Jump to content
IGNORED

The craziest things that happen on a golf course


TourSpoon
Note: This thread is 2702 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Recommended Posts

So what is the craziest thing that you have ever seen on a golf course?

I was thinking about the guy who teed off on the first hole and his ball hit a tree 10 yards in front of him and ricocheted back and hit him on the leg. I saw that happen. Hilarious!

I also saw a group of retired dentists that got a little too close to the edge of a lake with a steep bank, lost control of their cart, and drove into the lake, again on the first hole. And yes, we had to rescue them and get a tractor to pull out the cart. 

But the one that just has me shaking my head is the time I was playing and we came up on the course's signature par 3 island hole (No, not Sawgrass). The breeze was slightly up, I shot the flag with the rangefinder and had 162 to a back right pin. We walk to the elevated tee and all of a sudden a guy appears in a maintenance cart and waves to us. He pulls the pin and goes to the front left and cuts a new cup, fixes the old one, waves and drives off. Now the hole is playing 145 (of course one of us hit long and is next to a tap-in on the old cup). I have never seen that in all my years. 

Cobra LTDx 10.5* | Big Tour 15.5*| Rad Tour 18.5*  | Titleist U500 4-23* | T100 5-P | Vokey SM7 50/8* F, 54/10* S, SM8 58/10* S | Scotty Cameron Squareback No. 1 | Vice Pro Plus  

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Back 15 years or so ago, I was playing a course (1st hole) when, after I played my approach shot into the green (and nicely so, leaving about a 15'-20' dead-flat birdie opportunity) a flock of geese came up from the large lake that sat about 50 yards beyond the green and began walking all about the green - we're talking 10-15 large geese.

As I approached the front edge - tentatively - a couple of them began quickly coming towards me, hissing and flapping about.  Realizing my birdie opportunity wasn't gonna happen, I circled around to the side and sat my bag down to try and flank them and quickly grab my ball.  Nada!  That just got several more involved, and I then had 6-7 coming my way, hissing and making a scene.

I backed off for a moment (no one behind me on the course), and hoped they'd at least move on after a few minutes.  Nope.  Seems the 1st green was just where they wanted to be that day.  They'd claimed the territory, like a frickin' web-footed street gang with bills, and any attempt at entry would get me pecked to death.  So not only did I have to forfeit the birdie putt, I had to forfeit a brand new golf ball.

Not sure what I gave myself on the card.  Can't promise it wasn't a 3. ;-)

BamaWade

  • Upvote 2

Wade         --         "Thaaat's CRUSHED!"


Driver:  Ping G400 LST 8.5°
FWs/Hybs:  Callaway BB Steelhead III 3w; TM R15 17° & 21°
Irons:  Mizuno JPX825
Wedges:  Cleveland Rotex 2.0 54° & 60°
Putter:  Odyssey 2-ball

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

24 minutes ago, BamaWade said:

 They'd claimed the territory, like a frickin' web-footed street gang with bills, and any attempt at entry would get me pecked to death.

This is classic! 

Cobra LTDx 10.5* | Big Tour 15.5*| Rad Tour 18.5*  | Titleist U500 4-23* | T100 5-P | Vokey SM7 50/8* F, 54/10* S, SM8 58/10* S | Scotty Cameron Squareback No. 1 | Vice Pro Plus  

Link to comment
Share on other sites


28 minutes ago, BamaWade said:

Back 15 years or so ago, I was playing a course (1st hole) when, after I played my approach shot into the green (and nicely so, leaving about a 15'-20' dead-flat birdie opportunity) a flock of geese came up from the large lake that sat about 50 yards beyond the green and began walking all about the green - we're talking 10-15 large geese.

As I approached the front edge - tentatively - a couple of them began quickly coming towards me, hissing and flapping about.  Realizing my birdie opportunity wasn't gonna happen, I circled around to the side and sat my bag down to try and flank them and quickly grab my ball.  Nada!  That just got several more involved, and I then had 6-7 coming my way, hissing and making a scene.

I backed off for a moment (no one behind me on the course), and hoped they'd at least move on after a few minutes.  Nope.  Seems the 1st green was just where they wanted to be that day.  They'd claimed the territory, like a frickin' web-footed street gang with bills, and any attempt at entry would get me pecked to death.  So not only did I have to forfeit the birdie putt, I had to forfeit a brand new golf ball.

Not sure what I gave myself on the card.  Can't promise it wasn't a 3. ;-)

BamaWade

Those feathered nuisances need to be made into dinner. @missitnoonan or @Jeremie Boop can attest to my hatred of those foul (pun intended) creatures. 

