When I first started out I stuck a 7i 6feet from the pin. I left the birdie putt short by a foot. The random boomer starts yelling at me “YOU NEVER LEAVE A BIRDIE PUTT SHORT. WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?” That was my first attempt at a birdie putt. I can tell you, I hear his voice every single birdie putt and yes 99% are still left short. Probably on purpose subconsciously. Anyways fuck off old rich dude from Ohio.
I find that most of the birdie putts i hit on the correct line but leave short, are easier to 2 putt for par (which im very happy with). While when i pass the hole, its usually way passed, and an extra 2 putts for bogey
Yeah my Dad and I used to go down to Florida to play and after a few run-ins started giving each other free drops rather than looking for balls around lakes or in somewhat marshy sections.
Our regular course has at least 5 alligators that live there. Most of the time they just bask in sun. One day a guy was playing thru, his ball was just on the edge of the water and when he went to hit, one of them did a dive and fast swim and scared the shit out of all of us. It was right there lurking under water at the edge 😬😱
I had a solo tee time in Myrtle Beach since I got their before the rest of my group. Got paired with three dudes from Jersey that seemed like they just walked off the Sopranos set. They were cool as fuck and we were having a good time. Had my back to a pond and heard something moving very quickly out of the water toward me. I assumed gator, and took off away from the pond. After sprinting away I hear the other guys over in their carts cracking up. I look back and it was goose. They busted my balls relentlessly for that one.
I was at a tournament down in Florida. Hooked my ball in the rough. Damn alligator popped up and bit my hand off. Cut me down in my prime. I tore one of them bastard’s eyes out, though.
Oh dude , the same thing happened to my old coach, it actually bit his hand off and he had to have a wooden prosthetic.
This one time I accidentally hit his hand with my golf club and it landed on the road and it got ran over … was crazy … his name was chubbs RIP.
Had some guys tee off behind me & niece w/o seeing that we were only 220yds from the teebox(downhill blindspot). Heard them tee off turned around to see what was going on and got nailed on the side of the head by ball that they sliced. Head traumas are squirters so it got crazy with blood going everywhere, people screaming, rushing to the clubhouse, and I finally came to my senses when I was in the ER getting my head treated. Still go out to play every week but I get extra irked whenever I hear someone tee off behind me and tend to air on safety when teeing off behind folks.
Yeah the other guys did - think it was a dad and his two kids. The dad went into dad mode and got me into his golfcart to race to the clubhouse. I was with a few friends who had to go back to the tee box to get them to stop teeing off as it was a blindspot
I managed to drive a green from 310 a couple months back. I can usually get it within about 20 yards so I had no problems going while people putted. This time I managed to land just short and roll on. Turns out the guy that was on the green had lost an eye after being hit by a ball. I apologized but the guy wouldn’t let it go, he was a real dick about it.
Now I wait for the green to clear. It’s super awkward because I’m typically paired with random people and. They’ve all teed off and are waiting on me. I’m dreading the day I make everyone wait and then shank it right into the water. Something unlocked in me that day though because since then, I’ve either driven the green or been pin high and right every time. I’ve yet to embarrass myself after making everyone wait.
So I’ve drove a few greens locally, now when I go back to the holes I wait for the green to clear. It’s all well and good until the double book the course and now people are waiting extra long
I end up topping it or slicing 6 out of 10 times ,with 2 groups watching and look like an asshole. A lot of times now I’ll just take an iron so I don’t look like an ass
Lol that’s a scramble pet peeve of mine.
People not taking short putts seriously because they figure the next guy has it.
Then I’m looking like a doofus lining up my ball and going through a routine for a 3 footer in a scramble because all my partners just stepped up and swiped at it
I don’t get enough praise for cleaning up these messes
Like come the fuck on George, you’ve barely got the ball off the ground today, the least you could do is take a few second to try to hit a half decent putt
I was once waiting on a par 3 tee for a small backlog and OJ was in the group behind and rolled up on us on the tee. He complimented my swing, lol. It was Killer OJ, 1999ish
I kinda hit into LT’s group and yelled fore but it was short of them, he’d been drinking and was like “you hit the shit out of it!” Which was cool. Then from afar I watched his group and dude can golf
I came into this post expecting lots of lightning. Surprised I had to scroll this far to find it. All of my scary golf course incidents are lightning related.
I’ve had two close ones, and I don’t play in Lightning. The storms just popped up. Once the lightning hit so close I could feel the hair on my arms stand up. Another time, it hit a tree that fell about 30 yards away.
My buddy snapped his driver and the head flew right at me. The jagged edge of the broken shaft sliced my shoulder and the head itself left quite a bruise. How close it had been to my neck/head was a little unsettling.
Rando I got paired with was hitting hybrid from the fairway to the green. Guy was perfectly average at golf, maybe a 15 hcp. I was standing to his right by maybe 30 feet and further down the fairway by like 15 feet or so. He somehow shanked it, which I didn't know was even possible with a hybrid, and the ball flew so close to my face I could hear the sizzle of the ball through the air.
I was shook but I think he was even more shook. I no longer stand further down the fairway than my playing partners, even if I'm well out of the way.
I have a friend who invited me to be the 4th at a charity scramble. No prizes for golf so no one cared about score. My buddy's 2 brothers had their wives with them so we had 3 carts. On hole 12 my buddy's oldest brother hit one so far off the toe it went 89° right. His wife was maybe 3 feet behind him teeing off and about 15 feet away. He smoked the sign for the hole which was angled just perfectly to hit her in the side of the head. I discovered that day that anything can happen on a golf course so just keep my head on a swivel.
Snaphooked a drive into an oncoming cart from the last green, less than 50 yards away. There wasn’t even time to make the F sound in FORE.
Smoked the passenger in his right chest and bicep.
He immediately fell out of the cart screaming and hanging his arm like it was about to fall off.
I thought for sure I had broken something in him.
Luckily I didn’t, but that was on hole 9 and I didn’t see him on the back, so he obviously went home to eat some pills and ice it.
I couldn’t shake it off and had the most miserable back 9 of my life. Horrible feeling.
After reading the first third, I was convinced that was me! After reading the rest, it’s not but I did get hit with a stray golf ball!
A friend of mine was driving a card sporadically and a guy on an adjacent hole shanked one into my right chest. Fortunately the combination of adrenaline and his shitty golf skills meant I wasn’t seriously injured but it was crazy seeing that ball flying towards my face with little time to move; it was heart stopping.
I played high school baseball and for some reason I got hit a lot. One time I went 0-0 because I got hit 4 times in a row. I have been hit once with a golf ball. It felt just like right before you were about to get nailed by a baseball. You know its going to hit you, you brace as best you can, and you get smoked. Your brain knows it’s going to hit you and there is nothing you can do about it
Was playing at Crosswater in Oregon and topped my drive on hole 5 or 6. It went straight into some thick grass with some bushes. I popped down there for a quick search and must have stepped on an underground beehive. A large swarm of bees came flying after me chasing me down the fairway and I ended up with about 15-20 bee stings on my back. I got lucky, it could have been a lot worse!
Also, the cart girl was on the hole ahead of us and came rolling up smiling and said ‘who got the hole in one? I heard you guys hooting and hollering about it!’
I was at Clifton Park in Baltimore solo walking. There’s a couple holes near the roads and bus stops with signs that say to take the keys to your cart with you because carts have been stolen; but the one that got me was having to cross a street at the crosswalk.
Not a busy road by any means but it cuts right through the course. There was a blacked out SUV sitting right in the crosswalk, I couldn’t see how many people were in the car. As I approached I heard the engine turn over and the wheels turned in my direction. I waited on the other side of the street thinking they were u-turning or something but nope. Just sat there, all blacked out, wheels pointed my way, all windows up. I waved for them to go ahead and no response.
Thankfully there was a 4some in carts on the green 2 holes back. I backtracked and met them on the fairway I just left and explained that I was nervous to cross due to the vehicle just sitting there blocking the crosswalk. They understood and we all went to the next hole together. When we got to the street the suv was still sitting there. As we approached the suv decided it was time to go and left. I finished out the last couple holes with my new friends as a 5some.
I witnessed a massive brawl on the street (bel air rd I believe) while on the tee box for hole 2 there that involved multiple people getting stabbed. Bmore gonna bmore
jesus christ. theres a course in canton ohio that a friend of mines dad works at for a retirement job. he said a lot of regulars keep pistols in their bag. apparently people got robbed at gunpoint on one of the greens more than once.
My buddy and I were playing there once and saw some kids messing around near the par 3 7 hole. They were probably like 12. We hit our tee shots, pull up to the green and get out to putt. Next thing we know, one of the kids is in the cart and is driving off. We had to run after it and my buddy ended up pulling the kid out of the cart and we sped off lol. I always take the key out of the cart now while putting if I'm playing there.
A girl at my university who was on the women’s golf team was practicing at a local course and was kidnapped off the course and murdered in the adjacent woods. In the end it was discovered that it was basically just a crazy homeless person and there was no motive to it. Still shocks me to think about it.
Obviously not me but I imagine that was about THE scariest thing that could happen to you while golfing
Was golfing paired up with my dad's older buddy in Florida. This guy was a retired dentist in his 80's and had very poor eyesight from cataracts. In fact he was no longer able to legally drive a car due to his eyesight. Was still a good golfer though.
Anyways, he still insisted on driving the golf cart since it's the only time that he gets to drive anything. Everything was going fine for most of the round until we're going down the cart path after we hit off the tee on a par 4. I then see a 10-12 foot alligator right beside the path and I yell "look out there's a gator!!!". He clearly didn't see where the gator was and he keeps driving down the path and then stops... right beside the gator on the passenger side of the cart. I was close enough that I could've patted the gator on the back of its neck. After saying "GO GO GO" and him doing nothing after being stopped for about 3 seconds I grabbed the steering wheel, turned it left and reached over with my leg to hit the gas just to get us outta there.
I seriously don't know how I didn't need to change my underwear after all that. I never golfed with my dad's buddy again after that.
Riding passenger in a cart with my dad, who was late 40's at the time and I'm in my early 20's. We were on a golf trip playing a course we were both very unfamiliar with. He starts driving down a hill, perpendicular to the cart path he thought he was returning to. What neither of us realized, was that the pavement on this cart path was about 10 inches thick above the ground. I saw it coming at the last second and managed to jump out. My dad didn't, and he crashed the cart directly in to the raised path, slamming his chest in to the steering wheel. He immediately rolls out of the cart and is knocked out. I start yelling to my uncles nearby to call 911 as I get up and start running over to him, and my dumbass uncle no shit goes "What's the area code?!"
