Ever hit anyone (or anything living) with a golf ball?

[Logan Gabriel]

Its funny you should mention the goose!  My daughter and i were out about a month ago playing 9 holes and on the 4th and 5th holes geese cut across the fairway all day long.  So my daughter (11) says to me "Pa please don't hit the cute geese."  i won't I tell her.  i wasn't worried about it because i had been hitting them great.  however as i let it rip My shot made a BEE line right for the goose and smaked him right in the chest with a thud I'll never forget.  he let out a screech and spread his wings and i thought he was gonna charge me.  i swear if he had a middle finger i would have seen it!  needless to say my daughter screamed at me "I TOLD YOU NOT TO HIT HIM!"  i felt real bad but the little guy seemed okay just pretty pissed off.

[onesome]

I saw a playing partner of ours hit a cow, hes left handed so his slice went out on the pasture that bordered the course and smacked that cow right in the ass, we couldn't stop laughing for at least 10 minutes.

[ERLoft]

Oh yeah, I forgot one...

Back about 1994 or so I was playing Sea & Air at Naval Air Station Coronado.  Playing the par 3 11th and bladed by tee shot into a bunch of birds.  The all scattered but one.  I walked up and found a bird just laying there.  I picked it up by the wing and found that the bird was missing it's head completely.  A little ways farther up I found the bird's head - the back of the skull was pretty much gone.  When I got to my ball, which was a Titleist Tour Balata, I found that not only did I have a big smile in the ball, I had bits of bird skull stuck in the cover.  I'd saved it for quite a while, but have no idea where it is now...

[Wisguy]

Originally Posted by LuciusWooding

I think you just made that up. You would have mentioned the second ball in your first post. You would have mentioned it to the range pro and to his dad if you thought it weren't an accident. What the hell would he have been doing that on purpose for? He has no motive for that and a pretty big motive not to. You yourself admit to hitting a car once, and you didn't do it on purpose. The kid had a slice, all golfers go through that stage and bigger swingers hit bigger slices.

Nah, you're too vindictive a person to not get back at someone for doing that if it's really on purpose. It's ironic you called BS on the OP, because your story sounds pretty made up at times. For example, you saw the dude's bumper stickers? What, did he park in your driveway backwards, or did you chase him off your property? Or maybe you watched him drive away with binoculars? Sounds like something you made up to characterize the guy as a hypocrite, not something you could see and read from your porch. What about the guy bringing a diagram of the range? Yeah, that sounds like something I'd do if I wanted to go yell at someone.  And I seriously doubt any course is hosting you an outing for FREE. Maybe if you're the pro's brother or something, but it costs a lot more than 200$. And it wasn't their fault so he had no reason to do so.

You really don't need to sue everyone. It doesn't mean you're rolling over and taking it in the ass if you let 200$ go. My brother once drove my car into a cement base of a light pole. Totally his fault, at least a couple hundred to fix. He was broke, so I just accepted it and forgave him. He had a friend's stepdad (a mechanic) use a heat gun to pop the panel back out, now it's a spot with no paint. I could spend a couple hundred just to repaint it, let alone a new panel. Instead I realized accidents happen and dealt with it like a rational person. I don't pick fights and I don't make trouble for people to get even. Doesn't make me a victim. BTW, you couldn't hit my car with a golf ball from 10 feet away. Maybe consider just using the club itself. If you were close enough to hit the side, it would ricochet back at you anyway.

?????

Lucious, been smoking any bad crack lately?

A)  Completely true story.  Why the hell would I have made it up?  The more important question is, what kind of bizarre person just starts making strange and nonsensical accusations about people they don't know and calls them a liar for no reason at all?

B)  I didn't include the part about the 1st ball because I tend to write a lot of details and didn't want to get accused of being too long-winded.  It only became necessary to include that detail when I started getting the several bizarre reactions that my post received, to show that this kid wasn't completely innocent and blameless.

C)  The dad parked on the street directly in front of my front door and was maybe 35 feet from my front step as he drove away with the back of his car in plain sight.  If you can't recognize a common bumper sticker at 35-40 feet, then you probably can't see well enough to play golf, either.

