Ever struck anybody with a golf shot?

[Octuple Bogey]

Any of you ever hit another player, (unintentionally I hope), with a golf shot? I've done it once, I think in 2003 or 2004. I was in the trees on the right side of the fairway and I hit the ball off of the toe with a three-iron and it went on a beeline for this guy on the adjacent fairway less than a hundred yards away. I barely even had time to yell fore before it hit him. I think it hit him on the thigh or waist and when it did he dropped like he'd been shot.

He had me really concerned for a few moments... I thought I'd be perhaps paying his hospital bills, but after a few moments it was apparent he was going to be alright. I apologized and repeatedly asked him if he was O.K. but him and his son just ignored me, it was almost as if I wasn't there. Then the son said, "So much for a relaxing Sunday round of golf" and they walked away. Kind of strange if you ask me.

So anybody else have stories to relate on this subject?

[Cesar]

  Octuple Bogey said:

Any of you ever hit another player, (unintentionally I hope), with a golf shot? I've done it once, I think in 2003 or 2004. I was in the trees on the right side of the fairway and I hit the ball off of the toe with a three-iron and it went on a beeline for this guy on the adjacent fairway less than a hundred yards away. I barely even had time to yell fore before it hit him. I think it hit him on the thigh or waist and when it did he dropped like he'd been shot.

I've never hit anybody. I've been hit before and had some serious close calls. I think the scariest story I have is back when I was around 12 years old (20 years ago

) the local high school had a match and some girl that played on the team wandered onto the 1st tee and got she got decked in the head by a scratch golfer's driver no more than 10 yards away. She collapsed instantly and was unconscious. I thought she was dead. Ambulence came and got her and took her to the emergency room. She turned out to be OK, but it was the scariest thing I had seen in my life up to that point. All I can say is she had better be thankful that we were playing persimmon woods back then. If that had happened with today's equipment, I can't imagine she'd be nearly as lucky.

[Octuple Bogey]

  Cesar said:

I've never hit anybody. I've been hit before and had some serious close calls. I think the scariest story I have is back when I was around 12 years old (20 years ago

Yeah, that would be kind of disturbing. I've never been hit by a high velocity shot myself but I've been struck on the leg with a few pitch shots that went horribly awry. It doesn't hurt and in one case I saved a guy from going in a bunker that way. Just a few weeks ago though I did almost get beaned by some guys wild shot while standing on the 18th tee. It came so close to the left side of my head I actually felt the wind as the ball flew by. I told the guy that hit the shot not to worry, that I'd hit somebody before with an errant shot and that it happens to the best of golfers. I'd bet every PGA pro out there has hit a spectator at one time, but then again those spectators are packed in rather close to their line of fire like a bunch of sardines.

I used to work summers at a golf course when I was in college and the tractor I used to collect range balls used to get hit a few times every time I did a pick. It is surprising just how much power those balls can hit the cage with and even though I was protected it always came as a rather unpleasant surprise each time. Kind of jarred you from your thoughts each time.

[Mr Eagle]

I was having a bad day with my tee shots and kept hitting vicious slices with my Irons.
The two aspects of my game came together on a tree lined 180 yard par three.
After sending my first effort high and right I had another go with the same result,the balls dissapearing over the trees.

As I walked down the fairway there was a break in the trees,I could see the putting green of a course next door ,a guy was lying by the flag his friend standing over him.My two balls were visible on the edge of the green.Oh no! what was I going to do?

Going over the small fence I approached the pair."Are you OK" I enquired sheepishly
"Yes" the standing guy replied "My friend will be OK , he is epileptic,and had a funny turn"...............Phew!

[srjorion]

A couple of years ago I was playing a round with some friends when I heard someone yell "Fore!". Immediately after that we heard what sounded like a golf ball hitting a tree or fence. It was very loud. We turned to see two guys running from the tee box over to a green about a hundred yards away from them. Turns out the guy shanked the ball bad and hit a guy on the green in the face. Once we realized the sound was the golf ball hitting the guy in the head we were sick.

[MrKadash]

I've never hit anyone nor ever come close. I have seen people get hit on multiple occasions over the years.

[Eore]

very recently i hit a drive that actually was going down the middle of the fairway-straight towards a course maintenance guy driving towards us in his cart. i yelled fore, he looked up, and the ball bounced off the back of his cart.

i felt pretty bad and apologized. on the same hole i've hit a house

[Spectrums]

I was hit in a HS match a couple weeks ago. Hurts like hell. The guy I was playing with (not on my team) was about 200 out and was hitting hybrid and I was standing about 60-70 yards up in front of him in a treeline. Low and behold, he shanks it and yells fore with just enough time left for me to turn my shoulders and not get hit in the collarbone. Instead I got beaned under the armpit on my back.

