Nearly met my maker today.

[bluetrane]

I walked to the 17th tee just wanting to get the round over with as I was all over the course for most of the round. As my buddy and I arrived a golfer on another tee adjacent to 17 fairway to our left splashed one in the water 20 yards to the front left of our tee box. No "fore" or warning of any sort. It's a good 250 yard carry for them to reach the water. No big deal.

 

I walk to the right side of the tee box to set up for a little faded hybrid. I bent over to tee my ball and for some reason a low hanging branch in my peripheral vision caught my eye and I figured I'd move toward the center of the tee box to avoid it for sure. As I stood back up something caught my attention and I lurched backwards to get upright and out of the way very quickly. When I did I heard "voooosh!" A golf ball zipped right in front of my face and smacked my golf bag and dropped right beside my push cart. It sounded like a major league fastball when it hit my Bridgestone staff bag.

 

I was in shock. The ball was within a foot of drilling me right in the side of the head. I don't know what kind of ball speed a ball needs to carry 250-270 yards, but I figure if it hit me in the head I would be lucky if I weren't killed or hurt very badly. My initial thought was "what the f*ck!!??" I think I yelled it. No "fore" no warning whatsoever. After the first one landed at the edge of my comfort zone I should have been more aware the next player's shot. I simply figured it would be dumb luck if another ball landed that close. I guess I'm dumb for thinking that.

 

When the foursome approached I saw that they had a younger girl with them, maybe 12 or 13 years old so I really tried to maintain my composure. I told them that they should warn with a "fore" when they hit at someone. They said they yelled but I didn't hear a thing other than the contact then the ball buzzed my tower. I simply told them in a not so nice tone that they need to sound off in a man voice before they kill someone. I said there is no reason to be embarassed of a wayward shot and a "fore!!!" would be appreciated the next time.

 

I am still shook up. It was like getting shot at. I don't think anyone involved understands the severity of the situation the way I do. Not even my buddy. They didn't see the ball so they don't understand how close it was to taking my head off. I got very lucky. If I had stayed bent over to tee that ball in the original spot I probably would not have stood to hit the shot. It would have rolled me. I guess it was dumb luck on my part that that tree limb caught my eye. It probably wouldn't have affected my shot, but it in hindsight it may have saved my life. I am a combat vet and I've been in the mix. That is as scared as I have been since my time as an infantryman in Iraq.

 

My point is if someone hits a wayward shot they should sound off at the top of their lungs. THey shouldn't be embarassed and shouldn't hesitate. They shouldn't wait till it's too late. They should sound off early and loud so everyone in range and even beyond range can hear the warning. Like I said, I don't know how fast that ball was moving. Probably well over 100mph, but I am darn sure that it was getting along with enough velocity to kill a man.

 

 

I'm glad to hear that you're all right. I've noticed how many people don't yell fore anymore. I don't know if you're religious or not but maybe it was your guardian angel that pointed that branch out to you.

 

Also bravo for not flipping out. (I know many of us would have!)

[alfie]

That's a shame that the other 2 clowns have no common sense nor care about the well being of others.

Even thought it was gonna be a losing point, just wished u could have let them know it's better to make sure others are safe when it comes to the proximity of high flying golf balls than end up actually hurting someone.

 

 

This reminds me of something that happened a couple of weeks back. I went out as a single and the pro shop paired me w/ two other players. They weren't the friendliest two in the world, but no big deal, I decided to just play golf and let them do their thing, all good.

 

Few holes in, one player hits a screaming low push slice that was making eyes for a player a couple of holes ahead on a green about 100 yards in front of and 100 yards right of the tee box. It was like slow motion, I saw that ball just making a bee line for the guy on the green and I bellowed "FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!!!!!!!!!!!!" The two guys on that green hit the deck like Marines, just belly flopped flat on their stomachs.

 

It turns out the drive kept bending right so it screamed over the fringe area and was probably 10 or 20 feet away from beaning one of the players. I looked at the two guys I was paired with and was going to say "whew!" and then maybe some nervous laughter. Before I could say anything one of the guys lays into me: "WTF are you doing? Yelling FORE when I'm hitting? Trying to embarrass me or something?"

 

I was speechless, didn't know what to say. I took a moment to gather myself and decided not to say anything. No reason to argue with that guy, and I damn sure was not going to play eleven or twelve more holes with these knuckleheads. I grinned a bit, shook my head, put my driver head cover on, and walked into the clubhouse.