D)  The dad did show up and did have a half-posterboard sized diagram he had drawn that must have taken him more than half an hour to create.  It was bizarre, that's half of why I thought the story was memorable enough to post here.  It was a strange event, not one that is statistically nearly impossible as with the OP's story.  If you don't believe me, fine.  You're free to doubt that the earth is round or that astronauts have walked on the moon, too.

E)  The range's nets were too low on the left, otherwise, how did the ball clear the net?  I believe they subsequently added an extra 10 feet to the top of the net.  They simply assumed that most people hitting balls will be right-handed, if a ball goes left it's a hook, and hooks hit by a rightie are lower shots than slices. Their assumption saved them money in not initially putting up higher nets and that assumption resulted in my car being damaged.   As for the pre-wedding golf outing, what the head pro gave me were free greens fees for a midday round of golf the Friday before my wedding for two foursomes.  No catering or anything like that, just the golf.  How is that unbelievable?  It was an amicable resolution arrived at without animosity by reasonable people.

F)  So you forgave your brother for $200 - big deal.  If you sued your brother over $200 that would make you a bigger *sshole than the kind of person who makes strange, baseless accusations that someone he doesn't even know is lying. There's a big difference between forgiving a debt to a loudmouthed jerk who won't take resposibility for his kid's actions and forgiving your own brother for an accicdent for which he presumably apologized and tried to get it fixed.  If you don't get that, please let me know and I'll write it out for you in bigger letters that will be easier for you to understand.

Anyway, it might not be a smart move to say "oh well" and ignore seemingly minor damage to your car, as I have recently learned.  There was a small ding near my wife's car's wheel well that may or may not have been from a college kid on a bike falling into the car at a red light a few years back - I didn't think it was a big deal at the time and never folllowed up with the kid's insurance information.  Recently I noticed a small patch of rust in that general area and the rust has gone deeper than expected, so when I took it to a body shop, they told me it would be $1500 to repair.  I have no idea if this ding was caused by the bike hitting the car or was caused by something else, like road debris flying up, but I sure as hell was unpleasantly suprised to find that a seemingly small patch of rust only a few inches long could cost that kind of money to repair.

[dave67az]

Originally Posted by dave67az

I've been lucky enough to never hit anyone or been hit.  But when I was learning to golf in my late teens, my best friend, Matt, who was a few years older refused to go anywhere near a golf course or driving range but I knew from other things he said that he used to play.  The way he would change the subject, I got the impression he didn't want to talk about it further, so I asked his wife one time what his deal was.

When Matt was a teenager, he was sitting in the house one weekend when the phone rang.  The call was for his older brother, who was in the backyard hitting into a net.  Matt went to the back door, opened it, yelled for his brother in the middle of his backswing (yeah...oops) and that's the last detail he remembers (probably a blessing).  The next thing he remembers was waking up from surgery, minus one testicle.

He was still able to have a kid of his own, so it's not as tragic as it could have been.

Guess there's a reason we have two of some things.

- Dave

I had to add something to this.  I mentioned it to Matt last night (he's on my Facebook list).  He's less queasy talking about it now that it's been a few decades.  He said he was telling the story to a golfer friend, and his friend (who has as sick of a sense of humor as Matt and I do) replied with "you should have told the doctor you were on the green at the time, he would have had to replace your ball."

- Dave

[LuciusWooding]

Originally Posted by Wisguy

A)  Completely true story.  Why the hell would I have made it up?  The more important question is, what kind of bizarre person just starts making strange and nonsensical accusations about people they don't know and calls them a liar for no reason at all?

B)  I didn't include the part about the 1st ball because I tend to write a lot of details and didn't want to get accused of being too long-winded.  It only became necessary to include that detail when I started getting the several bizarre reactions that my post received, to show that this kid wasn't completely innocent and blameless.