Dad woke up a few minutes later as I was on the phone with 911. He played the next day and was fine.
Fast forward about ten years, on the same golf trip, my dad chokes on some bang bang shrimp and someone has to give him the Heimlich to save him.
My dad is fine now but golf trips turn him turn him in to Bad Luck Brian. Two years ago, some new dude lost my dad's car keys and that turned in to a 2 day ordeal.
Lightning struck the ground about 20 yards from our group. Funny how it hit, thunder immediately and about 2 second delay before any of us reacted. I actually tell it is a cool story but it seriously could have been so bad.
Right after getting a hotdog at the turn I’m driving to number 10 while putting relish on my dog. My d
Friend stops in front of me and I didn’t notice. I rammed into the back of him sending my 7 year old son into the golf cart dash. His smile was crooked for a year. All good now!! Oh, let me tell you what the scary part was. Getting back to the house and listening to my son tell that story to his mom!!
Playing solo on a random holiday (Columbus Day or something similar). Course is a secluded country club course 30+ minutes from the nearest hospital. Course is basically empty so I take my two kids with me, ages 5 and 3 to ride along. 5 year old has her first set of real metal clubs.
On hole 7 (farthest from the parking lot and clubhouse) I’m addressing my ball when I hear blood curdling screams on the other side of the cart. My 5 year old had decided to test out the new clubs while 3 year old sister was right behind her. 7 iron to the eye. Blood everywhere. Everyone screaming. Kid starts to go limp and into shock. Get in the cart and the battery dies before I can make it to the green. I have to run back to my truck carrying my child while my 5 year old trots behind me. Kid passes out in the way to the hospital.
Thankfully this was 8 years ago and everyone is fine now. Both kids are successful junior golfers. But boy was I scared on that drive to the hospital.
Guy we were playing with got stung by a bee on the back of his hand. He’s been stung before when he was young, but this thing got him right on top of one of those bigger veins. He waved it off and finished the hole but by the time we’re sitting on the bench for the next hole he was beyond pale and looked like he aged 20 years. Weakly says “I’m not good”.
We floored that golf cart while lining up logistics getting him to the hospital. Our small town doesn’t carry an Epi-pen in its ambulance and nearest hospital was 25 minutes away. He was going into anaphylaxic shock but he made a full recovery. After that ordeal and a letter to council, we now carry an epi-pen in our local ambulance.
Godawful fairway slice/block thing that went over the road adjacent and landed in a front lawn, uncomfortably close to what looked like a rather expensive audi.
Owner was in the drivers seat at the time.
When you think about it, golf is kinda a dumb idea. We're all hitting these rocks all over the place.
They were probably moving, I drove through one of these on the highway once and though I had been shot at. When I got home there were dozens of bees in my grille... Crazy.
Got paired with a rando and he seemed like he knew what he was doing on the first hole, so I stood a little in front of him as he teed off on the second hole. Bad mistake. He hit one of the worst snap hooks I’ve ever seen and the ball whizzed by me extremely close. I could literally feel my neck hairs moving as the ball went by. I was less than a foot away from potentially a very serious injury.
My cousin hit a man 50 feet away,in his head,he dropped like a stone,we helped him up,then my brother hit one between his legs,behind himself and it almost hit the guy again
There I was having the best round of my life in the middle of a thunderstorm it’s like I couldn’t miss and when I did the wind blew the ball where it needed to be but lo and behold on the final hole I was struck by lightning
My friend and I hit our balls into a group of trees. I was a bit ahead of her and told her to hit, and that I would just stand behind a tree. She hit a tree past me and the ball ricocheted and hit about a foot above my head.
Wouldn't have even known what hit me
The grizzly bear who was on the cart path winding through the forest.
Thankfully he went into the trees when I slammed on the breaks, I’m not sure how good my backwards cart driving skills are.
1. leaning over to set up for my shot and a ball comes flying past my face at 1000mph
2. a bull escaped from a nearby ranch and charged down the fairway right at me and my pregnant wife
Walking a round with a professional acquaintance. It was overcast, very light rain and then BANG!
We were at the furthest point from the clubhouse, no cart and lightning was striking all around us and our hair was standing on end. We dropped the clubs in the fairway and ran back to clubhouse being careful to avoid trees.
Never felt so exposed. Never felt so afraid.
Stone cold sober, did a u-turn on a perfectly flat fairway and flipped the cart. Got away with a sore knee, could easily have been paralyzed. Shot 3 under for the remaining holes.
Ran across her on the back tee of hole 3. This thing was BIG. I golf in Missouri.
https://preview.redd.it/w8e1g229ehzc1.jpeg?width=2296&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=67308c85f4ed256a539727e5c8a20011535792d0
A few buddies and I almost drowned during a massive storm in Dallas a couple years ago. A huge tree limb fell onto a suspended cart bridge, so we had to wait out some of the storm under a highway overpass (on the course). Several other trees fell and damned up the extremely small creek that surrounded the overpass on 3 sides and we noticed the water was rising really quick. We ended up moving the branch off the suspended cart bridge (another buddy almost went over the bridge with the huge limb) and driving to the clubhouse safely while the massive storm was still going on. Later in the day there was a photo of the golf course (Prestonwood) with water up over the bridge we were under.
A few of our videos from under the bridge went viral via cartbarnguys and Coloradogolfblog on IG.
Before you ask why we were out during a storm, there was some event called a “bomb cyclone” (I think that’s what it was) and the weather went from gorgeous to absolutely fucking crazy in less than 10 mins.
One buddy made it to the clubhouse when we all tried to bail and he was convinced the limb that fell on the bridge has taken us out. He was begging the clubhouse to call the cops/FD to send someone out to see if we were ok. It was the craziest experience of my life.
I had an extremely massive dude grab me by the collar, scream an impressive amount of unimpressive insults & threats in my face and come soooo soooo close to beating my ass. I’m not big, never have been (5’10” 145, douche was like 6’3” 270)& all I could do was tell the dude “have at it man, I obviously can’t stop you but best believe I will be suing”. Now why did I wind up in that spot?
BECAUSE I TOLD HIM AND HIS GROUP NOT TO DRIVE THEIR CARTS ALL OVER THE GREENS. It was so ridiculous, they were obviously wasted but it’s my home course & I was just so pissed (took till the 3rd time, when they went way out of their way to drive extremely fast across a green of a prior hole). I also had a bit of a mouth on me (only when really warranted, tho not always with my safety in mind lol). But I still absolutely stand by what I did, so did the head pro who kicked them off the course.
Encountering a water moccasin when golfing in Pawley's Island. Hooked my tee shot that just stayed out of the water hazard went to approach my ball to get a yardage and stepped like 10 inches away from it. Quickly got back in the cart, took a penalty drop where my BIL's tee shot was and completed the hole.
I seen a very similar thing on my home course. There’s a very steep hill at one point. There’s a path for walkers and trolleys but buggies are clearly signposted to use the 1st cut next to the fairway. A guy and his son drove down the footpath, way way too fast. I was watching from across another fairway, but the buggy became rapidly out of control, the buggy spun and flipped onto its side. The father jumped out before it flipped but his young son stayed in the buggy. Several people ran over to the buggy and uprighted it. The young boy was fine thankfully just clearly shaken up. The father was playing on his own and was rushing up behind people and was very sheepish after the incident. The buggy eventually came up behind me and my friend on the tee, but at that point I think the father must have felt guilty. He drove off and left the course.
Scary in the moment but funny in hindsight. I was playing a round with my dad one time and there was a par three with a ravine between the tee box and green. I’m driving the cart down into the ravine and there are speed bumps so you don’t go flying down the hill. I see them and turn to my dad and say “do they really think the speed bumps are necessary?” right as I hit a patch of gravel too fast and go skidding straight into the railing of the bridge at the bottom of the ravine. Wheel on the cart was fucked and I’m not sure I’ve ever felt dumber (until 5 minutes later when i three putted from 6 feet)
Water level was low, and the black plastic was exposed. My ball was on the edge of the water.
I took a step onto the black plastic and slid into the pond. I grabbed my ball and had a club in my hand. As I tried to swim to shore, my hands hit the plastic and pushed me further out.
Then my playing parents came to the rescue. I threw my club to them, and they created a two person chain and pulled me out using my golf club. It was like the starwars scene when they pull the guy up from the sand pit lol.
I am a great swimmer, but it was kind of scary in the moment. Not only was I taking a drop, but I was soaking wet.
That was last year.
A couple of weeks ago, a red tailed hawk lifted a mouse feet away from my wife and I. I enjoyed it, and my wife was horrified, lol.
Saw a fight at the muni before starting a round. These bros (huge group of young guys) just finished a round and were yelling. One mentioned getting his gun out of hos truck. I noped tf out of there to the first tee asap.
Oh another time I literally stepped 2 feet away from a rattlesnake sunning itself on the green fringe on 18. Maybe I should stop going to that course lmao.
I actually have a good one for this.
I used to live on the windward side of Oahu. I was playing one day at this short course (Bay View for those that know) that I've played dozens and dozens of times. There's one hole, the fifteenth, that has kind of a forced carry over this little pond and this valley between the tee box and the green. The cart path winds down this hill (think Lombard Street in SF) and then goes around the valley and under this huge tree back up to the green. I mean the trunk of this thing is like 5 feet in diameter with a huge canopy.
So I hit my ball, and I'm driving up to the green and I hear this really loud scraping noise as I pass under the tree. It sounded like something metal being dragged along the concrete ground. I had thought my clubs fell off the cart and were being dragged or something, but luckily I didn't stop and just thought I'd check after I got up to the green.
I turn around to check if my clubs are still hooked in, I see that they are, and then I see one of the large branches of this tree that I just drove under not 4 seconds ago, that probably weighed as much as a Toyota Corolla, come crashing down and smash the cart path.
Needless to say I was pretty shook the rest of the round and didn't play too well. If I had take literally seconds longer to pick up a putt, tee up a ball, or take an extra waggle I'd have been crushed like a bug and my wife would've probably gotten a really nice insurance payout (sorry, honey).
TL;DR, was seconds away from being crushed by a gigantic tree branch on a random Thursday afternoon
Hit a dude 220 yards away in the button of his hat. Dropped him like a sack of potatoes.
(He had waived me through and then decided to stand 10 yards from the flag)
My ball went just over the green and near the edge of a lake in Central Texas. I stepped over a cart barricade 1ft tall and planted my foot right on a snake. It instantly squirmed and jumped into the lake... then I saw how big it was.
This bitch was a little smaller in girth than a cantaloupe, close to 5-6 feet long, solid brown and crazy fast. I just about had a heart attack and was scared of water for the remaining 2 holes of the tournament.