 

Life is too short to play with guys like that. No thanks. I expect to enjoy myself when I play golf, and that was just nuts. I went to the pro shop and explained the situation, asked him if he could pair me up again w/ another group, which he was happy to do.

 

All's well that ends well, I ended up playing 24 holes for the price of 18. :D

 

As long as those two jackasses didn't kill anyone on the back nine, it was a good day for everyone.

[tdk8180]

The only acceptable time to get hit is when Natalie Gulbis blocks one and it catches you where the sun don't shine. Then when she comes over to apologize, you can tell you friends that Natalie Gulbis made "contact" with you in ways they wouldn't understand.

[Bones01gt]

Like I said, I don't know how fast that ball was moving. Probably well over 100mph, but I am darn sure that it was getting along with enough velocity to kill a man.

 

 

No, not nearly 100 mph. If the ball carried that far, and it were going 100 mph, it would have had to have an inital ballspeed of around 250 mph. The slowdown is logarithmic too, so it slows the most in the beginning. The ball was likely traveling about 55 mph or less by the time it got to you.

 

It might have killed you if it hit you dead on in the temple, but I've never heard of anyone being killed by a golf ball. When I looked it up, the closest I could find is a little girl being hit in the head by a ball, then dying at the hospital, but the report said she died from the doctors giving her too much endone and codeine.

 

Golf balls are rubber, and they weigh only 1.6 oz. Traveling at 100 mph, they have 33 ft/lbs of energy. A .22 cal bullet has over 140 ft/lbs of energy.

 

Good math man!!! Being hit in the temple was the thought that scared me so much. I was standing as I would address the ball so the incoming ball was approaching from my left. It passed me at eye level just a matter of inches in front of my face. Had it struck me in the head it surely would have been a temple shot or very close. I took a fastball to the jaw when I was 14 and suffered some damage to my sinuses and teeth so I feel fortunate to have escaped unscathed.

 

I am hoping I can sleep this off and I won't be jittery and gunshy when I get back on the course. I think I'm going to try to squeeze 9 in sometime tomorrow just to shake the cobwebs.

[Shanks For The Memories]

Like I said, I don't know how fast that ball was moving. Probably well over 100mph, but I am darn sure that it was getting along with enough velocity to kill a man.

 

 

No, not nearly 100 mph. If the ball carried that far, and it were going 100 mph, it would have had to have an inital ballspeed of around 250 mph. The slowdown is logarithmic too, so it slows the most in the beginning. The ball was likely traveling about 55 mph or less by the time it got to you.

 

It might have killed you if it hit you dead on in the temple, but I've never heard of anyone being killed by a golf ball. When I looked it up, the closest I could find is a little girl being hit in the head by a ball, then dying at the hospital, but the report said she died from the doctors giving her too much endone and codeine.

 

Golf balls are rubber, and they weigh only 1.6 oz. Traveling at 100 mph, they have 33 ft/lbs of energy. A .22 cal bullet has over 140 ft/lbs of energy.

 

Good math man!!! Being hit in the temple was the thought that scared me so much. I was standing as I would address the ball so the incoming ball was approaching from my left. It passed me at eye level just a matter of inches in front of my face. Had it struck me in the head it surely would have been a temple shot or very close. I took a fastball to the jaw when I was 14 and suffered some damage to my sinuses and teeth so I feel fortunate to have escaped unscathed.

 

I am hoping I can sleep this off and I won't be jittery and gunshy when I get back on the course. I think I'm going to try to squeeze 9 in sometime tomorrow just to shake the cobwebs.

 

A 100 mph fastball carries 104.5 ft/lbs of energy, much more than a golfball, which you recall has 33 ft/lbs at the same range. So, the baseball is more than 3 times more powerful when it hits you. Plus, the golf ball is not traveling nearly so fast when it hits you. I've been hit by a baseball, it's much worse.

 

The point is that a golf ball will likely not kill you, even a direct hit the temple will probably only cause a huge bump and maybe some unconsiousness. Recall the time Mickleson hit that guy's watch? The watch face broke, and the band came off... Imagine if that were a baseball, the guy's hand would be broken, or severely wounded, but the guy's hand had 0 damage, it was just a crack on the watch face.