Felt kind of bad for the kid; he unraveled after that point.

[ks8829]

15 years ago, I was playing the 9th hole at Harding Park and push a shot, I yelled fore and the man turn around and I hit him smack in the middle of his back. He was wearing a light wind breaker so that must of slowed down the ball because he was ok.

[N.V.M.]

never any people yet. i have , however, hit a couple of clubhouses and parking lots. this is why i don't mark my ball with my name on it anymore.

[rgoudy1975]

I have never hit anyone, but I saw a gruesome incident when I was a freshman in high school. Our team was waiting to tee off and two older guys, probably in their 70's were walking across the 1st fairway (the shortest distance from the 9th green to the 10th tee...bad idea) and one of the seniors on the team decided to be cute and hit his drive over them. Well, he swung hard and skulled his shot right into the closer gentleman's temple. The guy dropped and was badly hurt. I have no idea what the kid was thinking hitting that shot; it was a completely disrespectful, dangerous, and idiotic thing to do. It completely made me sick.

[chingali]

Yep, once with a ball and once with a club. The time with a ball I was playing a par three and the group on the green called us up. The hole is about 160 yards downhill and the pin was cut right at the back of the green probably about 10 or 12 feet from the back edge. I hit a solid shot right at the stick, probably with a 7 or 8 iron and I knew it was going to be a touch long within a second of hitting it and everyone in my group yelled fore at the same time. Three of the people standing behind the green ducked for cover but the guy my ball was heading for just stood there. We yelled fore again, very very loudly and the guy instead of moving looked up just as my ball came down and sconned him on the melon with a loud splat kind of sound. He was wearing a white visor and as we watched the visor began turning red just before he fell over backwards. When we got down to him he'd recovered and apart from a cut on the forehead and being a bit wobbly he was ok. I apologised a million times but he was fine with it, just one of those things and he said he should have been paying attention. The upside to it all was my ball bounced straight back and on to the green, it finished a couple of feet from the hole. And yes, I made the putt.

The time I hit someone with a club I was well in to my pre shot routine on the tee of a par three (15th hole) and having a practice swing when my playing partner in a 4BBB (he is a good friend of mine - still) for whatever reason decided to walk behind me. I wasn't paying attention because it was my turn to play and I was in my routine and he very obviously wasn't paying attention either. I hit him right on the chin and he needed about half a dozen stitches to close it up. The most impressive thing was he managed to finish out the last four holes and he got on the card with a couple of good birdies too with blood pissing everywhere from the wound, all over his shirt and pants! This must have been about 15 years ago, occasionally when we play as partners in some sort of event these days and he is playing poorly he'll ask me if I'm getting angry with him because he hopes I won't belt him in the head again. I think he's joking...

[bigoak]

The three guys I was playing with ( not friends )walked off the green while I replaced my ball and picked up my mark to make a short putt. I got hit in the back by an approach shot. I did not blame the golfer who hit me because he thought the green was clearing even though the flag had not been placed back in the hole. This was a tournament for some $ and everything had to be putted into the hole.

[Dent]

I was golfing with a friend and we were on the last hole. He was about 170 away with a 6 iron. The guys got into the cart and drove off, he hit a nice shot but way left, right towards them. It went into the cart and hit the passenger in the back.

[BudMan]

Have never hit anybody else. But I have been hit 6 times. 3 times by the same person( I don't play with him anymore). Once by a shot that came out of nowhere, with nobody in sight in any direction. And last Friday, I was hit by a kid in our group who shanked a three wood directly into my backside as I tried to get away, then 2 holes later I was hit by MYSELF as I tried a risky shot out of the woods, I hit it flush and caught a tree dead center about 40 yds away, and it came screaming back at a speed I could not get away from. I guess if that happens again, I will have to stop playing with myself.

[caleb7mm]

ive only hit myself, trying to punch a shot out of some trees a few years ago. Well, it worked but I didnt see the "other" tree and it bounced back as I was running to the left to see my shot and I ran right into the ball coming back. My golfing partner was laughing so hard I thought he was going to pass out.

[tonyy]

I've never hit anyone but some of these stories kind of made me sick.

Anyway, I've gotten hit before. Right on my shoulder blade. It hurt like a mofo but luckily no real damage.

[Akers]

Never hit someone before, got close. Almost got badly hit though one time, Was in a cart about 120 meteres away from the tee off box (just in the right rough) looking for a ball, so this bloke on the tee decides to tee off (WTF??) and he slices it and the ball actualy goes through the cart in between the driver and myself the passenger and out the front of it (lucky we had to rain sheild down). As we were teeing off on the next hole he had just finsed putting out, and he was on the phone my playing partner says quite loudly to me "He must be talking to his lawyers". He never said anything to us at all.