Have You Ever Been Drilled By A Golf Ball?

It was a nice sunny day and I was a freshmen playing in a high school golf match against Long Beach Milikan High School. We were playing at Recreation Park Golf Course in Long Beach. After two holes I was even par and we teed off on hole 3, which is a long par 4 with a slightly elevated tee. In my group I was paired up with Lisa who played for our high school, Edison High School, and two other guys from Milikan.

We walked up the fairway and went to our own golf balls. Lisa's golf ball was about 30 yards behind everyone elses ball. I walked down the left side of the fairway in the rough to get even with my ball in the fairway and then wait for Lisa to hit.

Now the group ahead of us was up on the green still, but Lisa was too far out to reach them so we told her to go ahead. I turned my head to look at the green when Lisa hit her 3-wood. Within that split second I heard what sounded like one of those land rockets you can buy at the hobby store. You know the ones that make that loud SSSSSHH sound and go straight up a zillion miles in the air. Well I turned around and I see Lisa's golf ball zeroing in on me. It was one of those low screamers about 3 or 4 feet off the ground. It happened so fast that I didn't have time to react and it hit me square in the back.

I still remember that golf ball coming at me as if it happened yesterday. Now that I think back it was a lot like the slow motion bullet time in The Matrix where Neo is dodging the bullets, but I wasn't able to dodge this bullet. The golf ball hit me so hard that one of the guys in our group heard the thud clear across the fairway. With a golf ball traveling around 110 mph and being as hard as it is I was lucky it didn't hit me in the head.

I finally caught my breath and stood up. Everyone was asking if I was alright and I said yes, but I don't think I was. I think I was a little bit in shock. I lifted up my shirt and asked them to tell me if there was a mark and they said there was a bruise with white spots inside, which we all realized were the dimple marks from the golf ball. I continued playing, which was a big mistake because I wasn't the same after getting drilled with the golf ball. After the 5th hole it started to really hurt, but I stuck it out. I finished the 9-hole match with a 49, which was my worst score ever for nine holes.

The moral of the story. Don't walk ahead of the golfers in your group unless you feel the desire to be drilled by a 110 mph golf ball.