What is your scariest moment in golf?

[avg_golfer]

Well, lightning season is not here yet, but last year I was in the process making a putt when I heard a loud boom right above my head. I dropped on the ground in an instance. Dropping on the ground probably didn't help if the lightning would strike anyway. But the good thing was that my partners and I did not got hurt. We were on the 12th hole and didn't hear any warning sirens what so ever. When we were back to the clubhouse we were mad, but the manager said the sirens had went off....

[Rockford35]

I hit a drive on a 330 yard par 4 that rolled onto the green. (Any old timers remember the flack I got for that when I posted it?)

I also hit a drive on a par 4 and my ball hit a sprinkler head, shot at least 75 yards further down the fairway and one hopped off the back of a cart. I apologized.

I was also in a group that a guy took a one hop off the tee in the stomach. worst part was, we were less than 200 off the teebox...

Never been hit by lightning. Never. Rolled a golf cart once. Not my fault, I swear...

R35

[Pa Jayhawk]

Shanking a 7i about 80* sideways out of heavy rough, my wife had to dodge the ball as it wizzed by her head. She was about 10-15 yards away. Luckily she was watching. I still haven't lived that one down after 2 years. She makes sure she is behind me now.

The only other was probably hitting a ball out of tall grass with a 5 wood that was purched up nicely probably 4-5 inches up. I was about 275-280 from the green on a par 5. There was a guy 20 yards off the green. I figured I could play the ball but no way I could reach him. Me and the guy I was playing with just kinda watched. We didn't even yell fore because it was so unlikely it would reach him, and by the time we realized it could it was too late. The ball actually bouced between his legs and came up just short of the green. He turned around in a huff then realized where I was standing. I apologized afterwards and he simply said it was a heck of a shot, and when he saw I was over 250 yards away in tall grass he didn't even know where the ball came from because it was so improbable. Probably the longest shot I ever had with a 5 wood. Maybe I should use longer tees. I had thought of using my driver but I didn't want to mess it up.

[trob]

The only danger I've seen is stinking ducks. Every year at a little pitch and put my son and I goto these same damn ducks attack us because thier protecting thier young. lol

[Witmaster]

Scariest moment was a year ago when teeing off the 9th I took a wicked hard hook over the trees into the clubhouse parking lot. The ball caught a lucky bounce just short of a mercedes slk 350 convertable, went over the car and landed softly in the bed of a truck full of straw.

I had the owner of the truck drive over by the green where I chipped it out and 2-putted for par

[ezra76]

I had a few. Last yr. my dad and I got caught in some lighting halfway through the back 9. Man that stuff comes in quick. I ran for the car from 21/2 holes back and I thought he was right with me. He wasn't anywhere close, almost 200 yards back. When he finally got there I thought he was going to have a heart attack. What is the proper course of action with lightning anyhow? I would think drop the clubs and get into the woods. I know standing out in the fairway waving a 3iron around is definitely not good.

[nsherman2006]

I was even par through 6 holes and lightning came. At the time, i was a 16 handicap. I finished the 9 for a pb of 39, lol, that was scary.

I hit a kid on the golf team once. Playing a links course, i had never experienced the wind factor like that before. The tees at this course are dangerously close to the greens in the first place, and i hit a 9 iron that i thought was perfect, ended up catching a gust of wind and hitting my teammate on the next tee. Got a good bounce too. I felt bad, but i didnt yell fore until it was too late just because i didnt think he was in any danger. He understood

Scariest moment tho was when i was playing with my normal group of guys. One of em must have been having a bad day tho. We're shooting the shit, and then we get to the 5th hole, and he gets yelled at by the bitchy manager for having his own cart instead of riding with another guy. I shoulda known better than to keep talking shit like usual once he got worked up, cuz he's got a temper, but he started getting cockey and challenged me to a $100 match. I agreed, on my terms, he wanted his terms. So we're going back and forth, and he's lying 3 off the green on a par 3, and skulls his chip over again. He's usually a better player than that, so im ribbing him, and i said, 2 more and you'll get there. He flipped and charged me, knocked me on my ass and was about to hit me when the manager drives up again and kicks him off the course, then he flipped at her. It got pretty messy, but thank god he didnt really go after me, cuz he would have kicked my ass in a second