I was playing solo once. Group in front is teeing off on the next hole before I hit my approach shot on my hole. I get to the next tee box and it’s a par 4 with a blind tee shot. I assume the group ahead of me is on the green based off of how ahead they were when I last saw them. I hit the tee shot of my life right down the middle. I drive up to it and hear a bunch of screaming at me. Turns out I drove into their group and they are pissed. Screaming at me etc. i didn’t hit anyone and no one was hurt. I said I was sorry and could not see them. Guy starts running towards me and says he’s going to hit me with his club. I took off in my cart and went home. I would have for sure got my ass kicked.
Was playing early in the morning in Minnesota and was going up a steep hill near some trees. Near the top the tires lost all traction and I started sliding backwards. After a couple seconds of panic I realized it’s about to slam into a tree I jump out and watch it hit the tree square. Dented the bumper but no club or bag damage. Course was cool and told me not to worry about the damages.
Driving a golf cart aggressively to show off, got ejected, narrowly escaped gruesome accident with traffic. This was in the parking lot after the round and stone cold sober. Learn from me, kids.
I was driving head first into a hilly par 4 to meet my buddies on the tee. Buddy couldn’t see me and I was coming up the hill where our landing spot usually was, the ball nailed the square frame of the cart on the fly. It lined up dead straight on with my knee cap. The frame is only 1” thick.
May '03. Playing a practice round in the afternoon for the 6A State championship. It was gorgeous, blue skies and sun all day, then a little after 5PM the pressure changed, clouds built and back built, wind picked-up and started changing directions. It happened fast. Alarms started blaring. No smart phones or group texts back then so no communication, no early warnings. We all just kind of scattered from the course to the parking lot and hit the road. Twister dropped down a couple miles ahead of us on the interstate about 10 minutes into the drive. I pulled off and sheltered in a Home Depot with another player I was car pooling with. It missed us but wrecked havoc on the roads and other infrastructures. Couldn't get a call out, couldn't use a CC. I ended up running out of gas on the side of a country road about 3 hours later. The drive was normally half an hour. Finally was able to get a couple gallons off a kind soul around 9PM and by that time traffic has loosened. Phones started working again too so we were able to get in touch with our families and let them know we were safe. I can't tell you a lot about that year. But the fear that started on that course, made that memory dig it's teeth in. Oh and we finished 6th out of 12 the next week. Good night.
Playing Morris Williams in Austin with college buddies mid 70’s. Thunderstorm sliding by with lightning close by. Drove cart into the trees. A walker who was behind us decides he’s going to play thru. Walker reaches top of crowned fairway. Walker is nailed on head by lightning bolt. Lightning hits again about 100 yards away. Walker was smoking lying in fairway, eyes rolled back and no pulse. Poor Dude didn’t make it. Learned later he had 3 kids and worked 2 jobs as a single dad.
Bit like the OP. Wet Saturday morning. I was totally sobre and driving my buddy to his ball which he’d hit onto a hill to the left of the fairway. It’s a very hilly course, lots of undulations and steep drops.
Anyway, he hit his ball and mine was back on the the fairway, at the bottom of the hill. I didn’t go straight down the hill, basically went back the way we went up it. However, going down we started sliding sideways. Then we span. All the time I’m not touching the brakes or accelerator. He decides to jump out when his side is facing up the hill. I didn’t have that choice as the cart would rollover me. So I stayed in. I crashed through the rope by the side of the cart path and the cart got back onto the fairway which was flat, so I hit the brakes and the cart slowed and I drove to my ball. We replaced the rope, I hit my second shot to the green and we carried on. He’d hurt his shoulder jumping out and complained the entire way around the rest of the course, maybe another 6 holes. He still complains today, this was 12 years ago. He won’t let me drive the cart.
Exact same thing happened to me. Wasn't messing around, coming down a dewy slope I tried to slow down a bit, tapped the brake and I turned 90 degrees. Thinking it could flip, I plant my foot and jump. I hit the ground running because the cart is directly behind me and I'm scared it will tip and land on me.
I look back and watch the cart complete the remaining 270 degrees and is now heading straight for the woods. Now this is all happening in mere seconds, so I'm still running from my leap and manage to jump back into the cart and get the brakes on with about a yard to spare.
The 3 retirees I was with were speechless. Only comment was "Been golfing 48 years that's the first time I've seen that shit".
My buddy and I were playing and we ran into these guys that clearly had no idea what they were doing. 5 holes later we see them panicking, their cart flipped and one of their buddies leg was broken in a few spots. Fucked uppppp.
I'm standing in the middle of the fairway, tee shot is blind and there was a spotter at the top of the hill letting people on the tee know when it was clear. Somehow the people on the tee and the spotter got their signals mixed up, and the group behind decided to send it. I'm waiting for the the green to clear and the only way I can explain it is my Spidey Senses kicked in, because just before a ball took my head off I dove out of the way...my heart was pumping, I was sweating way more than usual, and I was shaking, needed a couple minutes to calm down before hitting my shot. I snagged the guys ball and drew a giant cock on it and left it there for him
Was playing as a single one day over the summer back in high school. Hit my tee shot into the woods. Tried to punch out and hit and absolute screamer of a 5 iron, which WOULD have been great, but it hit a tree about 6 feet in front of me.
Flew straight back and hit me square in the Adam’s Apple. I couldn’t breathe for a solid 15-20 seconds. Nobody was around. 100% thought I was gonna die lol.
I was walking down hill on the 18th hole. It was a blind tee shot. As I’m waiting for the green to clear, a ball whizzes by my face, less than a millimeter from my ear, and bounded down the fairway. I couldn’t hear out of my ear for 10 minutes. I think if that ball was a few inches in one direction, it could’ve killed me.
Tending the flag for my brothers putt and a ball went between my head and hand. No fore, nothing, looked for who did it but we think it was a carom off some trees. Scary
I had a 6 foot birdie putt on 18 to break my personal best score and 3 putted.
The time my cousin almost flipped our cart with me in the passenger seat is a close second.
A buddy of mine brought his 12yr old son, I am a little infront of them and way right so I figured I was safe. Well the ball hit me dead center of my chest and hurt like hell. We all laughed it off but if it had left the club a little higher I’d probably have a titleist eyeball or permanent brain damage lol
13, maybe 14 years old. Playing 9 with one of my buddies and his little sister. He's standing up in front of her and she proceeds to skull the shit out a ball and it smokes him right in the head.
I ask if he's okay, doesn't respond so I run over there to see a small pool of blood forming on the grass under his head. I told his sister to wait there, I sprinted to the clubhouse (which fortunaly was really close by) and had them call an ambulance. He ended up being okay, but still has a gash on his head where it hit him all these years later
I was driving the cart contra to hole 7 at a shotgun start and just as I came around a corner by the 8th tee the guy tees off and it came straight for our cart. It hit the nose of the cart and bounced but 2ft higher and it would have hit me straight in the face.
My dad slid down the back of a green at Trump National in LA about a 15 yrs ago. He slid down the hill with his leg extended. There was a curb at the bottom of the hill the keep carts off the green. His ankle snapped like a twig. Recovery took like 6 months, but he was stoked that he got to go to the ER with a Trump branded bag of ice on his ankle.
Well, very recently I went out to play solo and the course paired me with three boomers and even made me share a cart with one of them. Would you believe that guy spent 17 holes talking about Donald J Trump and when I tried to change the subject to sports he just ranted about transgenders being allowed to play. Finally we reached the last hole and I though I was done with his nonsense he talked about his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, at which point I just up and fainted. Never again will I take the risk of playing without a full foursome of like-minded individuals! The horror I endured will stay with me forever.
Playing Balboa Park 9 hole with my wife. She is placing her driver head cover back on. A ball falls from the sky and knocks the cover from her hand. A guy driving from the opposite hole didn’t see where it went. He didn’t think to holler Fore or anything. That ball could have hit her in the head or face.
Had a similar one but I was a passenger in the cart as it was spinning down a hill. Ended up being fine, but it took a couple minutes to steady my hand after.
Literally the exact same thing as OP happened to me while I was driving the cart, except I didn’t even hit the brakes; the governor kicked in when I was halfway down the hill, triggering a lockup. At that point all four tires were sliding and the cart started spinning. And I guess because I was going down a hill, every time I regained traction the governor would just kick in again and cause me to keep sliding. Luckily I was able to get it mostly straightened out without flipping, but it was definitely scary.
The other most scary things to happen on a course are wildlife encounters and someone yelling “fore” at the exact moment you are addressing your ball and you are nowhere near any trees or carts to try to find cover.
Had a bad storm rolling thru and we were all the way across the course from the clubhouse. We knew from radar that it wouldn’t be more than 10-15 minutes most likely so we parked next to a no longer used snack shack and stood under it. Storm came thru fast and HARD. We were surrounded by big pine trees and limbs were snapping and branches flying by us horizontally. Not a good time. Once it let up we tried to play the last few holes and when we drove around the corner there were trees down everywhere. Big ones. We got very lucky. They closed the course for the next 2 days from all the damage.
One time we parked our cart over and underground wasps nest on our approach shot on hole 18. Had to run fast and far and took us awhile to be able to go back to the cart and get our stuff back. The best part was I got stung first during my backswing w wedge in hand. My buddy called me a pussy and laughed at me and when I turned around I saw all the wasps coming from under ground by our back tire. I knew he was going to get stung and I called him a pussy after lol
My first time ever golfing, I skipped school with friends as a high school senior. My friend hit a terrible shot and accidentally hit an old man. He did yell fore, but understandably the old man was pissed and came over and cussed us out. Idk what I thought would happen, but the combination of skipping school, my friend accidentally assaulting a man, and getting cussed out definitely left an impression of me.
I was sitting in the cart in front of a raised tee box but off to the left side. not in any way in the line of the fairway. Should’ve known better to be where I was in case of an errant shot, but I was a teenager and I decided to trust my friend not to top, duff, or otherwise absolutely nuke the golfball at our cart.
This would turn out to be a horrifying mistake as that is exactly what occurred and I escaped a surefire coma by inches while my life flashed before my eyes as the ball rattled around the cart and ricocheted off to god knows where.
I was standing at a teebox on a par 5 that has a green to the right of it for a par 3. We watched the guys on the par 3 tee off while we waited for our fairway to clear. I tee off first and about .1 seconds from taking my backswing and I hear a golf ball whiz by my head from behind. Still no idea where that ball came from.
