Best Golfing Memory?

[MasterOfTheBogey]

Just curious to see what type of memories people have made out on the course. Whether it be sentimental, funny, tear jerker, or something else.

Top one for me would have to be traveling up to Wisconsin from North Carolina for my brothers wedding. This was the first year that I started playing golf, so about 5 years ago I believe. My brother had been telling me how bad he was going to beat me, he had been playing golf for a few years before I had even picked up a club.

So we get to the course and the trash-talking continues. We tee it up at the first tee box, and he hits one straight down the fairway about 265 and then I go and knock one about 15 yds. past his, and it was all down hill for him there. The worst thing was, I was using his clubs and beat him by 6 with all his friends there to witness it. Granted he didnt play his best, but if you talk you have to back it up. Always nice to beat a sibling in anything.

One of the funniest was when I was golfing with a few friends at a local course, nothing special. Third hole, Tee Box is below the fairway with a descent sized pond inbetween. We were playing in the middle of summer so there were always ducks and geese around. I tee off, other friend tees off, then its Franks turn. Frank is good, power hitter, steps up to the box and a bunch of geese come and land in the pond and a few in the fairway. Like I said Frank is a power hitter so he thinks he can clear them easily. He hits and kinda topped it and sent it skipping across the pond, two hops and flys out and before it could hit the ground it nails a goose right in the neck.

Sad to say but the goose didnt make it. Frank played the worst game I have personally seen him play in awhile. And forever got the nickname, Goose.

Might not be the best or anything close to what you guys can come up with, but hopefully with a good 60 more years of golfing for me to come I can come up with some great ones.

[CPHoya]

Haha, this is an awesome thread.

My best golfing memory is the first time I striped a perfect drive and felt the sequence of events in a swing, from correct rotation to lag through the impact zone to release through impact. Just completely sweet and smooth and I'll never stop playing the game after that.

My funniest golf memory is straight out of Jurassic Park. I'm playing a round at Dairy Creek in San Luis Obispo, CA, with my two best friends and we're on the 16th fairway. Dairy Creek has lots of protected land and some protected wildlife, and on the 16th hole the right rough is actually a hill that will deflect your ball back onto the fairway and allow you to cut the corner. So I hit my tee shot right at the corner and somehow my ball got stuck on that hill, and a flock (?) of wild turkeys - which are protected - was pecking at the ground, surrounding my ball. I trudge up the hill for my approach shot from an impossible lie, and one of the turkeys gets a little brash with me.

Like an idiot I squawk back at the turkey and take my stance. The turkey begins moving toward me, bobbing its head like a velociraptor and eying me as it approaches, quietly clucking. Now I'm laughing and I can't hit my shot and my friends are screaming at me to hurry it up. I settle in, cracking up, and hit my shot woefully short of the green. The turkey is five feet away from me. I mouth off at the turkey once more and jog down the hill toward my ball.

Click. Click. Click. As I'm standing behind my ball the same turkey, which I have since determined was the dominant male, is approaching me along the cart path. I am at least 100 yards removed from the flock, but the turkey wants a piece. He moves closer and closer to me, and I can't hit my shot - again - and now my friends and the next group are yelling at me to hurry up, though my friends are also laughing hysterically. To my left I see another turkey approaching, and then to the right one more. I'm being flanked by wild turkeys. I've been outwitted by birds.

So now I find myself walking backward, poking the "lead" turkey with my lob wedge to make it back up, and all three are pursuing me. Every time I shove it, gently, with my wedge it gobbles at me. It tries to peck my foot! I'm 150 yards closer to the tee box now, and I can't hurt the turkeys without committing a crime so all I'm doing is trying to shove the lead turkey away while moving slowly in an arc back toward the green. Everyone is laughing, including me, and I finally get back to the green while the turkeys move off.

On the 17th tee I hit my drive and the turkey pokes its head around a bench, still in agitated pursuit. Emasculating, being outwitted by turkeys.

[ArjunGFX]

I think my best memories are with my dad. These days we're in different cities and don't see each other often... but I really value how when I was growing up, he'd take me to courses after work... basically in the dark, and practice with me, and teach me... he put tons of effort and love into it and gave me my favorite passion.

Winning a big match play championsip was a surreal experience... won it when I was 17, and had been playing it since I was 11... the first tournament I ever played. Gosh I miss Junior Golf so much.

High school... going out with the team after matches.. all the travelling and driving around was crazy.

[ganjagolfer]

in a high school golf match, i skulled the ball out of a greenside bunker and the ball struck my adversary, who was standing on the green, full force in the chest and dropped down a foot from the pin

[joseywales]

When I was in high school, me and a couple of friends went out late in the evening and were playing for a couple of bucks a hole and on the par 3-8th hole I hit a shot right at the hole but we couldn't see it because it was right into the sun. One of the other guys did the same thing so we went up the hill to the green to see where the shots went. When we got to the green, we only saw one ball and it was his.....4 feet from the cup. He got to the hole first and started yelling "It's in." It's in." I was shocked. It was my first and only hole in one. What made him even more mad is that he birdied the hole and still lost the hole on a 4 hole carryover. THAT was a great day.

