The Loop
Here are your 15 best stories of emotional outbursts, temper tantrums and breakdowns on the golf course
On Monday, we asked you to share some of the horror stories you have witnessed on a golf course. The Golf Digest community answered this Bat Signal and answered with vigor.
We received more than 500 emails, Facebook comments and tweets on the subject. The response was heartwarming. The tales, not so much. So, SO many club throws.
A big, sincere thank you to all those that took the time to share. Here are the best (worst?) anecdotes on golf meltdowns:
There's nothing sweeter than a child's laughter...
*I have a friend who showed up to the course just hammered while another friend and I were in the middle of a round. Drunk friend proceeded to bet non-drunk friend a few bucks that he could beat him on the hole we were on if he were given a shot. After hacking it up the hole, drunk friend ends up with a chip shot for bogey. Well, in the middle of his backswing, two kids on a hill on the hole adjacent to us yelled at him. Not cool. Drunk friend starts screaming obscenities back at them, flings his club, hops in his golf cart, two wheels it across the bridge to the other hole and drives up the steep hill after the kids. Which, ironically enough, leads to a cemetery. My friend and I watched as drunk friend, cart and rude kids took off through the cemetery, probably running over a bunch of headstones in the process. The two of us back in the fairway were just in shock and rolling on the ground laughing. - J. Wantabe *
Aquaman
*A guy I played with years ago lost a match on 18 by hitting his approach into the lake next to the green at the old Plaza Park in Visalia, Calif. He picked up his bag and ran like a screaming lunatic to the pond and chucked into the water. In almost the same motion he dove in and grabbed it before it sank. Later we were laughing about it when he told us, the instant the bag left his hands he realized his wallet with his paycheck was in it. He said he didn't care about the clubs, but his wife would kill him over losing the check. - Bill Essex *
At least there's a clock on your phone
*Got to be Chris (redacted) ... I played with him in a club competition a few years ago. He hit a bad shot, not sure what, but he then turned round and started to take it out on his bag. He then stopped very suddenly as panic set in. He had just got himself a fancy new watch ... a couple of grands worth ooops as it was in his bag. Lucky for Chris he struck his bag as bad as he did his ball and missed his fancy watch. - Dougie Manson *
Afraid to comment...
Two guys pulled out guns and pointed them at each other. No shots though! - Tom Meder
Would have loved to hear that conversation with the insurance agent
We used to play stymies on the putting green after 36 holes on Saturdays. It was late so we had turned on our car headlights surrounding the putting green. Well someone got stymied, got angry and threw his putter in the air . . . And the putter smashed through the guys own windshield. - Dan Gould
Hulk - smash
My friend hits what appears to be a really good shot...until it lands in the bunker. At that point he pulls out his driver and snaps the shaft over his knee. Then he does the same with his 3- wood, then his 5-wood, then...he just kept going and snapped every single shaft in his bag, including his putter, all while there was a group waiting on the tee behind us. I'm pretty sure the fact I was laughing hysterically to the point of tears only made him that much angrier and is what took the final tally up to all 14 clubs being unplayable, and a slight bruise above his right knee. - Marc Hanson
Feels like the Secret Service dropped the ball
*One beautiful summer day in August of 1995 we were involved in a nip and tuck title match at Farm Neck Golf Club on Martha's Vineyard. As fate would have it, our father, my brother, his now ex-wife and I were the group immediately in front of President Clinton and so the woods were full of Secret Service agents with machine guns. *
*While we were waiting on the eighth tee, a beautiful, reachable par 5 with OB left, a pond on the right and ocean views, the President's group caught up to us. After exchanging some pleasantries the President examined my brother's driver. They both played a Wilson with a firestick shaft. *
*Then we teed off. I hit a beautiful shot down the middle. My brother did not, though his ball was dry. He was forced to lay up while I waited in the fairway for the green to clear. *
*My brother made it very clear to me that he did not think I should be standing in the fairway waiting to hit a par 5 in two while the leader of the free world was on the tee behind us. As we not so calmly talked that over, the green cleared so I could play away. I didn't hit the green but was close enough that I could do no worse than par. *
*My brother managed to knock it on in three and hit his first putt about two feet by the cup. I made sure he knew his putt was not good. That did not make him happy. *
*As I expected, he missed. *
*He then tapped in for 6, took the ball out of the hole and proceeded to wind up and throw it at me as hard as he could. I was no more than five feet away. And President Clinton was standing in the middle of the fairway. His Secret Service was all around. *
*My reaction was to charge at my taller, stronger brother. To this day I'm not sure what I was going to accomplish. *
I managed to tie him up and our father stepped right in to break things up. All he had to say was that the President was behind us and the machine guns were in the woods. - Tim Levy