D)  The dad did show up and did have a half-posterboard sized diagram he had drawn that must have taken him more than half an hour to create.  It was bizarre, that's half of why I thought the story was memorable enough to post here.  It was a strange event, not one that is statistically nearly impossible as with the OP's story.  If you don't believe me, fine.  You're free to doubt that the earth is round or that astronauts have walked on the moon, too.

-I don't think you're totally making the story up, but you're adding a few shovelfuls of BS to embellish it and make yourself look better, as well as making the other guys seem worse.

-Your original post was 1039 words, and it was full of details. "The ball that hit my car was at least the second one that came over the fence - I saw another one bouncing across the parking lot as I walked toward my car" is 32 words. Yet it changes the story. Seems like a funny thing to leave out, especially since you accused him of doing it on purpose. It reminds me of a guy on this forum who mentioned he hit into a group on purpose, and many people called him out for being a jerk. He began adding details to his story to try and justify it, just like you did. (http://thesandtrap.com/t/58108/playing-as-a-single-awkward-stories-from-who-you-got-paired-with) Your posts struck me very much the same way, especially your surprise at others calling your behavior inappropriate.

-You know what else would have taken half an hour to make? Your post. The guy's not making an F'ing posterboard diagram. I know the Earth is round and we landed on the Moon because there's proof and the story hasn't changed. Your testimony, on the other hand, changes with every telling.

[Logan Gabriel]

Originally Posted by LuciusWooding

-I don't think you're totally making the story up, but you're adding a few shovelfuls of BS to embellish it and make yourself look better, as well as making the other guys seem worse.

-Your original post was 1039 words, and it was full of details. "The ball that hit my car was at least the second one that came over the fence - I saw another one bouncing across the parking lot as I walked toward my car" is 32 words. Yet it changes the story. Seems like a funny thing to leave out, especially since you accused him of doing it on purpose. It reminds me of a guy on this forum who mentioned he hit into a group on purpose, and many people called him out for being a jerk. He began adding details to his story to try and justify it, just like you did. (http://thesandtrap.com/t/58108/playing-as-a-single-awkward-stories-from-who-you-got-paired-with) Your posts struck me very much the same way, especially your surprise at others calling your behavior inappropriate.

-You know what else would have taken half an hour to make? Your post. The guy's not making an F'ing posterboard diagram. I know the Earth is round and we landed on the Moon because there's proof and the story hasn't changed. Your testimony, on the other hand, changes with every telling.

Lucius Who the HELL CARES!!  Seriously get over it.  I think you've totally missed the point.  So what if he did make it up it was a cool story.  Take a breath...

[OSUgolfer]

I have only hit 3 people in my 30 plus years of golfing  and all of them were family members.   Was playing and my two daughters ages 10 and 8 were riding along.  As the course was empty I was playing a couple of balls.   Well I sent them in the cart across the fairway to retrieve ball two.  I hit my shot.  hit a tree and heard my daughters scream.  Seems the ball caroomed around in the golf cart giving them a big scare but no injuries.

The other family member, me, was not so fortune.  My ball was at base of small tree.   Did not notice the root it was sitting on.  Took a swing ....ball hits tree and then hits me above the right eye.

Blood everywhere but I finished the hole and yes I assessed the penalty.

[1player]

The only birdie I ever felt bad about happened a couple of years after I started playing.

I hit a career for then 3 Wood into a tough par 4 with OB each side, a range on the left and houses on right, it was the longest par 4 on the course. 475 or so.

I  hit a weak 250 drive into right rough.

Had 225 to green from rough

So I slam a 3 wood

I flush it, felt like a career 3 wood.

50 feet from my shot a bird falls out of the sky

Head completely decapitated

Ball was on back fringe of green, the tiny head of the bird didn't slow that ball down any.

Missed the putt

But that's probably my most memorable 'birdie' I ever had.

I was gonna stuff the poor thing but decided not to.

TRUE STORY

The funniest story was a kid I played with one day, he had long dreds, absolute dope head.

But he played halfway decent. But his miss was a dead pull left, a vicious line drive.

Somehow he hits it on a hole that bordered a busy road, 6 lines of traffic literally 6 feet from the OB fence.

