Ever Been Hit by a Golf Ball?

[Wanzo]

Have you ever been hit by a golf ball?  I worked at a public course in high school and college. Our driving range was right next to the first hole, so when we picked up the range we had to walk around the first fairway to pick up errant range balls. I was waking the tree line between the 1st hole and the range when all of a sudden, Wham!, a ball someone hit from the range right off the back off my head. I think it was a glancing blow, but that was the first time I literally saw stars. 

[Golfingdad]

Not me, but it happened to a friend of mine while I was standing right next to him and I'll never forget ... that sound.

It was in 8th grade (sheesh, that's nearly 30 years ago now) and we were on the second hole.  We were beyond the tree line to the right of the hole, which is why the guys behind us didn't know we were still in range.  Long story short, a ball from the tee hit him square in the head while we were standing there waiting for the green to clear.  It sounded just like the crack of the ball off a tree.

They took him to the clubhouse and he ended up being fine (in fact, he begged them to let him join us for the back nine when we came through, but they said no) but it was pretty scary at the time.

 

[jbishop15]

I got hit in the calf once. Left a big bruise and hurt for weeks.

Saw a guy take one in the back once. He was okay after, but that dull thud as it hit him was unsettling.

[saevel25]

Nope, though I've had a couple come close before. 

[Hatchman]

No, but I hit a guy.  He called me up to the green to play through and I hit my iron right where he was standing on the green.   He kind of froze after moving back and forth then it smacked him in the chest.  Won't do that again. 

[chilepepper]

Sitting in a cart one hit me square on the ankle. That really hurt

[CarlSpackler]

Thankfully no.

[AbsoluteTruths]

Yes, stupid me was standing on the green while one of our foursome was hitting out of greenside bunker. He hit a screamer that hit me right in the shoulder blade area. It made a thud sound but it did not hurt or leave a mark that i know of.

[boogielicious]

I was hit by a friend of mine. I hooked a tee shot and went to look for it while the others teed off to save some time. I found my ball and went back toward my fairway to see where my friends were at. My buddy, a lefty, sliced his tee shot. It came right at me, so I move back a few feet. It hit a tree branch and ricocheted right into my shoulder. Didn't hurt that much, but it was funny. 

[bkuehn1952]

I was standing on the 17th fairway near the edge closest to the 11th which was somewhat parallel.  I saw a puff of dust to my right and sort of turned to protect myself when a ball smacked me on the side of my head near the temple. I spun around and sat on the ground, processing what had happened.  Someone teeing off on #11 had hit a slicing low burner at me and must have frozen and failed to yell "fore."  Fortunately I had turned away and caught some of the impact on the arm of my eyeglasses.

I finished birdie, eagle ... at least that is what I recall   (naw, probably bogey, bogey)

[NJpatbee]

I took someone's drive right in the stomach standing along the tree edge and I did buckle over and hit the ground - it felt like a body shot from George Foreman.  After a couple of minutes of nausea I felt a little better and completed the round.  The ball mark looked like an archery target and was about 3 inches across.  Fortunately, no lasting effects or lost golf time.

Edited January 2, 2017 by NJpatbee

[shanksalot]

Caddying for my wife in her Club Championship and a drive from another fairway hit me, but I had turned into it and it caught me in the butt. A few years ago on a par four a guy had teed off and pulled his drive. The hole to the left was a par 3 and one of the group on that hole missed the green and was close to the par 4 fairway. The ball hit him in the temple and put him down.They called for an ambulance and they ended up taking him to the hospital. He was in the hospital for some time with a severe concussion. He never was better as far as I have heard and that was a few years ago.  

[Elrey Desol]

years ago, i was sitting in a cart (passenger side) waiting on a buddy to hit. the cart was parked about 10 yards ahead of him, and about 25 yards to his left. not sure how it happened, physics and all, but he swings and catches a 3w on the heel (behind the hosel) and the ball comes bouncing and screaming right at me.

with no time to react, the ball hits me directly on the RH butt-cheek. hurt like hell, but was able to finish the nine and headed into the clubhouse to check out the damage: visible dimple-prints in the skin, and a bruise that looked like a sunburst, with yellow in the center gradually radiating to 5" in diameter with dark purple around the outer edge. took about a month for it to completely dissipate.

the lesson? i will never, ever, play golf with that guy again.

[Vinny Cap]

I have never been hit but had a few close calls.

We were on 10 while a guy and his wife were coming down 13.  I was in the cart waiting on my bud when the guy hit one into the trees, off a rock, bounce on the cart path and right through our cart.  I leaned back to avoid it as I had a bad feeling when he was lined up to hit.  Glad that one missed me.

Another time I was teeing off and another guy was on a par 3 Tee and he hooked it right over to where we were.  I just finished my swing when the ball bounced a foot away from my foot.  No Fore or anything... he was in sight as these were parallel holes.  He kind of turned to ignore us like he did nothing... well that didn't sit too good with our group and one of my buds got pretty vocal and the guy still pretended he didn't hit it so my bud launched it into the pond.

We all have a bad shot here and there but if you see it, yell FORE!  Don't pretend you didn't hit it.

[Jeremie Boop]

Yep, couple of times. Once just barely avoided serious injury because the ball came down on the bill of my hat which deflected most of it's velocity. It really was my fault, I had walked off the side of the green and stopped to write down my score. The guy was pretty far back and I didn't expect him to be able to reach where I was. He yelled "fore" and came up to apologize right away. I let him know it was ok, that it was my fault for standing there.

The second time, some dumbass bounce a shot off a golf cart and it hit me straight in the mouth.

 

 

 

 

Ok, it was me, I hit myself in the mouth by bouncing the ball off the cart.... Like I said, some dumbass !

[mcanadiens]

One of my closest calls was playing with @Jeremie Boop and @CarlSpackler at Homestead GC. I was hitting a short pitch shot. No sooner had I gotten the ball off than I saw a white blurr. out of the corner of my eye. It landed a foot or two away.

[CarlSpackler]

1 minute ago, mcanadiens said:

One of my closest calls was playing with @Jeremie Boop and @CarlSpackler at Homestead GC. I was hitting a short pitch shot. No sooner had I gotten the ball off then I saw a white blurr. out of the corner of my eye. It landed a foot or two away.

Then there was the time that @Jeremie Boop hit himself with a golf ball at Kittyhawk.

[mcanadiens]

Just now, CarlSpackler said:

Then there was the time that @Jeremie Boop hit himself with a golf ball at Kittyhawk.

He beat you to it. Look right above mine.