512 yard eagle stirred up some anger

[nsxguy]

I have a friend in his 70s whose average drive is no more than 200 yards once get on the green of a shorter downhill par 5 in 2. After hitting probably his best drive in the last 20 years (downhill, downwind), the second shot was a low runner with a lot of topspin that probably rolled the last 100 yards. The people on the green ahead were all ticked off even though he yelled fore. I don't think anyone has ever been injured by the last 10 yards of roll on a ball. I would not expect my friend to wait for the green to clear from 250 yards out every time now.

 

Did he do it twice, in the same round, to the same group in front of him ?

 

That's a rhetorical question BTW. ;)

[larrybud]

Funnily enough this happened to me a couple of years ago. SI 1 par 4 (mainly because it's 430 yards uphill I think). No way does any double digit handicapper reach the green in two. I was playing solo and following a group who vaguely knew me and had told me they'd let me through at the next hole which is a par 3. As they walked onto the green they saw me at the bottom of the hill and waved me up. I proceeded to hit the best 3 hybrid shot of my life which somehow made it far enough (probably 220 yards) up the hill to roll into the middle of them as they were putting.

 

Being waved up is completely different than hitting into an unknowing group. Their whole point of waving you up was to have you hit onto the green and continue through them!

[fawley]

I mean what was the rush? You hit into them once. Have you ever been hit by a ball? It hurts like hell. My partner broke his Elbow 2 years ago getting hit by a ball.

 

You never would have seen that pro V again if I were on the green.

 

Yeah, great idea. Potentially escalate what had been a benign and harmless situation by taking or throwing away someone’s ball. Seems like a much better solution than acting like an adult and having a direct conversation with the guy.

[Shifty76]

My typical drive is in the 240-250 range, but every now and then (maybe once every 5 or 6 rounds) I absolutely flush one close to 300. First time I did that (first time ever hitting that far for me) it rolled up on the group ahead of me so I ran up and apologized. They all know me and were in disbelief that I had hit it that far and high fived me, congratulating me on the drive. I think I was about a 25 handicap at the time.

 

Later on that same round my game had gone to crap (as it does being a 25 cap) and I wasn't hitting anything well at all. Topped a drive on a short par 5 and had 270-odd to the green from the rough. That same group was on the green putting out, but I figure no way in hell am I getting the ball anywhere near the green given my normal 4 wood distance at the time was 230ish and the bad lie and how crappy I was swinging. I absolutely smoked it. Couple of bounces and onto the green. Once again had to do the walk of shame up there to apologize. All good guys and they laughed a bit and told me to quit hitting up on them like that, but if it had been another not-so-easygoing group I suspect they would have been pissed.

 

Since then I'm always hesitant to swing if there's anyone even vaguely reachable ahead of me. Most times I'm still 50-100 yards short where I'd expect to be, but that round scared me off hitting up just in case I get one of those once in 5-6 round flyers again. I'd sure love to be able to replicate those ones on a more regular basis though!

[Mikey5e]

I mean what was the rush? You hit into them once. Have you ever been hit by a ball? It hurts like hell. My partner broke his Elbow 2 years ago getting hit by a ball.

 

You never would have seen that pro V again if I were on the green.

 

Yeah, great idea. Potentially escalate what had been a benign and harmless situation by taking or throwing away someone’s ball. Seems like a much better solution than acting like an adult and having a direct conversation with the guy.

After reading both of these posts, it just reaffirms how well the 4some handled the situation. They let me know their feelings without insulting, without taking the ball, and without unnecessary escalation.

EDIT

Another aspect not mentioned yet was my drive was about 5 feet into the rough, sitting down a bit in what appeared to be an old divot partially grown back, but not fully. This did have some influence on whether I could make it or not. I'm not saying I shouldn't have waited, but that was one aspect of my second hit.

[Lagavulin62]

Mikey, don’t ever accidently hit into Miles and Jack. They get angry. Last half of clip.

 

[RSinSG]

If there are people behind me waiting for me to hit while I wait to hit the longer I wait exponentially increases the probability I’ll hit a dog of a shot. In those cases I’ll usually lay up.

