landed on the bottom tier, leaving me a putt of about 90 feet up across 2 tiers. I ended up needing 6 (yes, six) putts to close out the hole. I turned to walk off the green and I was mumbling to myself with my head down when my eyes caught something only a foot or so in front of me. It was easily the largest snake I'd ever seen. Probably 7-8 feet long and thick as a baseball bat. I backed up a good 5 feet, grabbed my phone from my pocket and snapped a photo. I wanted to get a better, up-close photo... so I tried to pin it's tail down with my putter, but the snake turned towards me... so I ran like an Olympic sprinter towards the cart! Not my proudest moment, but... holy crap. CY [ATTACHMENT=289]268997_225540537477819_7713766_n.jpg (118k. jpg file)[/ATTACHMENT]

Career Bests
- 18 Holes - 72 (+1) - Par 71 - Pine Island Country Club - 6/25/2022
- 9 Holes - 36 (E) - Par 36 - Pine Island Country Club - 6/25/2022

 

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Lol. I wish I could remember hisname. He said he served for 22 years. You might recognize the name.

Would be interesting to know who it was lol. Strange moment for me was 2011 at St. Andrews, New Brunswick. One of the most beautiful courses in Canada, picturesque. I was on the signature par 3 that is right next to a huge cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and so I decide its a good idea to drive a ball into the ocean. I hit it and all I hear is a huge thunk!! My driver head which was a r9 broke right off and hit the plaque for the hole. My buddy was smart enough to run.

:titleist: 913 D2 w/ Oban Kiyoshi Purple :ping: G25 3 Wood w/ Graphite Design Tour AD-DJ6 :titleist: 913H 21* w/ Diamana Blue :ping: G25 4 - PW :vokey: SM4 Oil Can - 52, 56, 60 :cameron: Studio Select Newport 2 :golflogix: :bushnell: Tour V3

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Would be interesting to know who it was lol. Strange moment for me was 2011 at St. Andrews, New Brunswick. One of the most beautiful courses in Canada, picturesque. I was on the signature par 3 that is right next to a huge cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and so I decide its a good idea to drive a ball into the ocean. I hit it and all I hear is a huge thunk!! My driver head which was a r9 broke right off and hit the plaque for the hole. My buddy was smart enough to run.

So did you lose your clubhead to the ocean?

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So did you lose your clubhead to the ocean?

No it bounced off the plaque and landed on the path. TaylorMade was pretty good about exchanging it - no questions asked. I was more worried about there being damage to the plaque but luckily there wasnt any.

:titleist: 913 D2 w/ Oban Kiyoshi Purple :ping: G25 3 Wood w/ Graphite Design Tour AD-DJ6 :titleist: 913H 21* w/ Diamana Blue :ping: G25 4 - PW :vokey: SM4 Oil Can - 52, 56, 60 :cameron: Studio Select Newport 2 :golflogix: :bushnell: Tour V3

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My strangest experience was probably my 3rd last round. A friend and I were on the 14th hole (long par 5) when we heard a loud BOOM from the sky. We looked up and saw a fighter jet fly by us at a really high speed. Moments later, we saw a white passenger plane, also flying faster than normal, shoot by us and then another fighter jet behind it. All of the planes were flying pretty low too and it looked like the fighter jets were circling the passenger plane or following it or something. Whatever it was, it was pretty weird to say the least.

Driver: :cobra: BiO Cell (10.5º)

Wood: :ping: G15 3 (15.5°)

Hybrids: :callaway: Diablo Edge: 3 (21º), 4 (24º)

Irons: :callaway: Diablo Edge: 5-PW

Wedges: :cleveland:588 RTX CB 50º, Paradise Black Chrome II Sand Wedge 56º

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