[larrybud]

Like I said, I don't know how fast that ball was moving. Probably well over 100mph, but I am darn sure that it was getting along with enough velocity to kill a man.

...

Golf balls are rubber, and they weigh only 1.6 oz. Traveling at 100 mph, they have 33 ft/lbs of energy. A .22 cal bullet has over 140 ft/lbs of energy.

 

And a 16 ounce hammer swung at 31 mph has 32 ft/lbs of energy.. You wanna get hit in the head with a hammer?

[Bones01gt]

Like I said, I don't know how fast that ball was moving. Probably well over 100mph, but I am darn sure that it was getting along with enough velocity to kill a man.

...

Golf balls are rubber, and they weigh only 1.6 oz. Traveling at 100 mph, they have 33 ft/lbs of energy. A .22 cal bullet has over 140 ft/lbs of energy.

 

And a 16 ounce hammer swung at 31 mph has 32 ft/lbs of energy.. You wanna get hit in the head with a hammer?

 

Good call Homer. I couldn't agree more.

[Carolina Golfer 2]

Bones, Glad you're OK. You're not overstating the danger. Any ball still flying in the air could cauase serious damage in hitting the head. In reality the balls speed was probably only in the neighborhood 30MPH or so, think about it. How many of us would want to be hit in the head or anywhere else by somehing moving 30mph. The 150 mph balls speed is rare off the tee is rare for most amatuers and that is right after impact, the speed decreased greatly the further it gets obviously.

 

In anycase I know the feeling as well. As once I was about 40 to 50 yards ahead of the other twosome in our group, but I was pulled way off to the side in the cart, even right of the cartpath under trees (they were in the fairway) but they guy hit a cold hard shank right at our cart. I ducked in time, and the ball ended up hitting the top of the cart and boucing away from us. But it still got my heart pumping pretty fast. Like you I probably should have been more careful and since then, in the rare occassion I am ahead of anyone, I make sure I'm way out of the way and standing out of the cart so I can move even faster if it comes my way.

 

Glad you lived to tell us the story, instead of your friend having to "write about a tragic incident"

[rymail00]

Its kinda scary, you CAN get seriuosly hurt by a golf ball.

 

Please someone who is good at finding stuff on the internet find the guy who got hit by Retief Goosen. That poor guy guy got it in the side of the face w/ a pulled snaped hook. By far the scariest thing I have ever seen in golf. The sound that ball made when it hit him haunting.

 

I work alot of split shifts at work so I get to play alot too, but time is a factor. After seeing that guy get hit I will never risk playing through a group a head of me by hitting when they are near the green.

 

In conclusion a golf ball CAN do serious damage, wheather its 20 yards off the face of the club or, 260 yards down the fairway. IT WILL HURT!!

[soberguy16]

it definitely is scary and gets your adrenaline up after a close call. I had some friends in college who were chipping in their yard and one skulled a shot and hit this kid right in the face, breaking his orbital bone i think. i think if the ball had been like one inch over it could have killed him or blinded him or something. his face was f***ed up for awhile. that incident made me aware of how serious getting hit with a golf ball can be.

[cigarnut81]

In defense of the errant shot! How likely were you to hear a shout of 100 decibels from 270 yards away? I yell fore when I hit an errant shot & I am not loud enough to be heard from 270 yards away! People just can not hear me from that far away!

[EBgolf]

I got hit at the 2000 PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club we were in between two holes and Goosen hit a hook and it hit into me and my buddy standing with our backs to his fairway watching the action on another hole. Luckily it hit a few branches and bounced into us so it didn't hurt but there was no one yelling fore. I understand we are standing out on the course watching but it is still a good thing to yell fore even if you are a pro.

[mshills]

I grew up as a golf caddy and have been hit by balls taking a hard kick off a tree and let me tell you it HURTS. I've never been hit on the fly (other than bladed wedges, which smart too!) It would have to be a one-in-a-million shot to kill someone, but I wouldn't want to risk being that "one."

 

There is someone on this forum who saw someone get hit in the eye. :o The next thing he heard from the person who was hit was "Help me find my eye!" :o :o :o Frightening stuff.

[Bones01gt]

In defense of the errant shot! How likely were you to hear a shout of 100 decibels from 270 yards away? I yell fore when I hit an errant shot & I am not loud enough to be heard from 270 yards away! People just can not hear me from that far away!