[tigerfan23]

I mean what was the rush? You hit into them once. Have you ever been hit by a ball? It hurts like hell. My partner broke his Elbow 2 years ago getting hit by a ball.

 

You never would have seen that pro V again if I were on the green.

 

Yeah, great idea. Potentially escalate what had been a benign and harmless situation by taking or throwing away someone's ball. Seems like a much better solution than acting like an adult and having a direct conversation with the guy.

 

having been hit with a ball changed my view on this. You can act like an adult and have the conversation the first time, not the 2nd time. Just My Opinion.

[MtlJeff]

I've hit into people by accident twice in the same round. I expect them to be mad the second time. I mean if you do it once you gotta be on A+ behavior the rest of the round.

 

I'm not saying fists should fly, but you should expect a remark.

[Rohlio]

I had a group hit into us while we were on the fairway waiting for the green to clear....it was the second time they had done this in the round. I walked over picked up the ball Took out my sharpie wrote "Great SHOT!" on it and teed it up in the middle of the fairway. I feel like that was the appropriate response. They didn't hit into us again.

[Ferguson]

I had a group hit into us while we were on the fairway waiting for the green to clear....it was the second time they had done this in the round. I walked over picked up the ball Took out my sharpie wrote "Great SHOT!" on it and teed it up in the middle of the fairway. I feel like that was the appropriate response. They didn't hit into us again.

 

 

Just tried to write that on a golf ball couldn't read it.

[Lagavulin62]

I had a group hit into us while we were on the fairway waiting for the green to clear....it was the second time they had done this in the round. I walked over picked up the ball Took out my sharpie wrote "Great SHOT!" on it and teed it up in the middle of the fairway. I feel like that was the appropriate response. They didn't hit into us again.

 

 

Never carried anything but those half pencils. I kid you not I’m a teacher and I don’t use sharpies. What do you use them for on a round of golf? (Besides writing on balls)

[Rohlio]

You don't use a sharpie to mark your ball? What if you need to mark one for a provisional?

 

Protip: make sure you get the fine tip kind if you want them to be able to read it.

[Mikey5e]

You don't use a sharpie to mark your ball? What if you need to mark one for a provisional?

 

Protip: make sure you get the fine tip kind if you want them to be able to read it.

Don't you think the more mature approach would be to mention to please not hit into you again. 'A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.'

[Rohlio]

It was the second time. The prior comment apparently wasn't enough.

[NoTalentLefty]

Good eagle

[BIG STU]

If one has played golf long enough you can tell if someone hit a stellar shot and it rolled out to the green. With me in that situation even the second time I would have replied no problem heck of a roll you have been getting good roll out today. We had an older gentleman playing from the ladies tees behind us one day and he nutted one for him and it rolled out maybe 75 yards and ran on the fringe of the green. We stopped and clapped. He came up and offered an apology and we told him no apology needed. His Grandson was playing with him and said he had not nutted one like that in a few years. That old guy was thrilled. Bear told him if he kept that up that the kids would probably make him go back to the senior tees. BTW this guy was 80 years old and down here over 70 play from the red tees. You can tell usually if someone is being a d-bag or not

[lchang]

I wouldn’t have been upset but with one caveat:

 

I was with my son (~9-yrs old at the time) and had a drive roll near us while we were in the fairway. There wasn’t great visibility to where we were and normally I probably would have been mildly annoyed at worst. BUT I noticed I was really upset and my Adrenalin was running hot simply because my son was there.

[Triple Putt]

One time is not a big deal if it gets close but to poke one on the green the second time would have myself and my playing partners pretty bent. It’s not that hard to wait for them to get off the green especially having already rolled one up close a couple holes previously.

[Mikey5e]

Good points. On this particular day, I noticed the ground was especially hard and dry. We haven't had much rain and it's been baking hot even in the north and Midwest. I guess I wasn't used to how much roll out I was getting and it took me this situation unfortunately to be reminded. I should have realized that before I had. If I were in the opposite position and putting on on the green I think the second time I would have said something as well. I think what would be worse would to have one come in on the Fly instead of bounding up from 75 to a 100 yds out.

[gretch]

This is a long thread over something that didn't really happen.