As for my story, I hit one on 16 at Oakland Hills out of the deep rough over the pond towards the green. It came out low and hot and there was no way it would clear the water. There was a rock wall bordering the pond by the green, so there's no way it could skip on, not like it would with that much top spin. I kid you not, it plunked into the water and then spun out, up over the wall into the green. @missitnoonan start yelling bull$1t and other obscenities from across the fairway. 

- Shane

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Can't remember the name of the course, but it was somewhere in the Orlando area. Someone in my group tried to reach the green of a par5 in two and went in the water. Dropped in front of the swamp/lake and duffed his second ball again in the water. Then threw his wedge out of frustration also in the water. After a second he realized this was his expensive wedge with his name inscribed on the club, so HE JUMPED IN the water to retrieve his precious tool. Snapping turtles, snakes, gators and the likes lurking in the dark there. But he managed to retrieve his wedge without loosing a limb.

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

One of my buddies and I were playing one of the courses in the Bay Area (forgot the name of the course) one day about 15 years ago. We saw four ladies in an adjacent fairway and one of them had a remote controlled cart. Apparently she did not know how to control it very well as the cart kept going towards a pond and she tried frantically to stop it but to no avail. It went straight into the pond and sunk. 

  • Upvote 1

Don

:titleist: 910 D2, 8.5˚, Adila RIP 60 S-Flex
:titleist: 980F 15˚
:yonex: EZone Blades (3-PW) Dynamic Gold S-200
:vokey:   Vokey wedges, 52˚; 56˚; and 60˚
:scotty_cameron:  2014 Scotty Cameron Select Newport 2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

I think there's a large old thread exactly like this already actually, just need to dig it up.

Anyway, weirdest I've encountered was people rolling a cart.  I've also hit 2 geese myself (both with drives).

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Three stories:

1.  Playing golf in HI with sis and BIL.  We're on one of the Kapalua courses.  Hole 1 is a par 5.  BIL drives ball left and into a back yard.  Upon approach, we discover a dog, chained to an in-ground pole.  We assess the situation, dog is lying there doing nothing.  Ball is definitely OB, in yard and within reach of dog.  BIL approaches property, dog feigns disinterest.  As soon as BIL sets ONE foot on the property, the dog goes ballistic, snarling and growling running toward us until it hits the end of the chain.  Golf ball is inside reach of dog.  Back to #1 tee he goes.

2. Playing in an outing with a bunch of once-or-twice-a-year players.  #10 was a par three.  As we're leaving #10, a guy in our group says to the group next up to beware of the drunk boneheads behind them hitting into them on a par-3.  #11 tee box is just behind the par 3 green.  A guy in our group shanks a driver straight right that strikes the tee marker. Of course nobody saw the ricochet or direction after it struck the tee maker.  Seconds later we hear the group behind us putting on the par 3 screaming at the guys on #10 for hitting into them.  Ball that stuck the tee marker went up, left and over our tee box and landed in the middle of #10 green!  Needless to say, the hacks in the outing did more drinking than golfing.

3. Fall golf.  My buddy and I (2-some) were getting pressure from the group behind us.  They'd hit some close to us on a couple of holes but nothing that required any interaction or reprimand from us.  We're sitting on a par-3 tee box waiting AGAIN on the slow-pokes in front of us when BANG something hits our cart hard.  My hothead buddy jumps out and starts yelling, "don't you @##%$%Ws know the word FORE?!!!"  Two more loud BANGS on the golf cart's roof.  Turns out we were being pelted by walnut-sized acorns dropping from the large oak tree we were parked underneath.  Don't be too quick to judge and react, I guess.

dave

  • Upvote 2

The ultimate "old man" setup:

Ping G30 driver
Ping G Fairway woods - 5 and 7 woods
Callaway X-Hot #5 hybrid; Old school secret weapon
Ping G #6-9 irons; W and U wedges
Vokey 54 and 58* Wedges
Odyssey Versa Putter
Golf Balls

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

I saw a guy blade one out of a green side bunker so hard i heard it fizz as it went by me. But somehow......the ball hits the very top of the flag stick,  careens strait down and rides flagstick into the hole like it was on a rope... :hmm: Absolutely impossible 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Moderator
4 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

I saw a guy blade one out of a green side bunker so hard i heard it fizz as it went by me. But somehow......the ball hits the very top of the flag stick,  careens strait down and rides flagstick into the hole like it was on a rope... :hmm: Absolutely impossible 

"I meant to do that!" :-P

Scott

Titleist, Edel, Scotty Cameron Putter, Snell - AimPoint - Evolvr - MirrorVision

My Swing Thread

boogielicious - Adjective describing the perfect surf wave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • 4 weeks later...
  • Administrator

I've seen a lot of crazy things.

But the most recent (albeit not too crazy) is that I saw a player hit the ball straight down four inches. The ball was beneath the ground several inches, despite being teed up moments before.