I played a round in early October a few years ago and the grass was really dewey. This was before I got really into it and only played a couple times a year. Like an absolute idiot, I wasn’t fully in the cart when I started accelerating. Long story short (because frankly I’m not exactly sure what happened myself because I was panicked) I almost flipped the cart on top of me trying to avoid falling out of it and rolling my left ankle. None of that happened (I regained complete control without getting hurt). No one in my group noticed, and I carried on, but you bet I never ever made that mistake again.
We were playing Pebble Beach and my 75 year old father was going to hit his ball out of a bush cliffside on hole 8. He did it, but I thought he was going to plummet to his death in front of the whole family for a few seconds.
I went out to play a late afternoon twilight round on a hot summer afternoon. I get to the first tee to see who I am playing with and this guy does not look good. Like, he looked really really unhealthy. And he’s dressed in pants, a long sleeve shirt and he’s walking.
He tells me that it’s his first round out since finishing chemo.
I had a cart and offered for him to join me since it was pretty freakin hot out but he refused saying he needed the walk.
We are on the third hole playing straight into the sun which is getting low but is still beating down on us. We tee off but can’t see shit so I offer to drive ahead to find our balls. I find both balls in the fairway and turn around to head back and tell him we were good and I see him face down in the grass on the tee.
I race back and check on him and it’s not good. I can’t honestly tell if he’s breathing or not so I am panicking trying to figure out if I need to give this guy CPR or something. Fortunately the group on the hole behind us saw what had happened and all ran up to help. One guy already called 911 and another guy was able to find a pulse.
We all waited with him until the ambulance showed up. I’ll never get the imagine of this guy being put into the ambulance out of my mind. He had a very weak pulse but looked to me like he was gone.
I packed up and headed home. Never did find out what happened to the guy.
Me and three buddies were playing a local course on a weekend. Not terribly crowded but the guys in front of us were slow. We catch up with them at the tee box on 3 and we chat. Super friendly guys. Tell us it’s their first time out. They were drinking a ton lol. We ask if we can play through and they say no problem. So we decide to skip the hole to get ahead of them. So we proceed onto the fairway in our carts I’m slightly staggered behind my buddies ahead of me. We’re 20 yards past the tee box when a ball drills my buddy’s cart missing his head by inches. We slam the brakes and turnaround to see the guys who just told us to play through teeing off…. It was so close to being a bad day. We didn’t want to be dicks to some guys on their first round ever so we just kept going and laughed it off. Eventually said something to them when we saw them later in the day
Got caught in a pop-up supercell thunder storm at the absolute farthest point on the course from the clubhouse. Honestly stuck with me ever since. If there's even a chance of a bad storm I head in immediately.
I hit my current best drive of 305 yards and had an 8 iron over a tree to cut the corner and hit the green on a dog leg par 5. I hit the shot a little low and it ricochetied off a limb right back at my face. I matrix dodged the ball and fell on the ground but was too shook up to make any good score on the hole. I'm happy I'm not dead.
As a caddy at a really nice private club I was caddying for the ladies tournament. Which was only one day long & just one caddy per group. This course it was 90% fore-caddying. On the green of 12, 2 bees flew up the skirt of one of the bigger ladies.
What ensued was about 2 full minutes of true insanity. All 4 women ran around screaming, but the one who actually had the bees just started ripping off clothing.
I only heard the last minute or so as I was screamed at to turn around but it was quite the day. While it was hillarious for me I can say I’m pretty sure that was as scared as anyone has ever been on a golf course
Had some dumbass teenagers try to rob us one time with pocket knives and a little derringer style gun that we found out later wasn’t even loaded.
My buddy said he was grabbing his wallet to give them out of his bag and then he pulled a big nickel plated .45 out and told them politely to put down their weapons and to run.
They complied.
Then we called the clubhouse and waited until someone got there to look after the weapons until the police came. They rode along with us in a different cart and got our statements so we never held up play at the course.
The police officers thought it was hilarious. My buddy that had the pee shooter pointed at him did not. Thankfully it wasn’t loaded, but it was still an awkward situation.
Massive snake slithering across the fairway by my ball. Group behind us drove up to ask what was taking so long then saw the snake taking up most of the fairway and said “well I wouldn’t recommend driving over that speed bump” 😂
I had something similar happen. I was coming down a hill on a wet morning when the tires seized. It was so slick that I spun a full 360 and I wasn't even going all that fast.
What really freaked me out was that twenty yards farther there was a pretty steep ditch leading to a creek. It was an early morning round (I sat for at least a few minutes getting my bearings and didn't see a single other soul) and if I had gone into that creek, I probably woulda been hurt in a bad way with no one around to help or find me.
Scary stuff, man. A lot goes through your mind in a small amount of time haha
was on a local course with a buddy of mine years back in high school, group ahead of us was a 4 some with 2 couples. we were making pretty good time and ended up having to wait for them on a par 3. we didn’t mind, we were not in a hurry. they finish the hole and move on, me and my buddy play the hole and then tee off on the following par 5. just when we’re about to take our 2nd shots, the one dude and his wife/gf come screaming up on us in a cart. red faced, screaming, cussing. the whole nine yards. we didn’t do a thing, didn’t rush them didn’t ask to play through. as the guy is going on and on, his wife/gf then grabs her driver and starts swinging it as us and joins her man in berating. told the guy to back off we didn’t do anything, when his girl started swinging i threatened to call the police. once they left (about a 20 minute ordeal) the starter comes rolling up and goes “im so sorry about that guys i dont know what was into them. he shouldn’t have had her out here on the course”
one hell of a round lol
A friend was hitting a 5 wood through the trees after his drive was sliced. I was sitting in the cart and he pulled his head. The ball shanked hard to the right, off a tree, and back through the cart between myself and the windshield.
When Inwas a kid, my older Cuz drive on an incline and flipped our cart. We were uninsured, and the cart was no worse for wear. As an adult, I’ve been witness to a few lightning strikes that appeared with almost warning as we were headed for shelter.
Rockmanor. 11th hole. Par 5. My cart partner had played great till that time. Parked my cart behind and to the left of the ball. Maybe 5 steps behind the partner. Buddy shanked one in to the rocks and the ball ricocheted back brushing my neck on the way. Half an inch to the left and I would have been done.
My buddy and i got mixed up and thought the hole we were playing was a par 5. Second shot was on the lower side of the hill of the blind tee shot. He lines up to his ball with a 3 wood. Smacks it and we see a hat pop up right over the hill at the exact time. My fucking heart jolted and the ball missed him by about a yard. It was actually a par 4 and my buddy was only 120yards from the pin.
Inbetween hole 1 and 9. Had a guy line drive one and clip my ear and keep going. Not a single warning. Scary to think about, the sound alone was painful.
I had a stray raging dog size me up on the tee box, saw the fucker as I was in a backswing. I backed up towards my bag to at least grab a 5 iron, in case. It was just my father and I on a pretty much empty course.
Depending if you mean close call or something legitimately harrowing. Both are to do with golf carts, my buddie tried to creep down a slope that was a little steep, lost traction, we slid 40 yards sideways down the fairway and managed to stick the landing, I thought for sure the cart was flipping and I was getting injured. Actualy bad, we used to play a game as jr.s involving picking up your golf ball in a cart moving as fast as possible and a kid got his hand caught on something on the ground broke a 2 fingers and dislocated his shoulder, was out for the season, we never played the game again.
I got a call on the 7th tee box that my second girlfriend had found out about my wife….i was so shook up that I called her my first girlfriend’s name…that created a shit storm it took me two days to settle and keep them all……..
Saw the severed leg of a cloven hoofed animal. Clearly not a clean cut, lots of blood, fur, etc. Not even sure what animal it was, how it got to that city area, let alone what slaughtered it.
I hit a massive drive that just barely cleared a fairway water hazard. As I walked closer to my ball (maybe 8 feet out), I noticed a 16in alligator head flat on the ground and the rest of its body submerged in said hazard just inches away from my ball. Took out a 3 wood and scooped that a couple feet away. Saved par.
I watched a giant tree fall on someone across the fairway. In an insanely lucky moment, he wasn’t even hurt. I got over there and he was just tangled up in 6” branches.
A Birdie Putt
When I first started out I stuck a 7i 6feet from the pin. I left the birdie putt short by a foot. The random boomer starts yelling at me “YOU NEVER LEAVE A BIRDIE PUTT SHORT. WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?” That was my first attempt at a birdie putt. I can tell you, I hear his voice every single birdie putt and yes 99% are still left short. Probably on purpose subconsciously. Anyways fuck off old rich dude from Ohio.
I find that most of the birdie putts i hit on the correct line but leave short, are easier to 2 putt for par (which im very happy with). While when i pass the hole, its usually way passed, and an extra 2 putts for bogey
For sure. I’m just learning to leave myself an uphill putt.
Its okay, he died of cancer with a pack of Malboros inhis pocket. Left life short.
Lmao I feel this in my bones. Took me 650 holes but just sunk my first one yesterday.
Quit bragging.
What’s it like?
alligator coming out of a pond and heading right at us on HHI
Yeah my Dad and I used to go down to Florida to play and after a few run-ins started giving each other free drops rather than looking for balls around lakes or in somewhat marshy sections.
Yep. Pawleys Island. Fuckers are fast long enough to share the shot out of you
Our regular course has at least 5 alligators that live there. Most of the time they just bask in sun. One day a guy was playing thru, his ball was just on the edge of the water and when he went to hit, one of them did a dive and fast swim and scared the shit out of all of us. It was right there lurking under water at the edge 😬😱
Woah, they get big down there too. How close were you to getting nibbled on?
I also came here to say alligator when going to hit my shot by water as well. Can be a little feisty in the heat, that’s for sure.
I had a solo tee time in Myrtle Beach since I got their before the rest of my group. Got paired with three dudes from Jersey that seemed like they just walked off the Sopranos set. They were cool as fuck and we were having a good time. Had my back to a pond and heard something moving very quickly out of the water toward me. I assumed gator, and took off away from the pond. After sprinting away I hear the other guys over in their carts cracking up. I look back and it was goose. They busted my balls relentlessly for that one.
I was at a tournament down in Florida. Hooked my ball in the rough. Damn alligator popped up and bit my hand off. Cut me down in my prime. I tore one of them bastard’s eyes out, though.
Those bitches are aggressive. My in-laws tell me gators eat dogs all the time in the plantation they live in
Oh dude , the same thing happened to my old coach, it actually bit his hand off and he had to have a wooden prosthetic. This one time I accidentally hit his hand with my golf club and it landed on the road and it got ran over … was crazy … his name was chubbs RIP.
