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23 years ago, Jack Nicholson infamously smashed a windshield with a 2-iron in a fit of road rage
Kevin Winter
Earlier this week marked the anniversary of astronaut Alan Shepard hitting a makeshift 6-iron on the moon, the shot "heard 'round the galaxy.'" While not as celebrated, there's another iron-related event to commemorate: Jack Nicholson smashing a motorist's windshield with a golf club.
On February 8, 1994, Robert Blank claimed the three-time Oscar winner approached his car at a red light. Nicholson accused blank of cutting him off in traffic and proceeded to go to town on Blank's Mercedes-Benz. A witness corroborated Blank’s version of the story, leading to misdemeanor charges of vandalism and assault. The charges were eventually dropped, as Nicholson apologized for the episode. (Nicholson also settled for a reported $500,000.)
Nicholson, who was 56 at the time, told Us Magazine it was “a shameful incident in my life." However, when he sat down with Golf Digest in 2007, the Hollywood star brought some levity to the tale.
"I was on my way to the course, and in the midst of this madness I some-how knew what I was doing," he said, "because I reached into my trunk and specifically selected a club I never used on the course: my 2-iron."