A cop is there giving a ticket to a person.

Ball hits his rear window of squad car and shatters it.

Cop hits the sidewalk and pulls his gun.

I couldn't help but crack up.

Cop looking at me ready to shoot me.

I point to the kid with dreds.

Cop jumps fence he's got the kid in handcuffs in 3 seconds.

I'm rolling laughing.

Cop says you want to get arrested.

I say, excuse me officer that was 100% an ACCIDENT, the kid stinks, he's been pulling balls all day.

So if you got a code for being a bad golfer ARREST HIM, but if I were you I'd get those bracelets off of him ASAP or we're all gonna be witnesses to police brutality.

The kid STINKS

You cannot arrest him for being a bad golfer.

Cop calls his station, a few minutes later he lets the kid go.

TRUE STORY

[topspin4hand]

ESPN is reporting a story about a Reno, Nevada man who shot a golfer whose ball broke his house window!  Apparently, the golfer had no idea the ball broke a window and was still looking for the ball when the homeowner confronted him with a shotgun.  This will  definitely pop into my head the next time I'm looking for my or someone else's ball alongside the OB stakes bordering someone's yard!

[VealCutlet]

I've burned my share of worms in my time...

20+ years ago, I played with a buddy who hit a shot OB that plunked a Chevy Camaro.  The driver pulled into the course parking lot, looked around, and not seeing any definite suspects, pulled out and went about his business. On the very next tee shot, he hit a bird, mid flight. Bird fell to the ground, bounced and fluttered a bit, then got up and flew away.  A few weeks later, he shanked a shot that hit another friend in the head who was looking for his ball in the rough on the right side of the fairway, maybe 5-10 yards further ahead - it was a totally sideways shot.

Need I say that my friend hasn't played golf since?

[VealCutlet]

Originally Posted by topspin4hand

ESPN is reporting a story about a Reno, Nevada man who shot a golfer whose ball broke his house window!  Apparently, the golfer had no idea the ball broke a window and was still looking for the ball when the homeowner confronted him with a shotgun.  This will  definitely pop into my head the next time I'm looking for my or someone else's ball alongside the OB stakes bordering someone's yard!

Maybe someone whose response to a broken window is to grab his shotgun and start shooting should think twice before buying a home on a golf course!

[dave67az]

Originally Posted by topspin4hand

ESPN is reporting a story about a Reno, Nevada man who shot a golfer whose ball broke his house window!  Apparently, the golfer had no idea the ball broke a window and was still looking for the ball when the homeowner confronted him with a shotgun.  This will  definitely pop into my head the next time I'm looking for my or someone else's ball alongside the OB stakes bordering someone's yard!

Wow.  Didn't know John Daly had a house in Reno.

[Goonsidious]

To Topic:

No.

[Stewie007]

I've never hit anyone.... but somebody hit me once. In the side of my shin. It stung but didn't really do much damage. It bounced a few times and had lost most of its velocity at that point.

[JaxGolfer1]

I was in Ohio last week visiting the wife's family and played Red Oaks Golf Course. On the par five 8th hole I hit my 3 wood right of the hole on my second shot and was told, "don't worry, the 9th tee box is over there." When we drove over there we found that my second shot hit a golfer on the foot that was standing on the 9th tee box. I apologized profusely, but was assured everything was OK. However, we were allowed to play through at the 10th tee. I made sure to tell the golfer I was fair game which got a chuckle because they were great sports about it. I felt terrible, but accidents happen.

[phan52]

We were playing one day and my brother saw somebody he knew on an adjacent hole and went over to talk to him. He was off to the side of the hole, about 80 yards in front of the rest of the group and one of our playing partners hit a hosel rocket right at my brother. Fortunately, it bounced first, but it hit him square in the back. He was fine, but the guy who hit him was all shook up.

After everybody settled down, I told my brother it was his fault for being so far in front of the group and not paying attention. He went crazy on me (Dude, I'm the one who was HIT!), but I am right on this.

[vo-man]

Just the ball sweeper at the driving range!