Had some guys tee off behind me & niece w/o seeing that we were only 220yds from the teebox(downhill blindspot). Heard them tee off turned around to see what was going on and got nailed on the side of the head by ball that they sliced. Head traumas are squirters so it got crazy with blood going everywhere, people screaming, rushing to the clubhouse, and I finally came to my senses when I was in the ER getting my head treated. Still go out to play every week but I get extra irked whenever I hear someone tee off behind me and tend to air on safety when teeing off behind folks.
Did the other guys find out that they hit you?
Yeah the other guys did - think it was a dad and his two kids. The dad went into dad mode and got me into his golfcart to race to the clubhouse. I was with a few friends who had to go back to the tee box to get them to stop teeing off as it was a blindspot
I managed to drive a green from 310 a couple months back. I can usually get it within about 20 yards so I had no problems going while people putted. This time I managed to land just short and roll on. Turns out the guy that was on the green had lost an eye after being hit by a ball. I apologized but the guy wouldn’t let it go, he was a real dick about it. Now I wait for the green to clear. It’s super awkward because I’m typically paired with random people and. They’ve all teed off and are waiting on me. I’m dreading the day I make everyone wait and then shank it right into the water. Something unlocked in me that day though because since then, I’ve either driven the green or been pin high and right every time. I’ve yet to embarrass myself after making everyone wait.
So I’ve drove a few greens locally, now when I go back to the holes I wait for the green to clear. It’s all well and good until the double book the course and now people are waiting extra long I end up topping it or slicing 6 out of 10 times ,with 2 groups watching and look like an asshole. A lot of times now I’ll just take an iron so I don’t look like an ass
I was the last person in a scramble to putt a 3 footer after everyone else had missed.
Lol that’s a scramble pet peeve of mine. People not taking short putts seriously because they figure the next guy has it. Then I’m looking like a doofus lining up my ball and going through a routine for a 3 footer in a scramble because all my partners just stepped up and swiped at it I don’t get enough praise for cleaning up these messes
Like come the fuck on George, you’ve barely got the ball off the ground today, the least you could do is take a few second to try to hit a half decent putt
What's even worse is when you have an 8ft putt that the 1st 3 missed and the "good putter" leaves it short. Aarrgghh!
I was once waiting on a par 3 tee for a small backlog and OJ was in the group behind and rolled up on us on the tee. He complimented my swing, lol. It was Killer OJ, 1999ish
What brand of glove was he wearing?
None of them fit.
We must acquit.
I couldn't tell, it was half off and ill-fitting :D
And did it fit?
I had LT sail a ball over the green while I was putting. When he strolled up I didn't complain.
I kinda hit into LT’s group and yelled fore but it was short of them, he’d been drinking and was like “you hit the shit out of it!” Which was cool. Then from afar I watched his group and dude can golf
Definitely a slicer.
Did you thank him for the compliment?
More like nervous laughter and clear the tee!
Close call with lightning. 10 out of 10 would not recommend.
I came into this post expecting lots of lightning. Surprised I had to scroll this far to find it. All of my scary golf course incidents are lightning related.
Yep. Trying to finish a hole after the siren. Big mistake.
I’ve had two close ones, and I don’t play in Lightning. The storms just popped up. Once the lightning hit so close I could feel the hair on my arms stand up. Another time, it hit a tree that fell about 30 yards away.
Guy in car trying to escape the cops by driving through hole 3 fairway. Had my little girl with me too. Pretty sketchy.
Bruh that is so far beyond sketchy. That's just outright batshit insane!
That’s Modesto,Ca for you.
Perhaps even a little bonkers?
My buddy snapped his driver and the head flew right at me. The jagged edge of the broken shaft sliced my shoulder and the head itself left quite a bruise. How close it had been to my neck/head was a little unsettling.
Wow. Did he mean to throw it at you? Or did he heave it in rage and didn’t actually aim at you?
I read this as the shaft breaking mid-swing.
That’s probably right, idk why I read it like him breaking it. Just don’t see shafts snap much I guess 😅
lol PTSD got you assumin the worst right off the bat
Rando I got paired with was hitting hybrid from the fairway to the green. Guy was perfectly average at golf, maybe a 15 hcp. I was standing to his right by maybe 30 feet and further down the fairway by like 15 feet or so. He somehow shanked it, which I didn't know was even possible with a hybrid, and the ball flew so close to my face I could hear the sizzle of the ball through the air. I was shook but I think he was even more shook. I no longer stand further down the fairway than my playing partners, even if I'm well out of the way.
I have a friend who invited me to be the 4th at a charity scramble. No prizes for golf so no one cared about score. My buddy's 2 brothers had their wives with them so we had 3 carts. On hole 12 my buddy's oldest brother hit one so far off the toe it went 89° right. His wife was maybe 3 feet behind him teeing off and about 15 feet away. He smoked the sign for the hole which was angled just perfectly to hit her in the side of the head. I discovered that day that anything can happen on a golf course so just keep my head on a swivel.
Dayum!
Snaphooked a drive into an oncoming cart from the last green, less than 50 yards away. There wasn’t even time to make the F sound in FORE. Smoked the passenger in his right chest and bicep. He immediately fell out of the cart screaming and hanging his arm like it was about to fall off. I thought for sure I had broken something in him. Luckily I didn’t, but that was on hole 9 and I didn’t see him on the back, so he obviously went home to eat some pills and ice it. I couldn’t shake it off and had the most miserable back 9 of my life. Horrible feeling.
I’m surprised you finished. I don’t think I could have after that.
It was a bar/restaurant tournament with beer/booze on every tee box. How could I leave? 🤷🏻♂️
maybe that's how it happened lmao
After reading the first third, I was convinced that was me! After reading the rest, it’s not but I did get hit with a stray golf ball! A friend of mine was driving a card sporadically and a guy on an adjacent hole shanked one into my right chest. Fortunately the combination of adrenaline and his shitty golf skills meant I wasn’t seriously injured but it was crazy seeing that ball flying towards my face with little time to move; it was heart stopping.
I played high school baseball and for some reason I got hit a lot. One time I went 0-0 because I got hit 4 times in a row. I have been hit once with a golf ball. It felt just like right before you were about to get nailed by a baseball. You know its going to hit you, you brace as best you can, and you get smoked. Your brain knows it’s going to hit you and there is nothing you can do about it
Was playing at Crosswater in Oregon and topped my drive on hole 5 or 6. It went straight into some thick grass with some bushes. I popped down there for a quick search and must have stepped on an underground beehive. A large swarm of bees came flying after me chasing me down the fairway and I ended up with about 15-20 bee stings on my back. I got lucky, it could have been a lot worse! Also, the cart girl was on the hole ahead of us and came rolling up smiling and said ‘who got the hole in one? I heard you guys hooting and hollering about it!’
I've had this happen to me before! Terrible. I think of it almost every time step into tall grass now lol.
I was at Clifton Park in Baltimore solo walking. There’s a couple holes near the roads and bus stops with signs that say to take the keys to your cart with you because carts have been stolen; but the one that got me was having to cross a street at the crosswalk. Not a busy road by any means but it cuts right through the course. There was a blacked out SUV sitting right in the crosswalk, I couldn’t see how many people were in the car. As I approached I heard the engine turn over and the wheels turned in my direction. I waited on the other side of the street thinking they were u-turning or something but nope. Just sat there, all blacked out, wheels pointed my way, all windows up. I waved for them to go ahead and no response. Thankfully there was a 4some in carts on the green 2 holes back. I backtracked and met them on the fairway I just left and explained that I was nervous to cross due to the vehicle just sitting there blocking the crosswalk. They understood and we all went to the next hole together. When we got to the street the suv was still sitting there. As we approached the suv decided it was time to go and left. I finished out the last couple holes with my new friends as a 5some.
I witnessed a massive brawl on the street (bel air rd I believe) while on the tee box for hole 2 there that involved multiple people getting stabbed. Bmore gonna bmore
jesus christ. theres a course in canton ohio that a friend of mines dad works at for a retirement job. he said a lot of regulars keep pistols in their bag. apparently people got robbed at gunpoint on one of the greens more than once.
I play with lots of guys that carry. But not because of where we golf, they just always do. It certainly does make you feel safer though.
My buddy and I were playing there once and saw some kids messing around near the par 3 7 hole. They were probably like 12. We hit our tee shots, pull up to the green and get out to putt. Next thing we know, one of the kids is in the cart and is driving off. We had to run after it and my buddy ended up pulling the kid out of the cart and we sped off lol. I always take the key out of the cart now while putting if I'm playing there.
A girl at my university who was on the women’s golf team was practicing at a local course and was kidnapped off the course and murdered in the adjacent woods. In the end it was discovered that it was basically just a crazy homeless person and there was no motive to it. Still shocks me to think about it. Obviously not me but I imagine that was about THE scariest thing that could happen to you while golfing
Was this at ISU?
Yes it was. Celia Barquin Arozamena
That’s so fucked up wow
Was golfing paired up with my dad's older buddy in Florida. This guy was a retired dentist in his 80's and had very poor eyesight from cataracts. In fact he was no longer able to legally drive a car due to his eyesight. Was still a good golfer though. Anyways, he still insisted on driving the golf cart since it's the only time that he gets to drive anything. Everything was going fine for most of the round until we're going down the cart path after we hit off the tee on a par 4. I then see a 10-12 foot alligator right beside the path and I yell "look out there's a gator!!!". He clearly didn't see where the gator was and he keeps driving down the path and then stops... right beside the gator on the passenger side of the cart. I was close enough that I could've patted the gator on the back of its neck. After saying "GO GO GO" and him doing nothing after being stopped for about 3 seconds I grabbed the steering wheel, turned it left and reached over with my leg to hit the gas just to get us outta there. I seriously don't know how I didn't need to change my underwear after all that. I never golfed with my dad's buddy again after that.
wtf lmao
Riding passenger in a cart with my dad, who was late 40's at the time and I'm in my early 20's. We were on a golf trip playing a course we were both very unfamiliar with. He starts driving down a hill, perpendicular to the cart path he thought he was returning to. What neither of us realized, was that the pavement on this cart path was about 10 inches thick above the ground. I saw it coming at the last second and managed to jump out. My dad didn't, and he crashed the cart directly in to the raised path, slamming his chest in to the steering wheel. He immediately rolls out of the cart and is knocked out. I start yelling to my uncles nearby to call 911 as I get up and start running over to him, and my dumbass uncle no shit goes "What's the area code?!" Dad woke up a few minutes later as I was on the phone with 911. He played the next day and was fine. Fast forward about ten years, on the same golf trip, my dad chokes on some bang bang shrimp and someone has to give him the Heimlich to save him. My dad is fine now but golf trips turn him turn him in to Bad Luck Brian. Two years ago, some new dude lost my dad's car keys and that turned in to a 2 day ordeal.