[SirMilton]

My favorite memory is from high school when playing a practice round alone I caught four men in privately-owned riding carts (3 wheelers as I recall). They were all completely dressed in golfing attire and all had fancy leather bags and top of the line Hogan or Wilson staff clubs (the best stuff available at the time). I was carrying an old worn canvas Sunday bag with about 6 or 7 cheap, rusted McGregor clubs and didn't even have a golf glove or golf shoes.

They said come on and play through with us.

The hole was a 225 yard par 3 (very long for that time and day) with a broad flat fairway between the tee and green and a single large sand trap across the entire front of the green and deep woods 30 feet behind the green.

They all hit first. Two were straight, but 30-40 yards short, one was a big slice right and short, and the last man hit a driver that rolled into the sand trap.

Hurriedly, I teed up and hit a 3 iron that never got 20 feet off the ground but found the green and held. The men said nothing.

I politely waited until all of the 4 men got on the green, none was on in less than 3, and waited my turn, when I was out, to putt. Again, without doing much more than just walking up to the ball and hitting it, I drained a 20 footer, walked over and pulled out my ball and walked off saying "thanks guys for letting me play through". They never said a word and I never looked back.

I laughed to myself the rest of the round as I knew I would never play that hole so well again in my life, but they would never know and would always wonder about the kid who blew them away on that long par 3.

[Eore]

probably the member/junior best ball tournement. we won, and i won the long drive and closest to the pin......playing with my dad is always just a blast, and we both chipped in on #s 4 and 5

[Dent]

My best memory is just starting golf with my dad, or chipping in from about 50 yards my first time when i was 8.

My most impressive memory was when I got paired up with a few kids my age that I didnt know. Whenever I golf with someone I dont know I always play better. It was an easy 325 Yard par 4 and I just smoked my drive straight down the middle and finished off the hole with par. Next hole, a 465 Yard par 5. I hit the drive about 265 right down the middle. Then hit a 4 iron right onto the green about 15 feet from the pin. I missed the eagle putt by inches but still got birdie. I totally blew these guys away and they were so impressed. Every shot going "Holy crap!" or "woooww!"

[PvtPublic]

Mine is definitely making my first hole in one with my dad by my side. Considering I was there three years prior when he got his first, it seemed almost poetic.

[MasterOfTheBogey]

Its always nice to impress someone you dont know out on the course.

I know I have impressed a few people with my extensive vocabulary out on the course.

Another memory that comes to mine, its crazy how many that do until you actually get down to thinking about it.

I was at the Wachovia Championship in 06', first time to see all the pros out there. It is honestly amazing to see those guys out there walking the course, pondering shots, lining up the putts.
The real memory that I had though was after the rounds the players walk out to thier parking lot and sign some autographs while they go out. I was standing in line hoping that Tiger would sign my new TW hat. I was waiting for about a half hour and he emerges everyone starts yelling "Tiger, Tiger." He walks by not giving a second look and gets in his car.

Ever since, I have been a Mickelson fan. "GO PHIL"

[golf_junkie27]

My favorite golfing experience was playing with my brother. He lives in Arizona and we played four straight days. It was a ton of fun, he's a single digit handicapper and I was about a 16 or 17, then. The first day, he beat me by seven strokes. First hole, he nails a six iron to about five feet. He looks at me, smiles and says "Your best chance to beat me was yesterday." I laughed and proceeded to play pretty good golf. Last hole, I'm trailing by two shots, it's a par 5. What am I thinking? Eagle and hope he either bogeys or puts the ball in the pond. I hit a great tee shot and follow up with a second shot that lands about 80 feet short of the green. He hits a good drive and lays up to about 85 yards. He takes a gap wedge and it looks like its heading straight for the pond. I'm giddy. Hoping, praying, let this fall in the drink. Nope, hits the edge and rolls to the edge of the green. He looks at me and says "Someone kill your dog?"

My favorite shot was on a Par 3. There is water in front so I take an extra Iron. Nice, smooth swing and the ball is headed for the trees, sailing the green. I'm pissed. We get to the green and I'm walking towards the trees. My playing partner says "Hey, there are two balls on the green." I'm like, that's not possible. So I ask him if one of the balls is a Precept Laddie Extreme with a Green X. He says "Yup, with your name on it." Sure enough, that was my ball. Ah, the Golf Gods are so good.

[Big_M]

some good ones already...

I'm still waiting for my BEST... a hole in one (please happen soon).

When I was in high school playing JV... someone had the Ping demo 7-iron out there and we were hitting shag balls into the pond. A light rain starts to fall and it's my turn. First shot was ok, second felt real nice, last one (as grips getting more slick)... club and ball both launch into the pond. Starts raining harder... whole team is starting to come back in. I am wading out chest deep to get the damn club while yelling for someone to please get me a ball retriever (it was a good 30yds out). Whole team is laughing their asses off. Coach sees me after the incident and says "I'm not even going to ask". And they call Woody Austin Aqua Man.

