Did you ever cry on a golf course?

[Rick Emerson]

I cried after my father and I birdied the 16th hole at Cypress Point.  He took me to Pebble Beach when I was 15 and I was so proud to take him to Cypress when I was 25.  He was the reason I began this love affair with the game and taking him to Cypress was one small way of thanking him for everything he did for me.  We both hit driver, me to 12 feet, him to 5 feet.  After I made my putt, he confidently rolled his in.  He told me later it was the most nervous he'd been over a putt in his life. 


To birdie one of the most beautiful and famous holes in golf is awesome, to do it with your dad is almost more than words can express.  Hence I cried a few tears of joy.

Wow, that is special.

That's a little beyond special. That's like a storybook ending to the greatest golf fairy tale ever but in real life. The only thing left for you and your Dad to do is run off the green over the edge of the cliff into the pacific Thelma and Louise style! Is it depressing for you to know that nothing in your golfing life can possibly top that?

[Rob Marshall]

I'll get back to this thread on Tuesday after I play Pebble Beach for the first time.


I haven't been able to afford it for most of my adult life, but my wife surprised me for my upcoming 40th birthday with a printed reservation.


I know Pebble is maybe a little overrated in the eyes of some here, but for a guy like me who has no private club contacts and plays nothing but Doak 1s and 2s pretty much exclusively, this is a pretty overwhelming deal for me.

Matt,
Enjoy every minute of it. Soak it in and don't worry about your score. Anyone who says it's overrated is an idiot. Have a beer in the tap room after. I choked up after playing my round there because I wanted to call my father to tell him about my round but couldn't because he'd been gone for two years.

[Dave McCollum]

I was a rules/scorer guy for some high school girls match.  I was drafted at the last minute, not somebody who volunteered because I felt I was qualified.  The girls were not skilled golfers.  On one hole one of the girls hit it into a  greenside bunker with about a 8 foot flashed face between her and the green.  I don't remember how many tries it took her to get out, trying the same shot over and over again, but well into the double digits.  She was bawling, distraught, feeling a failure for her team, wanting to quit and never play again, and I didn't really know what I should do.  I don't think it was my job to more than record her score with no skunk rule or maximum score limit.  I couldn't leave it at that.  I went over to her, gave her a hug, backed off and looked her in the eye, hands on her shoulders, and told her that nobody who ever played the game had not been humiliated similarly.  I told her it was, in fact, the very essence about what made the game great, what every golfer has felt in some fashion, and that to carry on, keep playing.  I'm uncertain if it helped her or if she ever continued her golf experience.  I hoped it did, believed it was the right thing to do under the circumstances, however inappropriate, and maybe the best thing I ever did on a golf course. She did and finished the match, losing miserably.  I wanted to say there is no crying in golf.  Use it, get better.  I didn't.  My fantasy is I created a golfer for life.  Truth is, she probably quit.  Golf is hard. It takes  a special personality type to endure and love it.       
           

[Stephen Northrup]

I had a good friend in college who cried every time we watched replays of Jack's win at the '86 Masters. Guaranteed waterworks.

[Joe Zucker]

I was a rules/scorer guy for some high school girls match.  I was drafted at the last minute, not somebody who volunteered because I felt I was qualified.  The girls were not skilled golfers.  On one hole one of the girls hit it into a  greenside bunker with about a 8 foot flashed face between her and the green.  I don't remember how many tries it took her to get out, trying the same shot over and over again, but well into the double digits.  She was bawling, distraught, feeling a failure for her team, wanting to quit and never play again, and I didn't really know what I should do.  I don't think it was my job to more than record her score with no skunk rule or maximum score limit.  I couldn't leave it at that.  I went over to her, gave her a hug, backed off and looked her in the eye, hands on her shoulders, and told her that nobody who ever played the game had not been humiliated similarly.  I told her it was, in fact, the very essence about what made the game great, what every golfer has felt in some fashion, and that to carry on, keep playing.  I'm uncertain if it helped her or if she ever continued her golf experience.  I hoped it did, believed it was the right thing to do under the circumstances, however inappropriate, and maybe the best thing I ever did on a golf course. She did and finished the match, losing miserably.  I wanted to say there is no crying in golf.  Use it, get better.  I didn't.  My fantasy is I created a golfer for life.  Truth is, she probably quit.  Golf is hard. It takes  a special personality type to endure and love it.       
           