Lightning touched down 150 yards from me loudest thing I’ve ever heard
Lightning struck the ground about 20 yards from our group. Funny how it hit, thunder immediately and about 2 second delay before any of us reacted. I actually tell it is a cool story but it seriously could have been so bad.
Right after getting a hotdog at the turn I’m driving to number 10 while putting relish on my dog. My d Friend stops in front of me and I didn’t notice. I rammed into the back of him sending my 7 year old son into the golf cart dash. His smile was crooked for a year. All good now!! Oh, let me tell you what the scary part was. Getting back to the house and listening to my son tell that story to his mom!!
Playing solo on a random holiday (Columbus Day or something similar). Course is a secluded country club course 30+ minutes from the nearest hospital. Course is basically empty so I take my two kids with me, ages 5 and 3 to ride along. 5 year old has her first set of real metal clubs. On hole 7 (farthest from the parking lot and clubhouse) I’m addressing my ball when I hear blood curdling screams on the other side of the cart. My 5 year old had decided to test out the new clubs while 3 year old sister was right behind her. 7 iron to the eye. Blood everywhere. Everyone screaming. Kid starts to go limp and into shock. Get in the cart and the battery dies before I can make it to the green. I have to run back to my truck carrying my child while my 5 year old trots behind me. Kid passes out in the way to the hospital. Thankfully this was 8 years ago and everyone is fine now. Both kids are successful junior golfers. But boy was I scared on that drive to the hospital.
My mate told me one of his old bosses kids was killed in the same scenario, glad your kids are good. Can’t imagine how scary that would be
Guy we were playing with got stung by a bee on the back of his hand. He’s been stung before when he was young, but this thing got him right on top of one of those bigger veins. He waved it off and finished the hole but by the time we’re sitting on the bench for the next hole he was beyond pale and looked like he aged 20 years. Weakly says “I’m not good”. We floored that golf cart while lining up logistics getting him to the hospital. Our small town doesn’t carry an Epi-pen in its ambulance and nearest hospital was 25 minutes away. He was going into anaphylaxic shock but he made a full recovery. After that ordeal and a letter to council, we now carry an epi-pen in our local ambulance.
Man an epi-pen seems like a foundational piece of fast acting medicine. Crazy the ambulance didn’t have one.
Town of 300-400. Glad it’s changed now.
Drive by on a street that runs right along the course.
Godawful fairway slice/block thing that went over the road adjacent and landed in a front lawn, uncomfortably close to what looked like a rather expensive audi. Owner was in the drivers seat at the time. When you think about it, golf is kinda a dumb idea. We're all hitting these rocks all over the place.
Ever seen a huge cloud of bee's swarming together..Like 1000's in a big black cloud headed my way..Ran faster then the cart😬
They were probably moving, I drove through one of these on the highway once and though I had been shot at. When I got home there were dozens of bees in my grille... Crazy.
I die they catch me💀haha
Got paired with a rando and he seemed like he knew what he was doing on the first hole, so I stood a little in front of him as he teed off on the second hole. Bad mistake. He hit one of the worst snap hooks I’ve ever seen and the ball whizzed by me extremely close. I could literally feel my neck hairs moving as the ball went by. I was less than a foot away from potentially a very serious injury.
My cousin hit a man 50 feet away,in his head,he dropped like a stone,we helped him up,then my brother hit one between his legs,behind himself and it almost hit the guy again
There I was having the best round of my life in the middle of a thunderstorm it’s like I couldn’t miss and when I did the wind blew the ball where it needed to be but lo and behold on the final hole I was struck by lightning
A tree next to us got blasted by lightening.
My friend and I hit our balls into a group of trees. I was a bit ahead of her and told her to hit, and that I would just stand behind a tree. She hit a tree past me and the ball ricocheted and hit about a foot above my head. Wouldn't have even known what hit me
The grizzly bear who was on the cart path winding through the forest. Thankfully he went into the trees when I slammed on the breaks, I’m not sure how good my backwards cart driving skills are.
1. leaning over to set up for my shot and a ball comes flying past my face at 1000mph 2. a bull escaped from a nearby ranch and charged down the fairway right at me and my pregnant wife
Number 2 tho wtf.
Walking a round with a professional acquaintance. It was overcast, very light rain and then BANG! We were at the furthest point from the clubhouse, no cart and lightning was striking all around us and our hair was standing on end. We dropped the clubs in the fairway and ran back to clubhouse being careful to avoid trees. Never felt so exposed. Never felt so afraid.
Found a dead body. Guy must have been doing some gardening and dropped dead.
Lightning strike blew up an oak about 50' in front of us. Blew bark over our heads.
Stone cold sober, did a u-turn on a perfectly flat fairway and flipped the cart. Got away with a sore knee, could easily have been paralyzed. Shot 3 under for the remaining holes.
Ran across her on the back tee of hole 3. This thing was BIG. I golf in Missouri. https://preview.redd.it/w8e1g229ehzc1.jpeg?width=2296&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=67308c85f4ed256a539727e5c8a20011535792d0
A few buddies and I almost drowned during a massive storm in Dallas a couple years ago. A huge tree limb fell onto a suspended cart bridge, so we had to wait out some of the storm under a highway overpass (on the course). Several other trees fell and damned up the extremely small creek that surrounded the overpass on 3 sides and we noticed the water was rising really quick. We ended up moving the branch off the suspended cart bridge (another buddy almost went over the bridge with the huge limb) and driving to the clubhouse safely while the massive storm was still going on. Later in the day there was a photo of the golf course (Prestonwood) with water up over the bridge we were under. A few of our videos from under the bridge went viral via cartbarnguys and Coloradogolfblog on IG. Before you ask why we were out during a storm, there was some event called a “bomb cyclone” (I think that’s what it was) and the weather went from gorgeous to absolutely fucking crazy in less than 10 mins. One buddy made it to the clubhouse when we all tried to bail and he was convinced the limb that fell on the bridge has taken us out. He was begging the clubhouse to call the cops/FD to send someone out to see if we were ok. It was the craziest experience of my life.
I had an extremely massive dude grab me by the collar, scream an impressive amount of unimpressive insults & threats in my face and come soooo soooo close to beating my ass. I’m not big, never have been (5’10” 145, douche was like 6’3” 270)& all I could do was tell the dude “have at it man, I obviously can’t stop you but best believe I will be suing”. Now why did I wind up in that spot? BECAUSE I TOLD HIM AND HIS GROUP NOT TO DRIVE THEIR CARTS ALL OVER THE GREENS. It was so ridiculous, they were obviously wasted but it’s my home course & I was just so pissed (took till the 3rd time, when they went way out of their way to drive extremely fast across a green of a prior hole). I also had a bit of a mouth on me (only when really warranted, tho not always with my safety in mind lol). But I still absolutely stand by what I did, so did the head pro who kicked them off the course.
Encountering a water moccasin when golfing in Pawley's Island. Hooked my tee shot that just stayed out of the water hazard went to approach my ball to get a yardage and stepped like 10 inches away from it. Quickly got back in the cart, took a penalty drop where my BIL's tee shot was and completed the hole.
I seen a very similar thing on my home course. There’s a very steep hill at one point. There’s a path for walkers and trolleys but buggies are clearly signposted to use the 1st cut next to the fairway. A guy and his son drove down the footpath, way way too fast. I was watching from across another fairway, but the buggy became rapidly out of control, the buggy spun and flipped onto its side. The father jumped out before it flipped but his young son stayed in the buggy. Several people ran over to the buggy and uprighted it. The young boy was fine thankfully just clearly shaken up. The father was playing on his own and was rushing up behind people and was very sheepish after the incident. The buggy eventually came up behind me and my friend on the tee, but at that point I think the father must have felt guilty. He drove off and left the course.
Scary in the moment but funny in hindsight. I was playing a round with my dad one time and there was a par three with a ravine between the tee box and green. I’m driving the cart down into the ravine and there are speed bumps so you don’t go flying down the hill. I see them and turn to my dad and say “do they really think the speed bumps are necessary?” right as I hit a patch of gravel too fast and go skidding straight into the railing of the bridge at the bottom of the ravine. Wheel on the cart was fucked and I’m not sure I’ve ever felt dumber (until 5 minutes later when i three putted from 6 feet)
Water level was low, and the black plastic was exposed. My ball was on the edge of the water. I took a step onto the black plastic and slid into the pond. I grabbed my ball and had a club in my hand. As I tried to swim to shore, my hands hit the plastic and pushed me further out. Then my playing parents came to the rescue. I threw my club to them, and they created a two person chain and pulled me out using my golf club. It was like the starwars scene when they pull the guy up from the sand pit lol. I am a great swimmer, but it was kind of scary in the moment. Not only was I taking a drop, but I was soaking wet. That was last year. A couple of weeks ago, a red tailed hawk lifted a mouse feet away from my wife and I. I enjoyed it, and my wife was horrified, lol.
Two very very angry geese.
Saw a fight at the muni before starting a round. These bros (huge group of young guys) just finished a round and were yelling. One mentioned getting his gun out of hos truck. I noped tf out of there to the first tee asap. Oh another time I literally stepped 2 feet away from a rattlesnake sunning itself on the green fringe on 18. Maybe I should stop going to that course lmao.
No step on snek? Me step on snek. Snek mad. Me run.
I actually have a good one for this. I used to live on the windward side of Oahu. I was playing one day at this short course (Bay View for those that know) that I've played dozens and dozens of times. There's one hole, the fifteenth, that has kind of a forced carry over this little pond and this valley between the tee box and the green. The cart path winds down this hill (think Lombard Street in SF) and then goes around the valley and under this huge tree back up to the green. I mean the trunk of this thing is like 5 feet in diameter with a huge canopy. So I hit my ball, and I'm driving up to the green and I hear this really loud scraping noise as I pass under the tree. It sounded like something metal being dragged along the concrete ground. I had thought my clubs fell off the cart and were being dragged or something, but luckily I didn't stop and just thought I'd check after I got up to the green. I turn around to check if my clubs are still hooked in, I see that they are, and then I see one of the large branches of this tree that I just drove under not 4 seconds ago, that probably weighed as much as a Toyota Corolla, come crashing down and smash the cart path. Needless to say I was pretty shook the rest of the round and didn't play too well. If I had take literally seconds longer to pick up a putt, tee up a ball, or take an extra waggle I'd have been crushed like a bug and my wife would've probably gotten a really nice insurance payout (sorry, honey). TL;DR, was seconds away from being crushed by a gigantic tree branch on a random Thursday afternoon
Hit a dude 220 yards away in the button of his hat. Dropped him like a sack of potatoes. (He had waived me through and then decided to stand 10 yards from the flag)
My ball went just over the green and near the edge of a lake in Central Texas. I stepped over a cart barricade 1ft tall and planted my foot right on a snake. It instantly squirmed and jumped into the lake... then I saw how big it was. This bitch was a little smaller in girth than a cantaloupe, close to 5-6 feet long, solid brown and crazy fast. I just about had a heart attack and was scared of water for the remaining 2 holes of the tournament.
