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Crazy Day at the Links

ScarletBlood31

Buckeye in Blacksburg
Ok, so today I have a day off of school, and out of nowhere I had the idea to go golfing, and asked my friend, and he decided to come with me. So keep in mind I haven't golfed since late July/early August of 2005, so I was trying to shake off the rust. We had played about 6 holes (on a 2 p.m. till dark special for $17.50), and had been driving a cart around. It's just me and my buddy, and of course we aren't exactly driving the cart flawlessly. The two of us are swerving around the turns, flooring it down hills, spinning out around corners, and just plain being idiots. Around the 6th or 7th hole, I had to cut back to go get my ball that I had passed. I had started going down a hill towards the fairway, and turned quickly towards my ball. I flipped the golf cart. Let me tell you, I have never gone from such a fun time to getting the smile slapped off my face so quickly. The momentum of us going down the hill, and then turning the cart had flipped the cart over towards the driver's side (my side). I was scared shitless. As soon as we had come to a stop, I immediately checked with my friend to make sure he was OK, and then I did a quick check of my arms, legs, teeth, and head to make sure I wasn't seriously hurt. We climbed out of the cart, and flipped the cart back up right away to make sure someone didn't see it on the way by. My arm was killing me, I had some bruises and cuts on my face, cuts on my arm, and my friend faired better with just a cut on his arm and a sore hip.

Now I'm a moderately-religious guy, but I had never felt so blessed in my life. The roof of the cart had been a foot from slamming into my head on the way down, I could have broken an arm or leg, opened up a big gash somewhere, or broken my neck. The ironic thing is, when I'm driving a car, I'm the most cautious driver in the world. I use my signals, don't speed, don't turn on the radio, wear my seat belt, and everything. But I guess I mistreated the golf cart as too much of a game, and I learned my lesson from it. My left arm took most of the force on the way down, and right now it's cut up a little bit and I have a bruise the size of my palm on my tricep. My whole arm is pretty numb and hurts like hell now (3 1/2 hours later), and besides some bruises on my face and leg, everything else is fine. I'm thankful that I took most of the fall during the accident because I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if my friend had gotten hurt pretty bad because my of carelessness (but in my defense, he was initiating a lot of the horseplay).

So after driving through to the clubhouse area (its a pretty cheap golf course, so it was basically a little shop with a snack bar), we took a break, and I sat there, with my arm throbbing. We ended up going back out so he could play some more, and it started to get pretty cold. So of course while he's driving (both of us are significantly more cautious now), the cart dies out on him. We push the cart about 3 or 4 holes, with me holding the steering wheel, and eventually a maintenance guy comes by and helps us out. I ended up having to quickly get a sweatshirt on so my mom didn't see the bruises, and so far she doesn't know about the whole thing, because she would probably freak out if I told her.

So call me a careless teenager, but I really learned a lesson today. I thank God that nothing serious happened, and am glad that I got this kind of wake-up call on a golf course, and not out on the road in a car. My cell phone screen cracked, but I'll probably be able to last out my contract because it can still make and receive calls. But it's amazing how quickly your priorities change, and you start to realize what is important during a second of panic like that. If you've ever been in some kind of automobile/motored accident, you know the rush and the split second that you realize that you're about to crash. A lot of you may not read this, but if you did I thought that I'd just share with you my mistake, so that you may have a chance to take that extra precaution, and think for a second before you do something that could endanger yourself or others. I know that I will.
 
im glad you learned your lesson...
also chew on this

how many good golfers do you think it will take to cover your damages to the course? and then the cart?

always leave things better than you found them.

I agree, and I was ready to pay for damages to the cart and course, but luckily it wasn't broken, and the course didn't appear to be any different than before.


But you have to see this course, its one of those no-dress code, cheap thrills, we'll-take-your-money-and-you-play places. Perfect for a couple of guys going out to just learn to play the game without spending a lot of money.
 
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Here you go man...

pigasus.gif


But really, thats a scary thing to happen to you. Glad your alright.
 
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As a Golf Professional (and a kid in the past) I feel two ways about this.

When I was a teenager I did a similar thing on a golf course, (well it involved shooting a beebee gun at our friends in the other cart) however we were 'careful' (I say that loosely) to not damage the course.

As a PGA Professional, I of course feel differently now. While I'm glad you learned a lesson, I don't agree with your rationalization.

Golf Carts are not inexpensive, neither is damage to the course. The fact that it's "only a $17.50" fee doesn't mean they can afford people to abuse their property and carts. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Golf Courses are not big money makers, they require more constant maintainance than most people can imagine. Even the shirt's optional courses are rather expensive to keep decent. The more people abuse the course the more the course looses money (and subsequent greens fees).

Yes, you are fortunate not to be hurt. I'm sure the cart suffered some damage, and the course probably has a large gash in it.

Please don't be an idiot on the golf course. Appreciate all the hard work that goes into designing, developing, staffing, and maintaining a course. Have fun when you play, but don't skid tires, do hard turns, run the cart through mud, ram your club into the ground, etc. Maybe the wreck didn't damage the course (lucky if it didn't), but I'm sure all the behavior that lead to the wreck did quite a bit of damage -- especailly if the course is in central Ohio and the ground is about as soft and wet as it can get.

I'm sorry to sound like a big asshole, but working in the golf industry has drastically changed my opinion on people acting like idiots on the course. Who gets blamed for abused courses being out of shape? The hardest working people I know of, the greens keepers.
 
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I worked at a golf course for eight years. I have flipped a cart on more than one occasion. I have seen a friend go to the hospital after head-on-ing a tree.

You need to be careful with carts. You might be surprised to find out that many new ones are $3,000.

Like DA, I know that golf courses barely make enough money to get by manytimes. I worked at a luxorious country club so we made more than most, but we actually lost money the last two years I worked due to bad weather, especially in the spring.

You learned a good lesson and are lucky you were not hurt. Let this be a lesson to you.
 
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I have actually tipped one myself.

It was my first time ever golfing and I was only 12 and the cart was parked on a hill and I got into drive for the first time and as I went to go the cart started rolling down the hill and I hit the gas real hard and turned the wheel as the road curved and tipped it. Needless to say I didnt drive the rest of the day.
 
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I'm sure the cart suffered some damage, and the course probably has a large gash in it.

I agree with you on mostly all of you post, and believe me, I am not always some stupid teenager on the golf course. In fact, its my basic instinct to show the course etiquette, wear a collared shirt, be quiet for other golfers, don't damage the course, etc. etc. That comes from golfing with my dad a lot, and working at various pro golf tournaments. I just got carried away because I was with my friend.


The course, however, isn't even noticeable from our accident. It happened over in the rough, and you'd have to bring out a CSI team to notice that anything happened. The cart also was fine, with the structure of it being intact, and it rode around the rest of the day. The cart that I mentioned dying out on us, was in fact another cart that we had used after we took a break to get something to eat, and drove it normally after being shaken up from before.
 
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