Another funny time was when my wife and I were on vacation... She is deathly afraid of frogs... I mean scream at top of lungs afraid, won't even look at them in an aquarium at zoo, etc.... Well all of sudden she starts screaming and running in zig zags across the green while I'm trying to chip. The other couple is just staring at her like she's on drugs as she finally runs to the cart and asks me to get her ball, and we finally here what she is saying "FROGS... Oh my gosh, FROGS". There were these tiny little toads (I think) all over the green, probably one every six feet or so.

Last one... nailed a perfect 3-wood to get on in two on a par 5. My friend, who could see the green... I couldn't (hill in the way) said I nearly hit a deer. Sure enough we get up there and there are deer tracks all over and my ball rolled straight for 30ft then 5ft straight right (we could see the dew marks). The deer actually moved my ball. My friend said it was BS since my putt was 10ft instead of 15ft, but I missed the eagle anyway.

[TourSpoon]

Here you go:

I used to have a poster in my room (16 years ago) called "Golf on the Rocks". It was the coolest golf hole I had ever seen in my life. Well, I got married the following year (the poster was put away) and on our second anniversary we go to the Grand Canyon with a stop at Sedona to play golf. We walk in the pro shop at the Sedona Golf Resort and get a great afternoon rate and play the course. We get to number 10, a 210 yard par three, and I look at my wife and I said, this is the hole on the poster. I hit a two iron on the green and make a 20 footer for birdie. Awesome. It was a golf moment that I will never forget.

The course was in great shape and back then had roadrunners, desert hares, and other animals running around. We had the place to ourselves and had a great time.

[Richie3Jack]

That's a tough one. I didn't get started into golf until I was 11. I knew who Jack Nicklaus was and even though he was way back, my neighbor who is just really knowledgeable about sports uttered the words "look out for Nicklaus today" as we were talking about the Masters before we teed off that morning. After we finished playing, we watched the Masters and Jack made that thunderous romp through the back nine. The shot at 16 where he hit it and immediately picked up his tee while the ball was in the air and stuck it just struck home why this guy was such a legend. Jack has that certain quality about him. He's the good guy that does the right thing and that you can count on. Reminds me a lot of my father and that moment, with that shot, as he bends over, tugs his pant leg to grab his tee while the ball goes at the hole really got me into playing this game.

As far as my own playing experience, I desperately wanted to get a D-I scholarship for golf. I lived in upstate NY and for whatever reason, they usually don't look for golfers there. So after working my butt off, scratching and crawling to become the best player possible I was finally offered a D-I scholarship. But as good as that was, playing in my first tournament was even sweeter because it justified the hard work and proved to me that I was really better than all of those guys that got scholarships with ease.


As far as funny, I have a ton of them. My favorite was at the end of each season for the HS golf team our team used to play a thing called the "Milkshake Open." It was usually 4 teams of 4 man scramble selected by the coach based on handicaps. The low team would then be given free milkshakes (and a burger and fries) from the golf course restaurant.

My team finishes first (we only played one team per hole to not slow up the course) and after the next two groups we still have the lowest score. My best friend was on the last team. He just started taking up golf and was the worst player on the entire squad. I'm talking like shooting in the 60's for 9 holes. So we go to watch them on the 6th hole and after the first 3 guys miss putts, he drains a 20 footer. Then on the 7th hole, the same thing happens except he drains an extremely slippery 15 footer. Then the same thing happens on the 8th hole, except he drains a 12 footer.

So we get on the 9th hole and they have to make an eagle to tie us. Fortunately, it's a driveable par 4. One guy does drive the green, but it leaves them with a 50 footer. The same thing happens, but this time my buddy's putt breaks like Tiger's chip in on 16 at Augusta from a couple of years ago. The entire team was there, the coach was there and my dad was there and when he made that putt the entire team except for my buddy all fell to the ground laughing so hard as my buddy was fist pumping like you never believe. The strangest thing is I tried that putt for about 10 years afterward and not once have I gotten it to go in with anywhere near the break that he got it. I still can't figure out how that went in.








3JACK

[Eore]

So after working my butt off, scratching and crawling to become the best player possible I was finally offered a D-I scholarship.

where did you play?

[Alex B]

That's a tough one. I didn't get started into golf until I was 11. I knew who Jack Nicklaus was and even though he was way back, my neighbor who is just really knowledgeable about sports uttered the words "look out for Nicklaus today" as we were talking about the Masters before we teed off that morning. After we finished playing, we watched the Masters and Jack made that thunderous romp through the back nine. The shot at 16 where he hit it and immediately picked up his tee while the ball was in the air and stuck it just struck home why this guy was such a legend. Jack has that certain quality about him. He's the good guy that does the right thing and that you can count on. Reminds me a lot of my father and that moment, with that shot, as he bends over, tugs his pant leg to grab his tee while the ball goes at the hole really got me into playing this game.

So, did both teams get free milkshakes, or did you play off?

[Richie3Jack]

So, did both teams get free milkshakes, or did you play off?

They gave both teams free milkshakes. It was starting to get dark.

I really wish that final putt was videotaped. It basically went behind the cup and then bent backward drastically and went in. 3JACK

[Richie3Jack]

where did you play?

Coastal Carolina University, back when they were mediocre.

3JACK