By Larry Howard, Lubbock (Meadowbrook GC)
Our West Texas Golf League, based in Lubbock, has had a few close calls with the elements over the years. I started the league in 1981 with eight players and today we have expanded to 72. We play a two-man team event, in which you keep the same partner for the whole season (April through September).
We play nine holes starting at 5:30 p.m., so we can only play after daylight saving time begins, which just so happens to coincide with severe storm season here in Texas. Invariably it seems that weather is involved on the opening night, and one evening a few years ago was no exception.
Not long after the shotgun start, ominous, green-gray clouds rolled in seemingly out of nowhere. It soon started hailing, with stones the size of golf balls, and didn’t let up for nearly half an hour. Several players made it back to the clubhouse, but those far out on the course were exposed the longest. Most huddled under trees or whatever shelter they could find.
My foursome tried to take cover near a tree and under the roof of our cart, but the wind was blowing the hail around and it was coming down from every angle. Everyone in my group got hit by glancing blows. There were some big stones coming down!
One man was standing under a tree near a cart path when a large hailstone hit the path and bounced up and hit his thigh. He was wearing shorts and by the time we all gathered later in the clubhouse his thigh had a large bruise on it. Many cars were damaged in the parking lot, too.
The sound was the main thing I remember. We couldn’t hear each other yell. It was like a freight train passing through your kitchen. We were all freaked out, just trying to dodge the bullets.
By Tom Coleman, McKinney (Stonebridge Ranch CC)
When I was 13 or 14 years old, my friend and my younger brother Terry were playing at our home course in Aberdeen, Miss. We were on the ninth hole, waiting on the tee for the slow group in front of us to hit their second shots and clear the landing area. As we waited, my brother Terry laid down near the front right side of the tee to rest. He was facing my friend and me as we stood on the tee. Once the group ahead moved out of the way, my friend set up for his tee shot and shanked the ball right into my brother’s face and the bridge of his nose.
There was blood everywhere, so I pulled off my shirt and held it onto his nose. We were walking, and our house was located just off the No. 1 tee, so I had to carry my brother up No. 9 (a long par 5), past the clubhouse and across the No. 1 fairway to get him home.
We managed to stop the bleeding about the time we got to the front door, and he seemed fine enough that he didn’t need to go to the doctor. We later found out that his nose had been broken. In time, it healed incorrectly with blockages.
The final scariest part was that when Terry got older, he had to go into surgery to have his nose re-broken and set in order to clear his nasal passages. He still says that it was the most painful experience he’s ever had to go through. Thankfully, the injury wasn’t more serious and, even better, Terry and I still play golf together to this day.
By Jerry Allen, The Woodlands (Lake Windcrest GC)
I am 75 years old and play in a seniors’ group at Lake Windcrest. Last week, I hit my drive off the toe of the club into the woods on the 18th hole. I told my partner, who was driving the cart, that I’m not looking for it and would take a drop and penalty instead.
As I was walking toward the front of the cart, it suddenly lurched forward and knocked me down onto my stomach and ran over my leg! After a few choice words with the distracted driver, I got up and shook it off. Fortunately, the tire only rolled over my leg and didn’t break any bones.
I decided to keep playing. I hit a beautiful 3-wood, followed by a nice little wedge shot that ended up 7 feet from the hole. I made the putt!
It could be that I’m the only 75-year-old to hit his drive into the woods, get run over by the cart and still make a bogey.
May not be scary to others, but it was to me!
By Vicki Montague, Houston (Houston CC)
I was enjoying a golf outing with three friends on one of the beautiful mountain courses at Red Sky Club in Colorado. I was teeing off when a young man inadvertently sent a line drive through the trees from his tee above us and into the side of my head. I was knocked down, semiconscious and bleeding profusely.
A call was made immediately for an ambulance to take me to the nearest hospital, which was some distance away in Vail. It took over an hour to get me there. The doctor who treated me said the scans showed a severe concussion, but fortunately no internal bleeding on or in the brain. I was blessed that although I looked like I had been in a boxing match and lost, I suffered no lasting problems.
Scary!