Dave, that is a touching story. I had a very similar experience my first year playing high school golf.  On the first hole of a 9 hole match (at "Signature of Solon" in Cleveland, talk about bad course names...) I hooked my tee shot into some long grass and unfortunately, found my ball.  In my pubescent thinking, I tried to hit it and only moved it a foot.  I tried again and then thought about taking an unplayable.  However, the driving range ran along the side of the hole and the long grass butted up against it, so I could not go backwards for relief and escape the hay.  I tried to advance the ball two more times and then my coach came up and asked what was going on.  I explained the situation to him and we decided to take 5 straight unplayable lies, moving the ball back towards the fairway 2 club lengths at a time.


I think I recorded a 14 on the hole.  I'll also note that I was playing as the 5 man, so I teed off in the first group and all of my teammates were waiting on the tee, 200 yards away, for me to get going.  My coach told me I looked like I had seen a ghost.  I finished the round and actually played very well, finishing with a 52.  I hope the player you helped still loves the game like I do.

[Kirk Gill]

Some great stories, guys. I'll share a couple.


I was playing with an old friend once, and losing to him badly after only a few holes. I was burning inside, denouncing myself internally in a way that only the game of golf seemed to make me do. Feeling utterly sorry for myself. We had to wait on a par 3 along with the two groups ahead of us. I noticed that the first group waiting by the tee was an older man and what appeared to be his wife. They were both decked out to the nines, in what would have passed for Easter regalia. They were solicitously engaged with what I guessed to be their daughter, also dressed in bright colors.......but something seemed off. It took me a few moments to realize that the girl's face looked different, she walked with difficulty, that she was seemingly unable to talk or even smile with her parents. As I watched them enjoying their day out, a feeling came over me of utter shame. To be assailing myself in my mind, to be feeling like the world was plotting against me in my stupid golf game with my friend while this family was out enjoying a round of golf together and overcoming real problems, dealing with real obstacles - whatever condition it was that the girl suffered from - I shed a tear then. The experience really changed my approach to golf. I just can't get that mad about my game any more. How bad can a game of golf ever be? As my kids would say - "rich people's problems."


There was another time, although it was after a round, not during. I was traveling with my mom in Britain, after she'd had to undergo several surgeries for ovarian cancer. She knew that I wanted to play at St. Andrews more than anything, but it wasn't possible to arrange a tee time in advance. We were staying at a little b&b outside St. Andrews, and when I left to go see if I could get on, she stayed there resting up. I was able to join a group and play the course, one of my greatest golf memories. But far better than that is my memory of my mom's face when I walked into the b&b, and her saying "did you play?" and me nodding and saying yes and hugging her. I hadn't realized how intensely she wanted this for me, more maybe than I even wanted it myself. I blubbered like a baby, hugging her then. Damn, I'm tearing up right now.


I hope these don't come across as depressing stories, what with the mentally-challenged young woman, or my mom and cancer. To me they are most firmly the very opposite of depressing. There's something about this game, that gets inside of you. That's why Peter is asking for these stories - he knows. We all know, right?

[MCirba]

Thanks for sharing those, Kirk.   

[Garland Bayley]

When I saw the changes they made to Bandon Trails 18. 


I thought the original was majestic. I found the revision mundane.


Come to think of it, I am a believer in there being good match play courses, that may not be good medal play courses. The medal players would certainly curse the original of this hole, whereas it could easily decide a match. I have stated in other threads about this before that match play courses can be more difficult than medal play courses. It seems to me that a hole like this one originally was good at making a stroke difference between two players, thereby resulting in the hole being won by one of the players. The new version makes it easier to save a score on the hole, thereby leading to a halve, and satisfying medal players.

[Garland Bayley]

Never cried, but the closest thing to it ... I was golfing on the morning of 9/11 and we found out about it on the back 9 from a friends cell call...


I felt sick to my stomach, and to this day I don't really know why we finished the round out....

I'm pretty sure I saw you cry on the 18th at Wine Valley! 

[Tommy Williamsen]

When I was about 12 my sister let go of a club that hit me on the funny bone. Brought tears to my eyes!

[Rob Marshall]

Great stories Kirk. Really nice.

[Greg Hohman]

Never in situ, but photos and memories do it.

Warner Springs (CA) and Torrey Pines, South Course (CA): for their beauty.

Balboa Park (CA): my mother, who has no interest in golf and is in her 80s, holding the flag for me with a smile on her face.

Oakmont (PA): my aunt Ruth, who has no interest in golf and is in her 80s, taking in a practice round at this year’s U.S. Open despite heat and humidity.

Admiral Baker, North Course (CA) and SilverRock (CA): my partner, aka The Golf Widow, who is mostly homebound for health reasons, veering off course for, respectively, hawks and bighorn sheep.