[BNGL]

I got my first eagle of the year with some pretty good shots on a 512 yard par 5. My drive was about 260 yards, leaving about the same to the green for the second shot. Hit a low draw on the second shot landing about 75 yards in front of the green and rolled up 10ft past the flag. The problem was the foursome in front of us was still putting on the green. On a previous par 5 my second shot rolled up about 5 yards short of the green. One of the guys in the foursome got angry with me, very controlled though, and let me know how he felt. I apologized and told him it was my second shot and I didn't think I could reach the green from where I was. Standing over the putt, I was determined to put a quality stroke on the ball, and I did, sinking about a 10 footer.

Question:

How would you have responded if you were in the foursome putting out?

 

Great shot!

[Greenie]

I'm not sure what getting an eagle has to do with the thread. Thread should be " hitting into a group a second time stirred up some anger"

If it was our group ahead of you the first time it happened if you came up apologizing to us we would let it go and say no worries. A simple I didn't know I could hit it that far would certainly be enough. Now if you have to give us the specifics of you shot yardage etc in your apology well that comes off to me as a bit of I tried to do it so I could come up and brag a bit. A second time it happens some one in our group will toss your ball into the weeds. "Our one guy will toss it in a pond on a water hole."That usually insures us that you won't let it happen again and avoid any words by us unless you want to push things.

It's funny having words with some one about being hit into doesn't always prevent a second time of being hit into but tossing their ball away seems to solve the problem every time.

[texcrom]

First time.....no problem.

 

Second time.......you’re an a**, and we wave you through.

 

Then we return the favor a hole or two later, because if anyone would understand that it was simply an unexpected “career shot” it would be you!

 

Right?

[jdl]

Topped a drive on a short par 5 and had 270-odd to the green from the rough.

 

Wow, that's a really, really short par 5.

[MtlJeff]

First time.....no problem.

 

Second time.......you’re an a**, and we wave you through.

 

Then we return the favor a hole or two later, because if anyone would understand that it was simply an unexpected “career shot” it would be you!

 

Right?

 

I am pretty sure intentionally hitting into someone once is worse than accidentally hitting into someone twice. Intent being a relevant factor in criminal cases.

 

So you're actually now a bigger *ss than him, hypothetically of course

[nsxguy]

First time.....no problem.

 

Second time.......you’re an a**, and we wave you through.

 

Then we return the favor a hole or two later, because if anyone would understand that it was simply an unexpected “career shot” it would be you!

 

Right?

 

I am pretty sure intentionally hitting into someone once is worse than accidentally hitting into someone twice. Intent being a relevant factor in criminal cases.

 

So you're actually now a bigger *ss than him, hypothetically of course

 

Really ?

 

He was "accidentally" trying to hit the green ? :rolleyes:

[MountainGoat]

Let's face it, on medium length par-5s you can't win. If you wait for the green to clear, the guys on the tee want you to die, and there's a 100% chance you top your next shot. If you hit up, you'll hit the green every time, and the guys putting out act like you just tossed live grenades at them. When I'm in that situation, I just lay up to wedge distance and move on. Saves all the interpersonal turmoil.

[ClintDagger]

Let's face it, on medium length par-5s you can't win. If you wait for the green to clear, the guys on the tee want you to die, and there's a 100% chance you top your next shot. If you hit up, you'll hit the green every time, and the guys putting out act like you just tossed live grenades at them. When I'm in that situation, I just lay up to wedge distance and move on. Saves all the interpersonal turmoil.

I’m surprised so many people run into this issue. On most par 5s it’s unlikely the guys on the tee can even see if the green is clear yet or not. If you’re 250 out and waiting for the green to clear for all the group behind you knows the guys ahead of you have lost a ball or something and haven’t even gotten to the green yet. I’ve never laid up because I’m afraid the group behind me might get hot that I’m waiting in the fairway for a few minutes. I really think it comes down to knowing your game and knowing what you’re capable of and not capable of. I think someone said OP is a 3 HC. If so, he should know his game and hitting into a group twice in a round is probably something that shouldn’t happen. It’s not the end of the world but hopefully it’s lesson learned from here.

[caniac6]

If you think you can get close, wait. You might get lucky, and get there.