 

If you sound off with your man voice there is no reason someone 270 yards away can't hear you, unless they are hard of hearing. It's just a matter of attracting attention to yourself. When I yell fore everybody takes cover. Now, I understand you may have a slight voice and I am not knocking you for that, but there was 3 other men with him. One of which hit his ball within 20 yards of us too. It's okay to sound of for your buddy too. I can appreciate your perspective though. Perhaps they yelled and I just didn't hear them. Then again, maybe they should have been a bit louder!

 

I won't lie, I was a bit sketchy today. Any time there was someone hitting a shot that had even the slightest odds of coming my way I was staring them down. I think I got it out of my system now, but I will never forget it. My first 9 was fair as I carded a 38 (+2), but I fell apart on my second 9 and I will not post my score here for the sake of preserving my dignity.

 

Remember, sound off if you hit it wayward and if you hear "fore" hit the deck!!!

[Mr blue]

First off thank you for your service to our country. I am sorry this happened to you and you where right to be angry. There is no excuse for not yelling fore if your think your even close to hitting someone. We need to get this game back where it needs to be and stop making excuses for stupidity.

[Mr blue]

First off thank you for your service to our country. I am sorry this happened to you and you where right to be angry. There is no excuse for not yelling fore if you think your even close to hitting someone. We need to get this game back where it needs to be and stop making excuses for stupidity.

[Shanks For The Memories]

In defense of the errant shot! How likely were you to hear a shout of 100 decibels from 270 yards away? I yell fore when I hit an errant shot & I am not loud enough to be heard from 270 yards away! People just can not hear me from that far away!

 

 

If he could yell @ 100 dB at 1 yard, then the result would be 51.4 dB @ 270 yards away, audible.

 

I guess all those years of concert sound reinforcement taught me something.

[Shanks For The Memories]

Like I said, I don't know how fast that ball was moving. Probably well over 100mph, but I am darn sure that it was getting along with enough velocity to kill a man.

...

Golf balls are rubber, and they weigh only 1.6 oz. Traveling at 100 mph, they have 33 ft/lbs of energy. A .22 cal bullet has over 140 ft/lbs of energy.

 

And a 16 ounce hammer swung at 31 mph has 32 ft/lbs of energy.. You wanna get hit in the head with a hammer?

 

 

A 16 oz hammer swung at 21 mph is not enough to kill anyone, save maybe an infant. I'm not saying it doesn't hurt, I'm saying it won't kill you. A .22 wouldn't kill you if it didn't penetrate your internal organs or you didn't bleed to death.

[Bones01gt]

In defense of the errant shot! How likely were you to hear a shout of 100 decibels from 270 yards away? I yell fore when I hit an errant shot & I am not loud enough to be heard from 270 yards away! People just can not hear me from that far away!

 

 

If he could yell @ 100 dB at 1 yard, then the result would be 51.4 dB @ 270 yards away, audible.

 

I guess all those years of concert sound reinforcement taught me something.

 

 

Like I said, I don't know how fast that ball was moving. Probably well over 100mph, but I am darn sure that it was getting along with enough velocity to kill a man.

...

Golf balls are rubber, and they weigh only 1.6 oz. Traveling at 100 mph, they have 33 ft/lbs of energy. A .22 cal bullet has over 140 ft/lbs of energy.

 

And a 16 ounce hammer swung at 31 mph has 32 ft/lbs of energy.. You wanna get hit in the head with a hammer?

 

 

A 16 oz hammer swung at 21 mph is not enough to kill anyone, save maybe an infant. I'm not saying it doesn't hurt, I'm saying it won't kill you. A .22 wouldn't kill you if it didn't penetrate your internal organs or you didn't bleed to death.

 

 

I wish I had that 16 oz. hammer on the course that day. I could have had a little field experiment. I could have told 'ol dude "I'm going down there 270 yards and I want you to yell 'fore' as loud as you can. If I don't hear you I'm coming back up here with my handy dandy 16 oz. hammer and I'm going to beat you with it so you better sound off like you've got a pair!"

 

I'd be willing to bet a fairly substantial amount of money that I would hear him!

 

I'm not a doctor or scientist or anything, but a golf ball to the dome can kill a man, period. It could also cripple you or blind you.

