Ever Been Almost Hit? Whatd you do?

[armandoartist]

okay but what about those holes that have a blind side to them and your pretty sure the group ahead is done and you hit a ball that trickles next to them. I played a course with multiple blind spots and was pissing off the group ahead. anybody have suggestions on courses like this?

[chriskot]

I almost hit someone this weekend. I was on the tee and the hole dog legged to the right. The green of another hole was right after where my current hole turned. I still am not too good at judging distances so I hit my driver. It was dead straight and I thought it was a good shot. Then I see it go past the fairway through the trees and landed on the green of the other hole. I did not say fore because I didn't think it was going that far. When I went over there I apologized and they laughed saying I should just play the hole out on this green.

[chilly]

Couple months ago, we're on the green at #10 on home course. Group of older guys is behind us, course is a little backed up so they've been waiting patiently. I'm waiting to putt, see golfer in tree line on right side, looks to be punching out. He hits a low bullet the comes in hot, and it skips once hard but spins, and rolls it across the green between a few of us. No big deal, obvious that he just hit it a LOT better then expected. He came up and apologized, told him nice shot and way to save a stroke. I have no issue when guys hit into us by accident, he could have yelled but it was probably a combination of not wanting to yell when someone is putting, not believing that it's going to get there, and the pure shock of hitting a shot like that.

Other times, if guys are getting antsy and hit into my group a few times, I'll just wave at them in a "WTF" type way...never had a group that kept hitting into us after that.

[Jay-Bird]

I was lining up a short chip in a tournament when a ball landed no more than a foot from me and rolled past me. The guy that hit the shot said - "Sorry, I had a blind shot from 220...blah...blah"

I'm thinking to myself - "Yeah, blind for YOU, but the carts in the fairway could see us on the green for sure..."
But I said - "No problem."

[iamnamja]

A few years back, our family was playing a round at a local course.
It was getting late, so we decided to stop playing on the 14th, and on the way to the club house we thought nobody was ahead of us so we stopped by the 18th hole and decided to complete that hole before we headed back.

After we tee off and get to our balls we hear a shout and realized that there was a team behind us that we must have cut (or they were doing the same thing that we were doing because we didn’t see anyone on the 17th). So our family started grabbing their balls and also waved to apologize for not knowing we cut in front of them.

What completely got us angry was the guys continued to scream even though it was obvious that we were picking up our balls, and started teeing off! The worst part is they were purposely aiming at us… since my girlfriend at the time wasn’t a great golfer we were on the left rough picking up the ball, and we started hearing “thump! Thump!” and see that their stance is setup to hit directly at us, and we see golf balls that landed within a few feet of us.

I got so angry that I drove up to them and let them have it. The sad part is It was 3 young (early 30’s) guys and their father. Till the end they wouldn’t apologize and admit their fault… even though they did say they saw us grab our balls, and saw us wave. I still can’t believe that 1. they would start teeing off 2. aim at a girl 3. not admit their fault…

I was very close to dropping all my golf balls infront of them and start swinging my wood… but I’m a better person than that =) hopefully, they’ll never do that again…

[alexio3108]

A few weeks ago, I was in the practice bunker at my course, which is tucked away from the 1st tee, it requires a violent snap hook from a lefty or a shank from a righty to be in any danger. Anyway, I take a backswing for a bunker shot, and an old guy (lefty) snap hooks one right at me, takes one bounce and hits me straight in the wrist which gave a nasty bruise. He didnt apologize, stepped in the practice bunker (which is out of bounds from the 1st hole) and splashed out back onto the 1st fairway. What he didnt realize was that his brand new shiny taylormade penta was in my pocket and he played a battered old pinnacle.

Yesterday in a competition, me and my friend were putting on a par 5, when a ball comes from over some trees, lands on the green and finishes about 5 feet from the hole. The green is above the fairway, so the group behind didnt see how close the shot was. We finish putting, and my friend kicks the ball into the bunker, places the titleist logo facing up and buries the ball so only the logo is visible. The group behind dont apologize, and attempt to explain "it was a blind shot" even though the other 2 players of the 3 ball can clearly see the green is not clear. The shock on the arrogant 14 year old kids face as my friend goes "Titleist 2? You're in the bunker. Unlucky." was priceless. We stood on the next tee laughing as he took 2 to get out of the bunker and made a 6.

[cougar978]

I almost had a guy in my group give me a lobotomy - it was more my fault than his though. We both hooked our tee shots into another fairway, I was about 30y in front of him and further left. Thinking he was just going to punch it back up the fairway, I went up to my ball. He snap-hooked one about 10ft over my head. That would have really sucked.

[popeyegolfer]

I was almost hit a few times. The closest was a time when...I was playing with another person who I joined with, the guy hit a shank and I was standing by my cart, the ball hit behind my leg and hit the cart. He was more embarrassed then I was scared because I never saw the ball I just heard the thud behind my head. I didn't do anything because no harm no foul and he didn't do it on purpose.

