Nearly met my maker today., Lengthy, but worth the read. Options

[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!

This post has been edited by cigarnut81: Jun 1 2009, 10:34 AM

[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.

[mrhills0146]

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. The next thing he heard from the person who was hit was "Help me find my eye!" 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.

This post has been edited by Mr blue: Jun 1 2009, 07:11 PM

[Shanks For The M...]

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 M...]

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.

[Bluefan75]

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.

This post has been edited by Cuso: Jun 2 2009, 09:26 AM

[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.