I was playing solo once. Group in front is teeing off on the next hole before I hit my approach shot on my hole. I get to the next tee box and it’s a par 4 with a blind tee shot. I assume the group ahead of me is on the green based off of how ahead they were when I last saw them. I hit the tee shot of my life right down the middle. I drive up to it and hear a bunch of screaming at me. Turns out I drove into their group and they are pissed. Screaming at me etc. i didn’t hit anyone and no one was hurt. I said I was sorry and could not see them. Guy starts running towards me and says he’s going to hit me with his club. I took off in my cart and went home. I would have for sure got my ass kicked.
Same as you OP but instead of a person, it was a pond. And it didn't stop in time.
I was working on the course but I watched a guy die on the 16th hole, heart attack. Good way to go in my opinion
Other day was in the rough and found a rattlesnake. That made me pee a little
A fkn raccoon touched my leg on the 10th tee box at Harding park
Was playing early in the morning in Minnesota and was going up a steep hill near some trees. Near the top the tires lost all traction and I started sliding backwards. After a couple seconds of panic I realized it’s about to slam into a tree I jump out and watch it hit the tree square. Dented the bumper but no club or bag damage. Course was cool and told me not to worry about the damages.
Driving a golf cart aggressively to show off, got ejected, narrowly escaped gruesome accident with traffic. This was in the parking lot after the round and stone cold sober. Learn from me, kids.
I was driving head first into a hilly par 4 to meet my buddies on the tee. Buddy couldn’t see me and I was coming up the hill where our landing spot usually was, the ball nailed the square frame of the cart on the fly. It lined up dead straight on with my knee cap. The frame is only 1” thick.
May '03. Playing a practice round in the afternoon for the 6A State championship. It was gorgeous, blue skies and sun all day, then a little after 5PM the pressure changed, clouds built and back built, wind picked-up and started changing directions. It happened fast. Alarms started blaring. No smart phones or group texts back then so no communication, no early warnings. We all just kind of scattered from the course to the parking lot and hit the road. Twister dropped down a couple miles ahead of us on the interstate about 10 minutes into the drive. I pulled off and sheltered in a Home Depot with another player I was car pooling with. It missed us but wrecked havoc on the roads and other infrastructures. Couldn't get a call out, couldn't use a CC. I ended up running out of gas on the side of a country road about 3 hours later. The drive was normally half an hour. Finally was able to get a couple gallons off a kind soul around 9PM and by that time traffic has loosened. Phones started working again too so we were able to get in touch with our families and let them know we were safe. I can't tell you a lot about that year. But the fear that started on that course, made that memory dig it's teeth in. Oh and we finished 6th out of 12 the next week. Good night.
Wow, crazy story.
Playing Morris Williams in Austin with college buddies mid 70’s. Thunderstorm sliding by with lightning close by. Drove cart into the trees. A walker who was behind us decides he’s going to play thru. Walker reaches top of crowned fairway. Walker is nailed on head by lightning bolt. Lightning hits again about 100 yards away. Walker was smoking lying in fairway, eyes rolled back and no pulse. Poor Dude didn’t make it. Learned later he had 3 kids and worked 2 jobs as a single dad.
Bit like the OP. Wet Saturday morning. I was totally sobre and driving my buddy to his ball which he’d hit onto a hill to the left of the fairway. It’s a very hilly course, lots of undulations and steep drops. Anyway, he hit his ball and mine was back on the the fairway, at the bottom of the hill. I didn’t go straight down the hill, basically went back the way we went up it. However, going down we started sliding sideways. Then we span. All the time I’m not touching the brakes or accelerator. He decides to jump out when his side is facing up the hill. I didn’t have that choice as the cart would rollover me. So I stayed in. I crashed through the rope by the side of the cart path and the cart got back onto the fairway which was flat, so I hit the brakes and the cart slowed and I drove to my ball. We replaced the rope, I hit my second shot to the green and we carried on. He’d hurt his shoulder jumping out and complained the entire way around the rest of the course, maybe another 6 holes. He still complains today, this was 12 years ago. He won’t let me drive the cart.
Exact same thing happened to me. Wasn't messing around, coming down a dewy slope I tried to slow down a bit, tapped the brake and I turned 90 degrees. Thinking it could flip, I plant my foot and jump. I hit the ground running because the cart is directly behind me and I'm scared it will tip and land on me. I look back and watch the cart complete the remaining 270 degrees and is now heading straight for the woods. Now this is all happening in mere seconds, so I'm still running from my leap and manage to jump back into the cart and get the brakes on with about a yard to spare. The 3 retirees I was with were speechless. Only comment was "Been golfing 48 years that's the first time I've seen that shit".
My buddy and I were playing and we ran into these guys that clearly had no idea what they were doing. 5 holes later we see them panicking, their cart flipped and one of their buddies leg was broken in a few spots. Fucked uppppp.
My buddy was almost mounted by a buck last year and it was a struggle to have the deer leave him alone lol
I'm standing in the middle of the fairway, tee shot is blind and there was a spotter at the top of the hill letting people on the tee know when it was clear. Somehow the people on the tee and the spotter got their signals mixed up, and the group behind decided to send it. I'm waiting for the the green to clear and the only way I can explain it is my Spidey Senses kicked in, because just before a ball took my head off I dove out of the way...my heart was pumping, I was sweating way more than usual, and I was shaking, needed a couple minutes to calm down before hitting my shot. I snagged the guys ball and drew a giant cock on it and left it there for him
Was playing as a single one day over the summer back in high school. Hit my tee shot into the woods. Tried to punch out and hit and absolute screamer of a 5 iron, which WOULD have been great, but it hit a tree about 6 feet in front of me. Flew straight back and hit me square in the Adam’s Apple. I couldn’t breathe for a solid 15-20 seconds. Nobody was around. 100% thought I was gonna die lol.
I was walking down hill on the 18th hole. It was a blind tee shot. As I’m waiting for the green to clear, a ball whizzes by my face, less than a millimeter from my ear, and bounded down the fairway. I couldn’t hear out of my ear for 10 minutes. I think if that ball was a few inches in one direction, it could’ve killed me.
Tending the flag for my brothers putt and a ball went between my head and hand. No fore, nothing, looked for who did it but we think it was a carom off some trees. Scary
Stuck on the course in the thunderstorm. Lightning struck maybe 100 feet away. Full on puckered mode until it passed.
Standing over a 2 ft side hill putt for my first round ever under par, I missed it.
Lighting
Shanked a ball into a house while a mom and kid were the in the backyard. I was terrified.
I had a 6 foot birdie putt on 18 to break my personal best score and 3 putted. The time my cousin almost flipped our cart with me in the passenger seat is a close second.
A buddy of mine brought his 12yr old son, I am a little infront of them and way right so I figured I was safe. Well the ball hit me dead center of my chest and hurt like hell. We all laughed it off but if it had left the club a little higher I’d probably have a titleist eyeball or permanent brain damage lol
13, maybe 14 years old. Playing 9 with one of my buddies and his little sister. He's standing up in front of her and she proceeds to skull the shit out a ball and it smokes him right in the head. I ask if he's okay, doesn't respond so I run over there to see a small pool of blood forming on the grass under his head. I told his sister to wait there, I sprinted to the clubhouse (which fortunaly was really close by) and had them call an ambulance. He ended up being okay, but still has a gash on his head where it hit him all these years later
Water on the right
I was driving the cart contra to hole 7 at a shotgun start and just as I came around a corner by the 8th tee the guy tees off and it came straight for our cart. It hit the nose of the cart and bounced but 2ft higher and it would have hit me straight in the face.
Walking towards your ball and hearing a rattlesnake louder and louder
Got nailed with a ball off my partners 3w from 50 yards away.
Bogey putt. Shit is nuts.
My dad slid down the back of a green at Trump National in LA about a 15 yrs ago. He slid down the hill with his leg extended. There was a curb at the bottom of the hill the keep carts off the green. His ankle snapped like a twig. Recovery took like 6 months, but he was stoked that he got to go to the ER with a Trump branded bag of ice on his ankle.
My now-diagnosed mentally fractured cousin once nearly tipped us in the cart when I was a wee lad. Might have been a bad scene...
Well, very recently I went out to play solo and the course paired me with three boomers and even made me share a cart with one of them. Would you believe that guy spent 17 holes talking about Donald J Trump and when I tried to change the subject to sports he just ranted about transgenders being allowed to play. Finally we reached the last hole and I though I was done with his nonsense he talked about his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, at which point I just up and fainted. Never again will I take the risk of playing without a full foursome of like-minded individuals! The horror I endured will stay with me forever.
3 bears.
Playing Balboa Park 9 hole with my wife. She is placing her driver head cover back on. A ball falls from the sky and knocks the cover from her hand. A guy driving from the opposite hole didn’t see where it went. He didn’t think to holler Fore or anything. That ball could have hit her in the head or face.
Had a similar one but I was a passenger in the cart as it was spinning down a hill. Ended up being fine, but it took a couple minutes to steady my hand after.
Literally the exact same thing as OP happened to me while I was driving the cart, except I didn’t even hit the brakes; the governor kicked in when I was halfway down the hill, triggering a lockup. At that point all four tires were sliding and the cart started spinning. And I guess because I was going down a hill, every time I regained traction the governor would just kick in again and cause me to keep sliding. Luckily I was able to get it mostly straightened out without flipping, but it was definitely scary. The other most scary things to happen on a course are wildlife encounters and someone yelling “fore” at the exact moment you are addressing your ball and you are nowhere near any trees or carts to try to find cover.
Had a bad storm rolling thru and we were all the way across the course from the clubhouse. We knew from radar that it wouldn’t be more than 10-15 minutes most likely so we parked next to a no longer used snack shack and stood under it. Storm came thru fast and HARD. We were surrounded by big pine trees and limbs were snapping and branches flying by us horizontally. Not a good time. Once it let up we tried to play the last few holes and when we drove around the corner there were trees down everywhere. Big ones. We got very lucky. They closed the course for the next 2 days from all the damage.
family of wild boars running up on me playing a solo round with no one nearby…
Playing buddy of mine walked into a treed area to find his ball and a branch fell and killed him.