[golferelle]

I almost hit someone - I don't usually hit far enough to reach the group ahead. A few months ago we waited for the group ahead to finish putting and leave the green. They were off the green headed towards their carts when I hit. I didn't think I would hit that far, but my ball made it up to their carts and rolled under (the ball was on the ground and slow by that time). I yelled fore as soon as I thought it might get there. One of the players came rampaging back across from the other side of the green shaking his putter and cursing at me. He screamed that he would kill me the next time I hit into them. One of his fellow players stopped by a few holes later and apologized - said the nutter didn't usually play with them and was generally being obnoxious. Kind of scary though. I reported it to the pro shop.

[stricklerlee]

Just this Monday, I didn't have a good day. I used a driver on a par 3, 240yds hole. Two people, one father and one son, were walking to their 18th hole. I was trying to reach the green with my driver but I didn't hit a good one. I tried to yell fore as loud as possible, but once when I said a second fore, the father got hit and it looked bad from a distance. I'm glad he didn't lay down or anything like that or I would have been running as hard as possible. I kind of ran but wasn't too sure as he looked like he got hit in the shoulder. Chest, and that would have been bad. Anyway, said sorry to him and he said it's okay. That was a huge forgiving act from him.

[DaSportsGuy]

Never really had any close calls as far as a ball coming near me, luckily.

Last week however, I was walking with a couple other members of my home course and their is a Par 4 with a big hill in the middle of the fairway and inclines up to the green. They were on their way up the hill to the green so I go ahead and tee up my driver. I hit it right down the middle and all of a sudden they come driving back up the hill towards us and my tee shot hits the plastic shield on the front of the cart(luckily they had it up). I made sure I caught up to them before they left and let them know what happened and apologized.

[NI4NI]

Usual rule of thumb in like situations is to give it the "one time slide". It happens quite a bit, and most golfers, in my experience, apologize once they know what happened, and then it's a non-issue.

Sully - at which course were you playing?

[laxbballgolf]

Closest call I had was a friend in a greenside bunker who announced "I suck, and if you stand near the flag like that I'll probably skull it into your chest", and then skulled the ball straight at my chest while I dove out of the way, haha. Another time, I was playing a twilight round on what I thought was a basically empty course with my dad on a downhill par 5 where you can't see the landing area very well, and I hit a ball apparently 3 feet over a girl's head who I had no idea was there (we didn't see anyone in front of us for the first 4 holes straight; they must've skipped over to that hole). Close call!

I've had people hit into me a number of times. Playing in Southern California on cheap public courses, everyone is waiting for the group on front of them while another group is waiting behind them, and it generally sucks. When it happens, I will turn around and say something that they can definitely hear along the lines of "we have to wait on every hole just like you guys do", and it hasn't come to anything more than that.

[rdwoody]

I've had a couple errant balls bounce off the top of my cart, but I've never had anybody behind me hit into me. The only time I've actually been hit by a ball was in high school. We were playing a practice round and one of the guys in my group was lining up an iron shot. I was about 10 feet away from him looking at him face on. He goes to take a practice swing and accidentally hits the ball right off the edge of the club. It made a bee line for me and by the time I realized what happened it popped me right in the kneecap. I just walked it off for a second and we all had a good laugh about it.

[nearwater]

I was actually hit by a ball once. Well.. technically my cart, but had there been no roof on that cart, it would've been my melon.
Of course no fore yelled, so I was pissed off, but I couldn't tell which group hit the ball. (It was at a links style course)

Last week, I drove my ball 300 yards almost hitting the front group ahead.
I was surprised myself and didn't realize it'll go that far.
I walked up to the next tee box where they were getting ready and sincerely apologized.
They were a very nice couple. Even said they're jealous. Only if they knew what kind of drive I hit 90% of the time. lol.

Dan

[Fat Slice]

Closest call I had was a friend in a greenside bunker who announced "I suck, and if you stand near the flag like that I'll probably skull it into your chest", and then skulled the ball straight at my chest while I dove out of the way, haha.

I wasn't quite as fast as you...I got my hand up to block it and took a hard shot to the pinky. Nothing broken, but...ow.

[BostonSully]

Last night I was showing my dad how to use my LW in the yard when he toe'd one and sent it flying at my face. Reflex had me catch it lol to bad he skulled it cause catching that hurt lol!

[John105]

Played a course yesterday that had the tee boxes way too close to the previous greens. We were on the tee of a drivable par 4 so I let it rip. Unfortunately it sliced a bit and flew right between two guys teeing off on the next hole. My FORE yell allowed them to scatter, but obviously I felt bad. Closest I've come to smoking someone so far