What are the worst conditions you've played in?

[Kalen Braley]

20 degrees outside, fairways were pretty much frozen tundra, watching wedge shots bounce 10 feet in the air and run off the back of the green.  The funniest moment came when a playing partner crushed a perfect 5 wood onto a green and watching the ball bounce 25 feet in the air and ending up 50 yards past the green. Good times....

[mike_malone]

 Kalen,

    Was there sleet in your face? If not, this hardly qualifies as bad conditions.

[Mike Vegis @ Kiawah]

Hurrican Gaston off the coast of South Carolina.  Playing The Ocean Course in a steady 40 mph, gusting to 55 mph.  

[JR Potts]

It's not as bad as some, but I had to practice one day in college where the wind was blowing so hard that the flagsticks were creating dents in the cup due to their wind-aided bend.  And these sticks weren't those thin quasi-plastic numbers either.

[Kalen Braley]

Kalen,

    Was there sleet in your face? If not, this hardly qualifies as bad conditions.

No sleet, but the nose discharges got pretty crusty and icey.  

[JohnV]

Gordon you are correct it was 1998.  My brain was on hold the other night.

I was on the North course on the top of the hill and we all got in the vans and figured that if anyone needed a ruling they'd see the carts there.  Nobody did on the holes we were on.

[Willie_Dow]

The hurricane Bob at Kittansett, I think - with Charlie Beckman

I hit my drive off #1 that went so far that I hit a PW into the first green.

Now I can't get home with a three wood !

[Yannick Pilon]

For me, it has to be Carnoustie in heavy rain and wind.  Although most would say it was probably a typical day in Scotland

The icing on the cake was the Italian couple I was playing with.  They were apparently both single digit handicappers, playing from the same tee I was playing.  Not only did I beat the hell out of the both of them with my 14 handicap, but they were the slowest players I had ever seen....  That was a long round in misery....

I still love the course though, even if I was disapointed by the place overall...

YP

[JR Potts]

For me, it has to be Carnoustie in heavy rain and wind.  Although most would say it was probably a typical day in Scotland

YP

At least you were playing Carnoustie.  I was playing the U of I Orange Course.....probably the worst golf course in the world.

[Dan Smoot]

Pacific Dunes on Dec. 31, 2002 (?).  Temperatures in 40's to start with 50 mph gusts (35 - 40 mph minimum) and horizontal rain.  Only completed 11 holes because I was playing with my son who was not equipped for it.  I had rain gear but was soaked to the skin.  My wife, who went to Bandon, came to get me early because it had started to snow in town.  The pro in the shop had a stack of towels waiting for us when we finished.  The town of Bandon had experienced some amount of flooding because of all the rain that had fallen over a few days at that time.

My son hit a 3 wood on the 160 yard, 5th and came up 30 yards short and it wasn't ballooned.

[Dan Smoot]

Years ago, played in Del Rio, Tx and it was 114, but a dry heat.  Every summer, play in St. Louis, upper 90's and high humidity. Pretty miserable.

I lived for 6 years in the desert.  I played in a tournament and fell apart after 13 holes.  Didn't realize until later that temperatures had been 112 and I had de-hydrated to a point I became slightly disoriented.

I also lived 3 years in St.Louis back in 88 - 90.  Very miserable July through August.  The golf was very expensive relative to other places I have lived and at the time, very few golf courses for the number of players.  I once played at the Lake of the Ozarks and was in a complete drenching sweat at 7 AM before I had even swung a club.

[Gordon Oneil]

Gordon you are correct it was 1998.  My brain was on hold the other night.

I was on the North course on the top of the hill and we all got in the vans and figured that if anyone needed a ruling the y'd see the carts there.  Nobody did on the holes we were on.

I'd say your brain must still be frozen to forget the year...but it couldn't have been all that cold bundled up all day in that heated van.

No wonder I couldn't get a ruling late that day.

All of the officials were bundled up it a heated van and couldn't see out onto the course WITH ALL OF THE WINDOWS FOGGED UP!

And to think I almost felt bad for a moment for all of the suffering you must have experienced out there in all of that cold wind and rain...

[David Miller]

Though not the worst conditions, it was pretty dang hot playing this afternoon at The Bandit in New Braunfels, TX.  I could have used a change of shirt by the first green.

[JohnV]

Gordon you are correct it was 1998.  My brain was on hold the other night.

I'd say your brain must still be frozen to forget the year...but it couldn't have been all that cold bundled up all day in that heated van.

