Military Golfing Stories

[tangojay]

Was talking to a fellow Vet ( 20 year USAF myself) about incidents while playing at military installations, the subject of strange occurrences while golfing at military installations came up.

One which stands out, happened while playing my first round of golf, in 1982, at Torrejon AB Spain. As we were driving uphill on a short par 4 along the base perimeter fence, my cart partner who was driving, said to me while looking straight ahead, "Look at the guard on your 2 O' Clock". I looked and noticed this Spanish guard was "following us" with his machine gun! not really aimed, but none the less following as we drove to the green, putted out , hit our tee shots and drove away. I learned this was common, yet, I never got used to it.

 

[Boricua Golf]

US Army retired myself (26 years), I was in Hawaii when 9/11 happened, we were on the course and all of the sudden the alarm went off on the entire island, we were escorted off the course and MPs told us to go straight to the house, didn't know what happened until I got home, then everything was super strict, then once I left Hawaii, I deployed to the desert 3 times (back to back to back, with 4-6 months in between deployments), what's funny is that I am currently in Afghanistan and it hasn't changed, it is more updated with facilities, but still the same...

[BNGL]

I was asked to play in a member guest on short notice (maybe an hour before it started) by a friend of mine who was the director of golf. He could tell I was hesitant and didn’t really want too (it’ll be free and you’re paired with a great member he said). So I went and he was right the gentlemen I was paired with was a good player and US Marine Reservist having been previous active duty flying attack helicopters before he was assigned to HMX-1. He gave me this challenge coin.

He flew President Bush for two years, and President Obama for 8, and probably spilt the Queen’s tea on one occasion (his words). Being in south Florida he’s now working coordinating for President Trump’s visits to Maralago

[bainsgya]

I played an indian army course on base that had an airstrip going through it. The whole experience was surreal. Caddies cost 2$, the driving range was picked by hand while people were hitting, but the thing that stood out the most was the 200 yard par 3 10th. The green sloped steeply from front to back and the tee shot went over the end of the airstrip. Whenever any aircraft was about to land someone from the proshop would come out and stop play. There was a huge concrete basin designed to be a water hazard surrounding the green but it didn't have any water in it so balls would land in it and bounce 20 yards up in the air. Your only hope was to airmail the green and try to get an up and down. Just as an added bonus the hole criss crossed with the par 3 16th. I circled the tee box in red, the green in yellow, and the par 3 16th w a blue line. Madness.

[Mike_Honcho]

I have no cool golf stories to tell except that I drank a lot of beer at a lot of courses with great Marines all over the world.

[disco111]

We had the Blue Angles at our base for the annual air show and during their practice fly by's, they came over the golf course super low (on the deck). This was a Friday and the air show was on Saturday. The rumor goes that on one of their super low passes, upon post flight inspection on one of the planes, there was a dent in one of the wings and it looked as though it was from a golf ball. Needless to say, when we got to the course on Saturday, we heard that story and was told, that when the show started later that afternoon, the course would be closed when the Angles took flight. Come to think of it, that's the last time they ever came to our show.........hmmmmm!

[andrue]

I always play military golf. Left, right, left, right...

[platgof]

 

My buddy played last week with two soldiers. One of them nailed him in the back of the head coming out of the rough

[Mike_Honcho]

ouch.

[platgof]

He's a fast walker, so much for that!!

[ThinkingPlus]

My hubby and I were playing on base one time and got paired with a pilot (captain or major I think - young regardless). We were contractors working on stuff. He was a B2 pilot. We talked about the weather.

[tangojay]

Walked on as a single at Williams AFB AZ golf course, late 80's, I was paired up with these older gentlemen ( I was 25-27) and they were in their 60's or so. Right away I though "Great, this is going to be a loooong day".

They introduced themselves at the first tee box, tee shots not long but down the middle. On the third hole, one reached into their bag, takes out a bottle of Scotch and say "time for lunch" it was 10:30am. Come to find out, one was a pilot and the other a gunner on B-17's during WWII, they never talked about the war, their attitude was incredible , guess see carnage does that to you.

One of the most fun rounds I played, which was tainted by my ex-wife when she had to come and pick me up due to thee beer and Scotch consumption.