[golfortennis]

I'm not normally one to come off as a Woods fanboy, but I will give him credit, he does in fact yell "Fore!" when he mishits one. At least I have seen him do it often enough. "Fore RIGHT!" in particular.

 

I know I yell like crazy if there is a chance, but sometimes a strong wind in your face makes it nearly impossible. One time I was playing with 2 other guys, and one of them hit it way right, on to the next fairway towards some guys walking up. All three of us were yelling at the top of our lungs, but when the ball landed, the guy still put up his hands, like "WTF?" We had probably a 20 mph headwind in that case, and they couldn't hear us. Had it been downwind, they probably hear us no problem.

[Golffabrik]

I know I yell like crazy if there is a chance, but sometimes a strong wind in your face makes it nearly impossible. One time I was playing with 2 other guys, and one of them hit it way right, on to the next fairway towards some guys walking up. All three of us were yelling at the top of our lungs, but when the ball landed, the guy still put up his hands, like "WTF?" We had probably a 20 mph headwind in that case, and they couldn't hear us. Had it been downwind, they probably hear us no problem.

 

This is the biggest problem...most errant shots are going to be hit into a strong headwind which could make your primal scream hard to be heard at even 200 yards away. Just 2 weeks ago a member of the group I was playing with hit a wicked push slice against a 35 mph headwind directly at a group on the next fairway. Even though we were all screaming at the top of our lungs, the group didn't respond at all and the ball hit the cart of one of the female players. Thank god she didn't get hit. Both of the male Alphas ran up to us with murder in their eyes, and no amount of explaining could rectify the situation. I myself was happy not to have got my lights put out...it was just an unlucky chain of events, and nobody (except the guy who hit...he went home directly after the incident) was really at blame.

[bigred90gt]

I've only had 2 balls come at me un-announced, and I wanted to kill the guy (yes, it was the same guy on 2 different holes on the same course). The first time was the first hole, which is an easily drivable par 4 at about 265. We're putting out, and the guy hit's his tee shot that hits just short of the green, and rolls to about 3 ft from the hole. No warning. We nicely let him know that he should have yelled, and told him great shot, and went about our business. On the back nine, there is another hole that is about 280. We were on the green, just finished putting out, and putting the flag back in, when a ball sailed over my head, missing me by about a foot or so. Again, no warning, same guy. I yelled every obscenity in the book at the guy at the top of my lungs, which I know he heard, because they stayed at the tee box until we were at the next box. As they finally made their way to the green, one of the guys in our group, who I'm guessing was a retired Marine drill sergeant (he just had that look to him, and the way he wore his Marine Corps cap was kind of a giveaway) got in his face and let him know what he thought about hitting into us, and what he was going to do with the ball AND a club of choice if it happened again. Needless to say, they hung out and put some space between us and them, and we didn't see them again for the remainder of the round. Every other time I've ever been hit into, we got a warning.

 

I'm the one in my group (regardless of who I'm playing with) that will yell fore for any shot that has any chance of coming anywhere near anyone on the course. I have a loud voice that carries, and even into a headwind, people duck. I have played with guys that seemed embarrassed to yell, and let out a puny fore, and I covered them with a primal scream, then let them know they need to use their big boy voice so people can hear them, as we on the tee box with them are not the ones in danger.

 

As someone else mentioned, I have to give Tiger credit, as he is the one person that stands out as the pro who has no problem yelling fore when an errant shot is heading for the crowd.

[ZManGT]

One thing I would like to add is while people should yell Fore, if someone does and the ball lands near you, you should cut them a break 1 time. We all have bad shots, or shots that "aren't gonna go that far". I'll forgive someone for hitting into me once. I know I've hit a ball and it went further than I anticipated. But I won't forgive a 2nd time, or if they don't yell Fore.

[bigred90gt]

One thing I would like to add is while people should yell Fore, if someone does and the ball lands near you, you should cut them a break 1 time. We all have bad shots, or shots that "aren't gonna go that far". I'll forgive someone for hitting into me once. I know I've hit a ball and it went further than I anticipated. But I won't forgive a 2nd time, or if they don't yell Fore.

 

Errant shots are errant shots, as long as they are not coming from the group behind, and I am warned, I'm ok with it. The group behind gets one time, then they get an angry response. A group on another hole, so long as they let me know the ball is heading my way, is ok. I know I used to hit a nasty slice and quite frequently my next shot was played from the other fairway.