I had an experience like this, but it was actually quite funny. I am returning to golf after decades of non-play. Needless to say my drives are not all that one might expect from a more seasoned player.
One day I teed up by myself at a nice course. I was really just starting back. My first drive shanked over into a group that was chipping in on the eighteenth. It was that bad.
I immediately walked over and apologized, and I prepared to wait for them to play out before retrieving my ball. They laughed it offf, but one of them pointed to the area where my ball landed and said, "You are right over there, and I think you have a good lie!" My ball had sliced over behind a raised bunker that I could not see from the tee box. When I got over, I found that the guy I had almost hit had kindly placed my ball on a tee! I laughed through 18 on that one.