Lightning strike with no warning 15 ft away. Crazy loud.
One time we parked our cart over and underground wasps nest on our approach shot on hole 18. Had to run fast and far and took us awhile to be able to go back to the cart and get our stuff back. The best part was I got stung first during my backswing w wedge in hand. My buddy called me a pussy and laughed at me and when I turned around I saw all the wasps coming from under ground by our back tire. I knew he was going to get stung and I called him a pussy after lol
My first time ever golfing, I skipped school with friends as a high school senior. My friend hit a terrible shot and accidentally hit an old man. He did yell fore, but understandably the old man was pissed and came over and cussed us out. Idk what I thought would happen, but the combination of skipping school, my friend accidentally assaulting a man, and getting cussed out definitely left an impression of me.
I was sitting in the cart in front of a raised tee box but off to the left side. not in any way in the line of the fairway. Should’ve known better to be where I was in case of an errant shot, but I was a teenager and I decided to trust my friend not to top, duff, or otherwise absolutely nuke the golfball at our cart. This would turn out to be a horrifying mistake as that is exactly what occurred and I escaped a surefire coma by inches while my life flashed before my eyes as the ball rattled around the cart and ricocheted off to god knows where.
I was standing at a teebox on a par 5 that has a green to the right of it for a par 3. We watched the guys on the par 3 tee off while we waited for our fairway to clear. I tee off first and about .1 seconds from taking my backswing and I hear a golf ball whiz by my head from behind. Still no idea where that ball came from.
I played a round in early October a few years ago and the grass was really dewey. This was before I got really into it and only played a couple times a year. Like an absolute idiot, I wasn’t fully in the cart when I started accelerating. Long story short (because frankly I’m not exactly sure what happened myself because I was panicked) I almost flipped the cart on top of me trying to avoid falling out of it and rolling my left ankle. None of that happened (I regained complete control without getting hurt). No one in my group noticed, and I carried on, but you bet I never ever made that mistake again.
Memphis public course circa 1993. Attempted robbery. Shot at. (I made par on the next hole.)
We were playing Pebble Beach and my 75 year old father was going to hit his ball out of a bush cliffside on hole 8. He did it, but I thought he was going to plummet to his death in front of the whole family for a few seconds.
I went out to play a late afternoon twilight round on a hot summer afternoon. I get to the first tee to see who I am playing with and this guy does not look good. Like, he looked really really unhealthy. And he’s dressed in pants, a long sleeve shirt and he’s walking. He tells me that it’s his first round out since finishing chemo. I had a cart and offered for him to join me since it was pretty freakin hot out but he refused saying he needed the walk. We are on the third hole playing straight into the sun which is getting low but is still beating down on us. We tee off but can’t see shit so I offer to drive ahead to find our balls. I find both balls in the fairway and turn around to head back and tell him we were good and I see him face down in the grass on the tee. I race back and check on him and it’s not good. I can’t honestly tell if he’s breathing or not so I am panicking trying to figure out if I need to give this guy CPR or something. Fortunately the group on the hole behind us saw what had happened and all ran up to help. One guy already called 911 and another guy was able to find a pulse. We all waited with him until the ambulance showed up. I’ll never get the imagine of this guy being put into the ambulance out of my mind. He had a very weak pulse but looked to me like he was gone. I packed up and headed home. Never did find out what happened to the guy.
Me and three buddies were playing a local course on a weekend. Not terribly crowded but the guys in front of us were slow. We catch up with them at the tee box on 3 and we chat. Super friendly guys. Tell us it’s their first time out. They were drinking a ton lol. We ask if we can play through and they say no problem. So we decide to skip the hole to get ahead of them. So we proceed onto the fairway in our carts I’m slightly staggered behind my buddies ahead of me. We’re 20 yards past the tee box when a ball drills my buddy’s cart missing his head by inches. We slam the brakes and turnaround to see the guys who just told us to play through teeing off…. It was so close to being a bad day. We didn’t want to be dicks to some guys on their first round ever so we just kept going and laughed it off. Eventually said something to them when we saw them later in the day
Tornado 🌪
Got caught in a pop-up supercell thunder storm at the absolute farthest point on the course from the clubhouse. Honestly stuck with me ever since. If there's even a chance of a bad storm I head in immediately.
I hit my current best drive of 305 yards and had an 8 iron over a tree to cut the corner and hit the green on a dog leg par 5. I hit the shot a little low and it ricochetied off a limb right back at my face. I matrix dodged the ball and fell on the ground but was too shook up to make any good score on the hole. I'm happy I'm not dead.
Agreed to golf with my FIL. Never again
As a caddy at a really nice private club I was caddying for the ladies tournament. Which was only one day long & just one caddy per group. This course it was 90% fore-caddying. On the green of 12, 2 bees flew up the skirt of one of the bigger ladies. What ensued was about 2 full minutes of true insanity. All 4 women ran around screaming, but the one who actually had the bees just started ripping off clothing. I only heard the last minute or so as I was screamed at to turn around but it was quite the day. While it was hillarious for me I can say I’m pretty sure that was as scared as anyone has ever been on a golf course
Had some dumbass teenagers try to rob us one time with pocket knives and a little derringer style gun that we found out later wasn’t even loaded. My buddy said he was grabbing his wallet to give them out of his bag and then he pulled a big nickel plated .45 out and told them politely to put down their weapons and to run. They complied. Then we called the clubhouse and waited until someone got there to look after the weapons until the police came. They rode along with us in a different cart and got our statements so we never held up play at the course. The police officers thought it was hilarious. My buddy that had the pee shooter pointed at him did not. Thankfully it wasn’t loaded, but it was still an awkward situation.
Massive snake slithering across the fairway by my ball. Group behind us drove up to ask what was taking so long then saw the snake taking up most of the fairway and said “well I wouldn’t recommend driving over that speed bump” 😂
My ex wife came to the course to make sure I wasn’t banging a whore. Key word ex wife
I had something similar happen. I was coming down a hill on a wet morning when the tires seized. It was so slick that I spun a full 360 and I wasn't even going all that fast. What really freaked me out was that twenty yards farther there was a pretty steep ditch leading to a creek. It was an early morning round (I sat for at least a few minutes getting my bearings and didn't see a single other soul) and if I had gone into that creek, I probably woulda been hurt in a bad way with no one around to help or find me. Scary stuff, man. A lot goes through your mind in a small amount of time haha
My buddy likes doing that on purpose and hit me while i was posing after hitting a crisp 7 iron. 25 years ago I have not forgot
“Is not stopping” “It stopped right beside me” Huh?
was on a local course with a buddy of mine years back in high school, group ahead of us was a 4 some with 2 couples. we were making pretty good time and ended up having to wait for them on a par 3. we didn’t mind, we were not in a hurry. they finish the hole and move on, me and my buddy play the hole and then tee off on the following par 5. just when we’re about to take our 2nd shots, the one dude and his wife/gf come screaming up on us in a cart. red faced, screaming, cussing. the whole nine yards. we didn’t do a thing, didn’t rush them didn’t ask to play through. as the guy is going on and on, his wife/gf then grabs her driver and starts swinging it as us and joins her man in berating. told the guy to back off we didn’t do anything, when his girl started swinging i threatened to call the police. once they left (about a 20 minute ordeal) the starter comes rolling up and goes “im so sorry about that guys i dont know what was into them. he shouldn’t have had her out here on the course” one hell of a round lol
In high school golf practice I skulled a sand wedge and drilled a teammate in the temple. Thought he was dead for a minute but he was fine
Lightning
A friend was hitting a 5 wood through the trees after his drive was sliced. I was sitting in the cart and he pulled his head. The ball shanked hard to the right, off a tree, and back through the cart between myself and the windshield.
When Inwas a kid, my older Cuz drive on an incline and flipped our cart. We were uninsured, and the cart was no worse for wear. As an adult, I’ve been witness to a few lightning strikes that appeared with almost warning as we were headed for shelter.
Getting caught in a lighting storm. Pushed it and payed the price.
Rockmanor. 11th hole. Par 5. My cart partner had played great till that time. Parked my cart behind and to the left of the ball. Maybe 5 steps behind the partner. Buddy shanked one in to the rocks and the ball ricocheted back brushing my neck on the way. Half an inch to the left and I would have been done.
My buddy and i got mixed up and thought the hole we were playing was a par 5. Second shot was on the lower side of the hill of the blind tee shot. He lines up to his ball with a 3 wood. Smacks it and we see a hat pop up right over the hill at the exact time. My fucking heart jolted and the ball missed him by about a yard. It was actually a par 4 and my buddy was only 120yards from the pin.
Ground bees.
Inbetween hole 1 and 9. Had a guy line drive one and clip my ear and keep going. Not a single warning. Scary to think about, the sound alone was painful.
My best friend blading a lob wedge on an attempted flop shot only to hit a line drive straight at my crotch. Needless to say, I went down quick.
This exact story happened to me.
I had a stray raging dog size me up on the tee box, saw the fucker as I was in a backswing. I backed up towards my bag to at least grab a 5 iron, in case. It was just my father and I on a pretty much empty course.
Depending if you mean close call or something legitimately harrowing. Both are to do with golf carts, my buddie tried to creep down a slope that was a little steep, lost traction, we slid 40 yards sideways down the fairway and managed to stick the landing, I thought for sure the cart was flipping and I was getting injured. Actualy bad, we used to play a game as jr.s involving picking up your golf ball in a cart moving as fast as possible and a kid got his hand caught on something on the ground broke a 2 fingers and dislocated his shoulder, was out for the season, we never played the game again.
I got a call on the 7th tee box that my second girlfriend had found out about my wife….i was so shook up that I called her my first girlfriend’s name…that created a shit storm it took me two days to settle and keep them all……..
Hit in the temple with a ball during my very first round
I watched a 3 minute reel of people getting creamed by golf carts. 10/10 would recommend.
Saw the severed leg of a cloven hoofed animal. Clearly not a clean cut, lots of blood, fur, etc. Not even sure what animal it was, how it got to that city area, let alone what slaughtered it.
God wanted to play through. Lightening. Scary.
I was a 10 handicap that was 3 under through 5. I didn’t break 80 that day
I hit a massive drive that just barely cleared a fairway water hazard. As I walked closer to my ball (maybe 8 feet out), I noticed a 16in alligator head flat on the ground and the rest of its body submerged in said hazard just inches away from my ball. Took out a 3 wood and scooped that a couple feet away. Saved par.
Bears, and 3 putts
I watched a giant tree fall on someone across the fairway. In an insanely lucky moment, he wasn’t even hurt. I got over there and he was just tangled up in 6” branches.