Weirdness on the Course

[Bballref]

Surely everyone has experienced a bit of weirdness during a round of golf. Animals, lost items, unusual incidents, accidents, etc. 

For myself I've witnessed a few over the years. My buddy banged a shot off a turtle crossing the green once but one of the oddest animal sightings I ever had was a black jaguar next to a tee box. In Canada! Didn't know this at the time but the big cat had escaped from a local zoo nearby. It had been AWOL for days apparently. Stopped us in our tracks when we saw it sitting there. One of the guys phoned the clubhouse where they were aware of this missing feline. They called the zoo. Heard later that the cat was pretty much tame and when the zookeeper showed up all he did was call the cat like you would your own and it came out of the bushes to greet him. 

A friend had the misfortune of being the only guy I've ever heard of that broke a leg playing golf. Ok, it wan't his fault. He was sitting on a bench when some drunk driving a golf cart smashed into him. He sued the GC and won considerable money. 

The most unusual thing I ever found on a golf course? There are two things that stand out in my memory. One was a women's bra in the fairway and the other a crack pipe on the green. I returned them both to the pro shop's lost and found. To the best of my knowledge no one ever claimed them.

 

[lastings]

I shot an 80 a few times.  That was pretty unusual.  

[kpaulhus]

I saw two 7ft black racer snakes mating on a tee box in North Carolina once. From 15ft away I thought it was a water hose that had been cut and was wriggling from water pressure. Nope. They were not happy I walked up to them. 

[406pat]

About to tee off in the middle of a round at Seeley Lake in Montana and had to hold off hitting because 3-4 groups were moving back down the fairway toward the tee. Turns out there was a sow griz with two cubs a few holes up taking a stroll through the course. Not unheard of in that part of the world but there were a few folks who had never seen one of the big bears before and thought it was pretty weird. 

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, Bballref said:

The most unusual thing I ever found on a golf course? There are two things that stand out in my memory. One was a women's bra in the fairway and the other a crack pipe on the green. I returned them both to the pro shop's lost and found. To the best of my knowledge no one ever claimed them.

 

Guessing it was on the same hole?

The strangest thing I've seen on a golf course was a hairless coyote.

 

[Golfingdad]

In Palm Springs, my friend and I once saw a woman watering her plants in her back yard naked.    (Her yard was right on the course with no fence - we weren't being perverts) 

[Hacker James]

that was Sam Rothstein's wife in their Palm Springs Home. She is usually at the home on Las Vegas Country Club. I think it is along the sixth fairway.

[Papa Steve 55]

Alright, see if I can explain this so it makes sense.

A friend was getting out of his cart and his keys fell out of his pocket. He leaned over to pick them up as he was getting out. He stepped on his own hand as he was leaning forward, he was too far forward to get back into the cart and had most of his full weight on the hand holding his keys, so he could not get his hand out from under his foot. The keys digging into his hand played a part also. He solved the whole thing by trying to shift his weight to one side, forgetting his other foot was still on the gas  pedal. We call him speed bumps now.

[Bballref]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

Guessing it was on the same hole?

The strangest thing I've seen on a golf course was a hairless coyote.

 

Nah. They were a few years apart. Seen coyotes but not hairless.

I just remembered another strange event. I was manning the flagstick while my buddy fired off an 80 foot putt. As it got closer I realized it had a chance so I went to pull the pin out of the hole. Trouble is, it got stuck somehow. As the ball got closer I panicked and pulled real hard to get the damn pin out of the hole. Well the pin came out but in so doing, the plastic hole liner came up with it extending a couple inches above green level and you guessed it, my friend's putt hit the plastic dead on and bounced back a few inches. I gave him the putt because I thought he was going to cry. I've always wondered what rule would cover that. Never  had it happen again and nobody that I know had ever seen such a thing. Don't know why the pin was stuck because i couldn't duplicate the event once we got the hole back to normal.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Bballref

[Golfingdad]

1 hour ago, Hacker James said:

that was Sam Rothstein's wife in their Palm Springs Home. She is usually at the home on Las Vegas Country Club. I think it is along the sixth fairway.

LOL.  She wasn't unattractive, but she was not as memorable as Sharon Stone!

Incidentally, I have only played golf in Vegas one time and it was at that course (it's actually Las Vegas National).  And I didn't actually know it ahead of time, but as we were walking down that hole I saw it and was like "huh, that looks like Sam Rothstein's house" but I didn't really think it actually was.  Pulled the movie out when I got home and was like, crap, it was TOTALLY that house!!!

When I played there (bachelor party - means it would've been Fall of 2007), it was the 9th hole, now it's the 18th hole.  3515 Cochise Lane.

 

---

Another random bit of trivia I recently learned:  That course was in the rotation for the early rounds of the Las Vegas Invitational when Tiger Woods won his first professional tournament in 1996.

[Hacker James]

@Golfingdad. The last two times I played there it was called (I think) LVCC.  I was comp'd by Westgate, previously LVH, before that Las Vegas Hilton. I do not recall the reference as Las Vegas National, but you could be correct. At least one TST member has a membership there. It is nearly impossible to terminate your membership, and even once you die, your heirs assume your dues responsibilities I am told. (Probably a bit more to it than that though).