He hit the ball five or six inches… downward.

I've also seen a player in a scramble pull-hook the ball into a tree 80 yards left of the par three green we were playing… and we ended up taking his putt, because it hit a tree and bounced into the air, onto the green, and roll out to about 12 feet away from the cup.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

A few weekends ago playing Greensomes format with @MacDutch and @David in FL, we pick David's drive in the fairway on #8. I play a 3w to get as close to the green as possible. I caught it thin to where it didn't get higher than 10' off the ground, but it was screaming along and would have probably rolled inside of 100 yds... until it hits the 150 pole and goes sideways. Perhaps I should have tried to hit that one little pole in the middle of an open field of grass. :mad:

- Shane

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

While living in England a few years back, I used to play in an annual Ryder Cup/Presidents Cup mirror match event.  One poor guy from the opposing team had a horrible time getting off the 1st tee for the whole weekend.  On Friday, his tee shot hit the starter house and rebounded and landed about 10 feet behind the tee markers.  On Saturday morning, he hit a tree framing the tee box and rebounded to about 20 feet behind the tee markers.  At this point, everybody involved was giving him a hard time and he suddenly had a huge audience for his afternoon tee time.  This time he managed to swing completely beneath the ball and impart enough backspin on the ball that it fell from the tee and rolled back about 4 inches.  I've never seen anything like that before and doubt I ever will again. 

On Sunday morning he dribbled his tee shot off the box about 30 yards--he was elated!

The funny part was, this guy was a pretty good player (7 handicap) and actually won 3 of the 4 matches that weekend and halved the other.

Randal

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

My father told me this (true) story: As a young man, his company put on a golf day for the employees. They rented one of the town's posher golf clubs for the forenoon. My dad and his friend (who were only occasional leisure golfers) went along to get a day off work. As the competition organizer knew they didn't play so well, they were the last flight out. By this time, the club members had begun gathering on the clubhouse balcony overlooking the first tee. My dad's friend (Willie Smith by name), being the more experienced golfer, opted to tee off first. He made an air shot, giving rise to murmurs from the assembled club members, who did not relish the though of playing behind this pair. Unruffled, he lined up again. Another air shot. He proceeded to look up at the horrified club members and uttered the immortal comment: "Pretty tough course you have here!".

I just wish I had the presence of mind to come up with that!

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


When you are in the military and the base landing zone is in the middle of the driving range and a helo comes in to land. You have to stop until people get off and on then takes back off again. 

Golf_Helo.JPG

Edited by sirsteveo55
Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Moderator
18 minutes ago, sirsteveo55 said:

When you are in the military and the base landing zone is in the middle of the driving range and a helo comes in to land. You have to stop until people get off and on then takes back off again. 

Golf_Helo.JPG

Holy moly, talk about a hitting the range cart on steroids. I wonder what kind of armor that helicopter has, hmmmmm? Let me find out (as I tee it up) :-O

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Note: This thread is 2702 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Want to join this community?

    We'd love to have you!

    Sign Up
  • TST Partners

    TourStriker PlaneMate
    Golfer's Journal
    ShotScope
    The Stack System
    FlightScope Mevo
    Direct: Mevo, Mevo+, and Pro Package.

    Coupon Codes (save 10-15%): "IACAS" for Mevo/Stack, "IACASPLUS" for Mevo+/Pro Package, and "THESANDTRAP" for ShotScope.
  • Posts

    • Day 76 - Pretty sore today, so I opted for putting over my Stack session. Primary focus was on starting line, as my putting has been pretty poor this year. 
    • Been a bit of delay in updates but I needed to come back east as my mom's health has taken a serious turn for the worse. In a 3 day span we learned she had a tumor to she has stage 4 cancer and stopped eating and drinking for the most part. She has had a rough 3 months but certainly didn't think we'd be at the point of setting up hospice for her. My mom was never into any sports really other than following the Red Sox because my dad was a big fan. She always cared about what we were involved in including asking about how golf went.  I have kept up with my 5 minutes of daily practice and will go to the gym here in NH tomorrow morning. Despite the somber nature of this trip my family has commented more than a few times about my weight loss so it's important to me to keep it up. I know my mom always wanted us happy in whatever we did so I'll continue with my fitness journey keeping that in mind. 
    • Day 109- Putting drills on a putting green for 20 minutes. 
    • Day 252: did a stack session. Did some slow rehearsal swings during breaks. 
    • Day 82: 3/18/24 Tried a Stack session but could not certify my warmup. Finished with indoor chips and putting. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to TST! Signing up is free, and you'll see fewer ads and can talk with fellow golf enthusiasts! By using TST, you agree to our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Guidelines.

The popup will be closed in 10 seconds...