[ChipNRun]

Best story told by Air Force veteran. A golf coach I met in Oklahoma had been stationed at an air base in Nam Phong, Thailand during the Vietnam war. The base golf course had a hole that ran along the fence by the main runway. He said that when the golfers would try to tee off, big transport planes revving up for takeoff could create an air wave that blew the ball off the golf tee.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My stories... Patriotic par. As a Marine lance corporal, I was stationed in Okinawa in 1973. On occasion I would play the Kadena Air Base golf course on the island. I was playing up the 18th hole on a Sunday with a Navy captain (equivalent of Colonel) and his wife. The hole was a 400-yard par 4 with a slightly uphill shot to a green. My drive hit the left edge of the fairway and bounced up against the trunk of a palm tree.I had no shot, so I took a penalty drop. Laying three, I hit a 7 iron approach that landed pin high just to the left of the green. I kept the 7i, and hit a smooth chip shot that ran toward the flagstick, and came to rest just on the edge of the cup. Just as I hit the shot, evening colors sounded (taking down the flag), and everyone stood at attention as the bugler played Taps.

Just as Taps ended, I heard a rattling sound. A tail wind had blown my ball the last half inch into the hole. I mentioned that I should get a bogey, because more than 10 seconds had passed after the ball came to rest. The captain interrupted.

"Son, when Taps is played, time comes to a standstill. Mark it down as a par... And that's an order!" ... I obeyed.

. 2. Ice plant exit. Three years later, I was back in the Marine Corps as a lieutenant. I was playing my first round as an officer on Marine Memorial golf course at Camp Pendleton in California. No. 1 is a basic par 5 with tight bunkers around the green. I pushed my tee shot into a patch of ice plant. A greens crew member was working near my ball, so I asked him if I got a free drop."Nope," he said. "You gotta play it!" By chance, I carried an old 1930s niblick (9i) with a flat clubhead face - about 1/4 inch thick -and a slight edge on it. It has a pyratone shaft, an early steel shaft with fake wood lamination on it. A great trouble club. (Similar clubhead shown below.)

I took out the niblick, sized up the lie, and hit a high shot that flew about a hundred yards down the fairway. Trailing behind the ball was a foot-long garland of succulent ice plant debris.

"Hey. you're tearin' up my ice plant!" shouted the greenskeeper. ....

"But, you said I had to play it," I replied.

+++ End of stories +++

[pga43]

I worked at Marine Memorial GC Camp Pendleton for Bill Hartley from 1973-1978 then I went to work for him at Palo Alto Muni in Palo Alto, CA.

 

Greg

[GoTime]

 

Got to play here for what, $40?

[tangojay]

 

May have to give Camp Pendleton a shot, about an hour away,,,,

[Steele47]

Yeap. We always tried to time our drives on number 6 (ran parallel to the runway) at Norton AFB to coincide with a prop job taking off or landing thinking we gained yardage. The course actually had landing lights on the previous hole number 5 (blinking lights were just feet away from fringe of the the green) which you never never ever looked at for fear of damaging your vision. I can still hear the agonizing moan of enormous C-5's straining to take off from those days.

[81Ralph33]

Pendleton is a great course, greens challenging and always in great condition, tee boxes could use some work but no deal breaker

Hopefully it opens soon

[pga43]

I never played Norton AFB GC but the golf course at El Toro Marine Airstation in Orange County (now long gone) was right next to the runways. Jets taking off and landing made you concentrate!

 

 

Greg

[tangojay]

I play about once a month at General Olds, across from March ARB, plenty of retired military still play there. Wife and I (she took the gave a little over a year ago) have played 18 in 3 and 1/2 with a stop at snack bar.

[Boricua Golf]

Love that course, Klipper at K-Bay...played almost every other weekend...

[TIM929]

Thank you for sharing, love the taps story! Yes, time itself was in POA during taps.

 

Much respect for you sir, I really look up to mustangs.

[JohnnyCashForever]

When I was in college in the 80s, I always came home for the summer. My parents lived in a small town next to Fort Knox. There were two courses on base, Anderson GC (the enlisted course) and Lindsey GC (the officers' course). As a military dependent, I had access to both courses. Civilians weren't allowed privileges on base in those days. Lindsey was right by the Gold Vault. If I remember correctly, I believe that the 2nd hole ended at the Gold Vault perimeter fence, and the third hole ran parallel to that same fence. The perimeter fence had "No Trespassing" signs that warned against trying to retrieve lost golf balls. For some reason, I remember them being professionally hand-painted with a nice 60s era script. The joke was that an errant tee shot over the fence on No. 3 could trigger an explosion, as the Gold Vault grounds were rumored to be mined. If you watch the 007 movie Goldfinger closely when they show an aerial view of the Gold Vault, you can see Lindsey for a brief second or two.