Or maybe the time i hit into a group and they threatened to kick our asses, only to have the group behind me come to our defense(the guys had been holding us up all round, i hit a drive 20 yds further than i had ever been on that hole, i yelled fore, and it didnt even come close to hitting them(about 15 yards right and 5 yards short of one guy), but they flipped out. So instead of going down to the green where these guyys had stopped playing and just started waiting for us and threatening us, we let the guys behind us play through. The guys at the green didnt know it was a different group, and they picked up this guys ball and threw it in the water, so this new group charged them and had a little heated exchange before the punks ran away. Thanks god, because again, i woulda got my ass kicked

[Youngun5]

hit into the woods.... rarely happens i swear... found my ball and was clearing some twigs and fallen branches so i could punch out. bend down and reach for a "branch" but it slivers away from me. snake, so scary, i had no clue at all, but much more careful now.

we take a 2.5 hour trip to Hutchison KS for the largest tourney in the state each year. we were playing our practice round the day before and i'm walking in the fairway after bombing a drive when a ball bounces 10 ft in front of me and whizzes past my left ear as i duck. no warning or anything. to this day i swear i could tell it was a Prov as it flew by my face.

[Augster]

I got chased by a bear.

Animal Encounters on the Golf Course

[Matthew_22]

Uh ezra, going near trees during a lightning storm is a bad idea, as trees usually get struck by lightning then explode. But then again, a group of trees might not be too bad, probably better than standing in the open with a bag of metal. The proper thing to do if you can't get out of the storm is to crouch down in the open into as small a ball as you can (I learnt all that from the discovery channel)

I myself haven't had a really scary moment, but sometimes I get other golfers who would only stand off to the side thinking I would hit the ball straight, I would always freak out that I'd hurt one of them. And hearing someone yell out 'four' isn't very fun either.

[ezra76]

Originally Posted by Matthew_22

Uh ezra, going near trees during a lightning storm is a bad idea, as trees usually get struck by lightning then explode.

Getting 234 pieces of tree impaling me at 2500 mph. would probably suck worse than getting struck. I watch the weather before I play in the summer now. Last time we knew storms were on the way but we headed out to the back nine anyway. I've been pretty close (within 50ft.) of a bolt striking before, that scared the crap out of me. I was watching it, I thought from a distance and the thing came right at me.

[golfman2760]

Originally Posted by Augster

I got chased by a bear.

Animal Encounters on the Golf Course

damn it that sounds scary what I read there

ive never had any scary encounters yet

but being in Australia and being paranoid of snakes whenever im near long grass I take caution hoping I dont have to cross the path of a snake

Red Belly black snakes arnt too bad because they usually slither away if you dont pose a threat!

its those Brown snakes you have to watch out for.
ive never actually gone past the path of a snake on course yet and I hope I never do...

so nothing scary happened to me yet and I wouldnt call losing my ball in the long grass scary

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

I got up to the teebox this one time, looked out, and saw it was clear. It was honor to hit first, so I grab a tee from my pocket, tee it up, and do my usual quick one-practice-swing-and-go routine. I rip it, with probably too much fade taking me away from the inner elbow of the left dogleg.

I start to follow the ball curling, and then from the right, from off the outside of th dogleg, a cart comes trucking out behind trees.

I yelled Fore at the top of my lungs, but the two oblivious occupants never even noticed as my ball whizzed over the top of their cart as they made their way up towards the green.

[wirehair]

I was at Burns Park in Little Rock last Sunday. About #5 is a par 4 that needs a draw since the fairway bends a little to the left about 125 yards out. There's another tee box about 50 yards down and only 15 yards left of the fairway on the left side. Not a good place.

I tried to hit a low draw & of course yanked it left. This was a low line drive & it hit a guy on the tee box. No bounce or anything until it hit him right in the ass. We yelled fore, but the poor guy had no chance. He was nice about it and was trying to be macho, but that had to leave a mark.

It bounced off him & into my fairway. I was short, but had a decent lie.

I was also real careful about knowing where that group was the rest of the day.

[Dave Ireland]

I was playing one of the champ courses here, left my 2nd in the drink, a shallow enough water hazard, with a steep decline. Could see the ball lying in about 2foot of water, took out the P/W to fish it out. Lost my balance had to grab the club with 2 hands to try and lever myself out, the shaft buckled under the pressure, so the call was either a face down splash in the water or a soggy leg .........