Schenley Park (PA): a round in our hometown with my brother Tom, whom I rarely see.

Shennecossett (CT): a round with my brother Eric, whom I rarely see.

Thanks for asking, PP.

Thanks also to the other posters.

[Peter Pallotta]

Thans, gents.
Greg, that was a very good point: I've only gotten misty twice in situ, but many more times looking at photos.The beauty and rightness and peace of a golf hole that is a perfect marriage of nature and the human hand is wonderful to behold.
I bet Tommy N got at least a little misty at NGLA

[David Davis]

More than a couple times.


Every time I get to return to the home of golf. Something about that place and the Old Course, even though it's not my favorite course there is a special kind of energy there that always gets me at some point of my visit. Last time I was so excited I woke up very earlier and was restless so went out and walked the course as the sun came up, it was totally empty and gratitude for the experience got the best of me.


My first game at Cypress Point, like Mr. Smith I fell for the whale blubber trick as well. I was totally overwhelmed standing on the 17th tee and the members I was with had just pointed out the plaque. I read it and looked around, seals barking, waves crashing, wales breaching, on top of that had spent a long lunch with the club historian and Jim Langley who the members had invited out to meet with me.


Pretty special. I had a moment behind my glasses the members noticed and smiled and said, it's ok take your time and trust us, this happens to many of us. I mean come on, a guy can only take so much, right?

[Bill_McBride]

11/22/63, Santa Barbara Muni

[Chris Sorenson]

My first post and I have to admit to crying on a golf course.  Happened in August of 1997 at Sand Hills when Thanking Jim Kidd for allowing us to have 3 perfect days of playing and the voice cracked and unable to finish my thank you, he said you guys Get It! 
One of the truly great courses in this country and I have on my list as the best. A fantastic course laid upon the greatest land I have seen. Those days are burned into my memory.

[Anthony Gholz]

Hogan coming up the 18th at Oakland Hills in the final round of the 1964 Carling World Open.  I think he finished 4th behind winner Nichols, Arnold, and Pete Brown.  He hit a 4 wood 2nd that din't hold and went to the back fringe.  We were sitting directly behind the green on the centerline of the hogback.  He worked to climb the hill and then stopped for a minute before continuing to the back of the green.  Fairly quickly grabbed a chipping club and coaxed the ball down to 4' or so.  Made the putt. And we all stood.  Last time I saw him in person.


Definitely moist eyes

[Peter Pallotta]

Chris, Anthony - thanks. I envy you those experiences, and I'm glad for you that the feelings and tears can flow at such moments.
Welcome, Chris.
Peter

[Doug Wright]

I’ve told this story before on here in other contexts: I grew up playing all the time with my parents. My dad died in mid-June 2005; two weeks later I went out for a round of golf with my mom near my parents’ home outside Wilmington, NC. I used my dad’s clubs. It was a magical round, every shot went straight and true and I scored several strokes better than was customary for me. Walking up the 18th hole, I couldn’t see as the tears flowed. Thanks for asking Peter.

[James Brown]

I lost it the first time I drove to Dornoch, right after I turned off the main road.


Same thing driving into St. Andrews the first time.  And Pebble.  And a bunch of others.  Awesome to touch a piece of history. 

[Steve Lang]

    Once, when my childhood best friend and original golfing bud from 10 years old, reciprocal best man, and inveterate road trip muse passed away on what had otherwise been a fine fall day during a Golf Ohio trip.  It was our second loop at Grand Oak, just across the state line in IN near Cinti., messages from clubhouse relayed to call home, call Rexy, call Doc, need to head to Clarkston, MI... instead of home..


..didn't hit me till this downhill 1 shotter, which amazingly I found a pic of on their website, Bud would have called the shot out loud, aiming at the trap on right and hooked it left to the pin in the back... damn i still miss him

[James Bennett]

Didn't cry, but was in oxygen deprivation state.

Playing second shot to Cypress Point #17 in 2006, as a single (first out).
I just didn't have the energy to play the second shot.  I could have just stood there rather than play the shot.
I was exhausted emotionally.

I did cry when I was 11, playing with Dad, and I hit two or three of my special golf balls into the small pond in front of the 18th tee at Blackwood in Adelaide.
I was devastated.  Utterly.

[Sam Krume]

After a good friend succumbed to the awful thing known as cancer. We were playing TOC, about 2 months after his passing. standing on #12, all 4 of us turning 90 degrees right, teed it up at all hit into the estuary. Tears all the way down 12 & 13

[Mac Plumart]

Every time I have to play with Keith Ohalloran.

[BHoover]

Every time I have to play with Keith Ohalloran.

Boom!