The problem was that I forgot what year was my first.  I was thinking 1998 was my first for some reason when it was 1997.  I knew it was my second year on the Committee.

I do remember that Spider Miller won at NCR.

Remember, we were out there by 7:30 AM and were still out there at the end of the day.  We needed to get a little warmth at times.  As I recall it was at least 2 PM before we went to the vans.

[Adrian_Stiff]

I played in crazy winds at Westward Ho once in the Bideford Bay 4somes where you could not tee the golf ball up. The 13th hole (440 yards) was 4 shots to reach the green, 3 full wooden shots (it was 1985) and a 4 iron. The 17th (550 yards) was a drive and flick, on some holes it was hard to swing the club, some of the scores (stableford) were very low when we went out the best was 21 points and the worst was 6 points, the pair I was playing with laughed at the 6 points. After 9 holes they never had any points, they managed 6 on the back time courtest of a chip in two on the par 3 14th and three other single pointers! The next day we played Saunton and on the first hole with a shot we had an eight foot putt for 5 points but never scored. Its the putting thats often the craziest in crazy high winds.

[Tom Ferrell]

The first round I played in the 2001 World Ice Golf Championship in Uummannaq, Greenland.  It was -20, with a wind chill of -40.  I remember peering out of the slit I had left in my snowsuit for eyes and thinking, "someone is going to die out here, and it might be me."

It got much better the next day.  At +10, it was dowright balmy and I set the course record!

You may laugh, but I actually learned A LOT about golf there on the polar ice cap.  It certainly stripped away all pretense and made it very clear that the art of golf is the art of getting from point A to point B in as few shots as possible.  

In real golf, the worst conditions I ever played were at Turnberry Ailsa.  I awoke in the hotel to hear rain pounding on the window, which wouldn't have been so bad except that the window was underneath a five-foot dormer.  On the 356-yard first, I nutted a drive and then hit a knockdown 3I to the front fringe.  It didn't get any better until the heavy rains came.

[Phil Benedict]

I played the week of Thanksgiving at Richter Park in Danbury about 15 years ago.  Temp was around 35 at the start of the round which was tolerable.  However it started to snow, at first melting when it hit the ground but gradually increasing in intensity, when it started to accumulate.  By the 15th hole (when I quit) there was probably a inch or so of snow on the ground. It's really hard to find your ball in such conditions, never mind hit it.

[Michael Plunkett]

I hate playing in geese poop.  


I love playing in the rain and wind- don't know why- . Maybe I'm just a prick or something.  

[Marty Bonnar]

Maybe not the worst, but certainly the strangest...

Speaking of geese poop.

We were playing Gleneagles Kings last year. Coming up to the green of Blink Bonnie, I was suddenly aware of dozens, if not hundreds, of small dark shapes covering the green. 'Keech', I thought, 'Goose keech - and lots of it'.

Getting closer however, and I was somewhat surprised to see the goose-keech 'moving'. Weirded out for a moment until I got onto the green to see that it was in fact covered in LOADS of tiny froglets.

Was quite a comedy trying to avoid standing on the little blighters - and putting around them was a great lark!!!

FBD.

[Bob Jenkins]

In 1996 I was at a convention in Cancun. A tournament was arranged for which I dutifully signed up. It happened to be at the time of  a tropical depression in the area. I will never forget fighting my way through the wind to get my second on a par 4 up on the top level of a green, not far from the pin. I will also never forget seeing the ball be taken by the wind and slide along, past the hole, down two more levels to a point where I would be eternally grateful to get up and down in two. Previously I would have been thinking birdie. That storm left me begging for a bogie. Cannot recall what I ended up with but know it was worth a beer or two after the round.

Bob J

[Gordon Oneil]

Gordon you are correct it was 1998.  My brain was on hold the other night.

I'd say your brain must still be frozen to forget the year...but it couldn't have been all that cold bundled up all day in that heated van.

The problem was that I forgot what year was my first.  I was thinking 1998 was my first for some reason when it was 1997.  I knew it was my second year on the Committee.

I do remember that Spider Miller won at NCR.

Remember, we were out there by 7:30 AM and were still out there at the end of the day.  We needed to get a little warmth at times.  As I recall it was at least 2 PM before we went to the vans.

John
As Tony Montana screams at Elvira from his Roman Tub bubble bath while watch flamingos he calls pelicans...

John..."I was only kidding."

Thanks for coming out and volunteering your time for what sounds like year after year.
I was there in '98 and Old Warson/Bellerive in '99.  Air conditioned vans were the order of the day in St Louis if I remember correctly.

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