Most Dangerous Road Crossing in Golf?

[Bill_McBride]

I was astonished to see the road crossing between the 14th green and 15th tee at Liphook during last September's Buda Cup!

After a twenty yard walk through a wooded area, you come to a sidewalk and a fairly high speed, two way road.  Overhead is a concrete railroad trestle.   The support structure of the rail line hides traffic coming from the right, in the close lane.  When you think it's safe, you dart across the street onto a narrower sidewalk.   You walk about thirty yards along this sidewalk, with cars coming behind you.  I was afraid a lorry might clip my golf clubs where they hung across my right shoulder.   After those thirty yards you exhale and turn left to the 15th tee.   

While there we learned that the lady captain of the club was killed during that crossing.   

Is there a more dangerous road crossing in golf?    Sheffield Road at the Valley Club of Montecito is crossed twice during a round, but is much safer as you can see a quarter of a mile in both directions.   

[Andrew Hastie]

I think the crossing at Walton Heath is pretty hairy!

[Jay Flemma]

I'll go with White Bear Yacht Club No 12...you can smack a car from the tee box!!!  You hit across a pretty busy highway!!

[Tom_Doak]

I thought the double road crossing at Worplesdon was the most dangerous I've done.  That is a busy road, even closer in to London than Liphook is, so people are driving that much faster.

Ardmore Avenue at Merion is a bit dicey, too.  You get the impression everyone there is very sedate and nothing would ever happen, but when the manager of Stonewall was a kid working on the maintenance crew at Merion East, a car took out the back end of his Cushman as he was crossing the road!

[Mark Pearce]

I thought the double road crossing at Worplesdon was the most dangerous I've done.  That is a busy road, even closer in to London than Liphook is, so people are driving that much faster.

Having done both last year I felt more scared at Liphook!

[Ronald Montesano]

PICTURES!!! I need visuals.

[Bill_McBride]

PICTURES!!! I need visuals.

Visualize this:

"Terror at Liphook!"

[Bill_McBride]

I think the crossing at Walton Heath is pretty hairy!

From #1 to #2 tee on the Old?   Nothing, you could see in both directions!    You have to see Liphook to believe it!

[Patrick_Mucci]

Bill,

I'm surprised by your question.

You don't think that crossing (running the gauntlet) FOUR times as you cross Broad Street when playing Glen Ridge wins the contest ?

FOUR crossings

[Bill_McBride]

Bill,

I'm surprised by your question.

You don't think that crossing (running the gauntlet) FOUR times as you cross Broad Street when playing Glen Ridge wins the contest ?

FOUR crossings

Never heard of it or been there.   Tell me if there's a blind curve with high speed traffic coming at you.  How many lady captains lost their life there?

I've found a photo and will post it when I'm on my laptop.  

[Lou_Duran]

Stanford #1 green to #2 tee.

What was scary about Liphook is that for us foreigners we are looking for traffic to come the other way.  Look left, step, and splat!  And for whatever reason, the cars don't slow down even when they see golfers.

[Bill_McBride]

Here's a photo of the Liphook crossing taken by James Boon during last year's Buda Cup.   You are crossing right to left and cars are coming at you at good speed and you don't get much time to react.   You are also crossing farther down toward those woods. 

[Ronald Montesano]

You cross the same road twice on Paramount, on the 1st and on the 7th...not the busiest road when we played, with total perspective re: oncoming traffic.

[Ronald Montesano]

CCBuffalo has two tunnels under Youngs Road...1st is the cross from 1 green to 2 tee, while 2nd is the cross from 17 green to 18 tee. The halfway house is after hole #11, so no need to ever go across the actual road...


unless it's a high school match that ends at nine. Youngs Road gets slammed with traffic right about the time that our matches end, so it can be a challenge to get 20 kids and adults across to the parking lot.

[Kevin Pallier]

Eastlakes used to be pretty hairy till they put the overhead bridge across it. Plenty of close calls there.

Worplesdon was one of the worst I've seen.

[Matthew Mollica]

Eastlakes pre-bridge was the worst I had ever seen.

Royal Melbourne East from 4 to 5, and back again after 15 is touchy sometimes.

MM

[Mark_Rowlinson]

The Liphook crossing is far less dangerous now than it was when that road was the A3 main London-Portsmouth road. The majority of traffic now uses the Liphook by-pass. I remember being on the course when we were told that a lady member had just been killed on that crossing. We didn't play on and walked in.

Crossing the A57 at Lindrick is pretty scary - lots of heavy lorries tanking along.

[Ronald Montesano]

Can't they speed-bump the road preceding the Liphook crossing, to slow vehicles down? Other traffic-slowing options in Britain?

[Joey Chase]

What about the crossing at Mid Ocean Club, I think it's the 14th or 15th?  You cross it at an angle, and it has a fair amount of traffic.

[Jim McCann]

The A198 main road into Gullane from Aberlady has to be crossed at the start and end of a round
when playing Gullane (No.2) and Gullane (No.3).

I just double checked on google.maps that the speed restriction for the town begins at the entrance
to the visitor's clubhouse so vehicles on the road beyond that point (i.e. where golfers cross) are
entitled to hurtle along (and they most certainly do) at a fair old rate.

[Kalen Braley]

That Liphook crossing does look nasty.

I would use either buttons on the road or a speed bump to get people to slow down to something reasonable, like 25 MPH when going thru that curve.

In terms of most potential danger when you are in the car, I think Lake Chabot takes the cake.  The entrance road crosses 5-6 holes, and with extra hang time from hitting the ball down hill, its easy to hit a tee ball and then have a car drive right in the balls path.

[J_ Crisham]

12th at Shinnecock- almost drilled a car off the tee there. The day before one of my companions almost did the same thing on the 7th or 8th ? at the NGLA. Also witnessed a terribly topped tee shot from a very good but nervous player at Cypress Point a few years back that would have clipped a car were it not for the hedges fronting the number 1 teebox. Would second the number of crossings at White Bear Yacht-thought there were 4?

[Lou Cutolo]

Brownson Country Club in Huntington CT. after you play number 8 you cross over a busy intersection at a light then go about ¼ mile on public streets to the 9th tee. On the way back from the 17th green to the 18 tee I took the golf cart though the ATM machine on the corner of the intersection.

[mike_beene]

Could they at least put a mirror up at Liphook?

[Martin Toal]

Rosapenna used to have a par-4 with a road which crosses right across the tee shot. Not an internal road within the golf club, but a public road. Not sure if that hole is still in play, but the risk of an inattentive motorist catching a Titleist in their side window was probably fairly high.

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