One day, I was playing there, walking the course as a single. It was pretty much empty, and I didn't see anyone on the front 9. Making the turn, I stopped for a snack, and then made my way to the back nine. I must have been slow because a retired officer and his wife caught up with me soon enough. The officer proceeded to chew me out for playing holes out-of-order or some other nonsense, since he couldn't figure out where I had come from. I sarcastically saluted him, teed off, and walked down the fairway. When I got to my ball, I realized that I had left my sand wedge on the previous green. I picked up my ball and waved the couple to play through and started walking back to the prior green to get my club. The officer watched me the whole time as he played the hole and I found my club. I waited for them to finish the hole, so that I could play it again. After finishing the hole, I look up and see that the officer had waited for me on the next tee. He realized that I had not done what he accused me of and apologized. Stand up guy. I apologized for being disrespectful. As I recall, his apology was more sincere than mine. We parted ways and never saw each other again. Not a great story, but it's funny what you remember...

 

 

 

[PappyVanWinkle53]

Interesting. Didn't the attacks happen between 8:45 and 10:00 am EST, which would be between 2:45 and 4:00 am in Hawaii.....followed by a complete lockdown shortly thereafter??? How were you on the golf course?? Did Hawaii not get the memo???

[GolfCsty]

I had heard of the Kaneohe course and it's infamous back 9 so, while on vacation in Honolulu for holidays one year, my brother-in-law, father-in-law, and I decide to try and get out there when we carved out some last minute free time from the rest of the family on New Years Eve. When I made the tee time, I think for noonish, they told me we could only play nine because they were closing early for New Year's. I asked if that 9 could be the back 9 and was told no. I grew up in the golf business and knew courses don't close early for New Year's and thought that very odd. I was also aware the president was on island. My suspicion was he would be out there or, at the least, he'd be in some event on base which required everything shutting down for security reasons. I tried finding a full 18 tee time elsewhere on island but being holidays in Hawaii it was the only place with any tee times left so we decided to go out anyway. 9 holes of golf is better than no golf, right?

Well, sure enough, after we hit our tee shots on the 2nd hole we saw the black SUV brigade pulling in the parking lot. By the time we were walking off the 2nd green secret service (in Hawaiian shirts and golf cart) rolled up and searched us. Nothing too aggressive, they just ran the wands over us and took quick peaks in our golf bags. Word had definitely gotten out, and likely way before we knew, among the community on base because the secret service fellows proceeded to the 3rd hole where the families and friends in the houses just off to the right of the 3rd tee had congregated along their back yard fences with cameras in hand. The agents gave those folks all a cursory search paying special attention to their cameras.

At some point the tee we were on and the green he was on were close together. Looking at the course map we were probably on the 5th or 8th tee and he was likely on the 2nd green but that detail is fuzzy. Anyway, we moved a little closer to get a better look. Of course we were stopped by agents again before we got too close for their comfort. We watched him finish and moved on. After finishing the 9th we enjoyed a few beers and waited for POTUS and friends to finish so we could watch them play the 9th. Hopefully one day I'll get to go back and play the back nine but Kaneohe still provided us with a very unique military golfing experience that day.

One last note, the agents had golf bags on their carts too but weren't playing golf. The bags had rain covers on them so we couldn't get a look at their clubs. To this day I wonder what kind of clubs they gamed. I'm willing to bet more money than I have that their drivers were way more accurate and powerful than anything we play!

[Ping Player]

13 at Kaneohe? If so. I played many rounds there in the 80s.

[Ping Player]

[Ping Player]

I played there two or three times per week in the 80s. And was lucky enough to travel as part of the golf team all over the world. Lol.

[Boricua Golf]

Bro, I was stationed in Hawaii for six straight years, I played in some locations that you only see on postcards, not to mention, caddied at the Sony Open and Lotte Championship (LPGA), such an experience...Klipper was the closest thing to the Palmer Course at Turtle Bay at a fraction of the price...loved every minute of it.

[Man_O_War]

wow! where is this?