Edited April 11, 2017 by Hacker James

[Golfingdad]

4 minutes ago, Hacker James said:

@Golfingdad. The last two times I played there it was called (I think) LVCC.  I was comp'd by Westgate, previously LVH, before that Las Vegas Hilton. I do not recall the reference as Las Vegas National, but you could be correct. At least one TST member has a membership there. It is nearly impossible to terminate your membership, and even once you die, your heirs assume your dues responsibilities I am told.

I just googled LVCC and it's a different course altogether - just two blocks to the west of LV National.

[Hacker James]

12 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

I just googled LVCC and it's a different course altogether - just two blocks to the west of LV National.

so, in the movie, the house in question is at LV National?   If so, then I more than likely misread or misunderstood the original article that was quoted in the movie review. 2 blocks to the west would be on The Strip, would it not?

Edit: Yes, you are right!  different addresses altogether. LVCC is on Joe W. Brown, LV National is off Desert Inn. and is the course in the Casino Script. My error.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Hacker James

[Hardspoon]

I've seen some pretty standard wildlife (from alligators to coatis), but one course I play often has an infestation of wild turkeys, and I find that strange every time.

This sounds silly, but the weirdest thing I ever encountered was a full set of clothing...golf shirt, pants, and socks.  Just laying in the grass next to a tee box.  I have no idea the circumstances that could have caused that.

 

[Hacker James]

Camp Pendleton....Herds of Sheep, Bison, Deer

MCAS Miramar.....Jack Rabbits (not recently though).Rattlers, water fowl.

Bernardo Heights....Asian Swans

 

[CCC]

Last Saturday....

I was playing the 18th at my club. I pulled my drive into the backyard of a house that borders the fairway. I saw the ball hit a big tree and drop straight down. I knew where the ball might be. It was Out Of Bounds by about 5 yards.

I drive my cart up to the backyard and see three ladies there having fun with their dog. And they see me. As I get out of the cart, I hear one of them asking, what is he doing? I tell them I'm looking for Easter eggs. I find my ball, pick it up and show it to them and laugh about it. It's really a good thing I my errant drive did not hit one of them....

I take a few steps back to the cart and (out of no where) BANG!!!! -  I hit my head on the bird feeder hanging from a branch on the tree. "Are you OK?, are you alright?" I heard them say. The bird feeder was swinging back and forth. I was seeing birds flying around my head, like in cartoons. Oh yeah, I fine.

Good thing I was wearing a ball cap. The hit broke the skin on my left forehead under the cap. A little blood. No concussion. At least, far as I can tell. :)

And now I try to get back into the game and plan my next shot into the green from 115 yards....

Very embarrassing incident. But, I've found playing golf to be THE most embarrassing thing I've ever done.

Don't know if my experience qualifies as being "weird", but it certainly was to me.

[Buckeyebowman]

There's a local course where flocks of wild turkeys wander through on a regular basis. It's an unusual round if you don't see them. And we have courses where there are lots of deer walking around.

My 2 most unusual happenings involved squirrels. In one instance as I was walking up the hole I spotted a mange ravaged, totally hairless squirrel! I will simply say that they're not called "limb rats" for nothing!

The other instance was when my buddy hit into the front bunker on a par 3, and I hit to the back of the green. I walked back there and marked my ball. When I looked I could see my buddy staring into the bunker with a look of disgust on his face. I asked him what was wrong, and he called me down there to have a look. I found his ball lodged against the bloated, maggot riddled carcass of a squirrel with a cloud of blowflies hovering over it!

I couldn't resist the joke and told him he had to play the ball as it lies, but I let him drop a safe distance away, in the bunker, and play from there.

[Hacker James]

12 minutes ago, CCC said:

Last Saturday....

I was playing the 18th at my club. I pulled my drive into the backyard of a house that borders the fairway. I saw the ball hit a big tree and drop straight down. I knew where the ball might be. It was Out Of Bounds by about 5 yards.

I drive my cart up to the backyard and see three ladies there having fun with their dog. And they see me. As I get out of the cart, I hear one of them asking, what is he doing? I tell them I'm looking for Easter eggs. I find my ball, pick it up and show it to them and laugh about it. It's really a good thing I my errant drive did not hit one of them....

I take a few steps back to the cart and (out of no where) BANG!!!! -  I hit my head on the bird feeder hanging from a branch on the tree. "Are you OK?, are you alright?" I heard them say. The bird feeder was swinging back and forth. I was seeing birds flying around my head, like in cartoons. Oh yeah, I fine.

Good thing I was wearing a ball cap. The hit broke the skin on my left forehead under the cap. A little blood. No concussion. At least, far as I can tell. :)

And now I try to get back into the game and plan my next shot into the green from 115 yards....

Very embarrassing incident. But, I've found playing golf to be THE most embarrassing thing I've ever done.

Don't know if my experience qualifies as being "weird", but it certainly was to me.

so  basically, you hit your head whilst trespassing.  On some of the courses I frequent with homes along the fairway, most are prominently marked "Private Property - do not enter".  I almost was expecting you to have said "Bang, I got hit on the head by a golf ball thrown at me from adjacent property owner".