Stray drives that hit innocent pedestrians

I had a grip lock drive in a well known park in Tulsa OK. I was seeing the disc honing in on a mexican that was grilling some food. I started to yell *HEADS UP* and *FOUR!!!!!* but he did not move one inch. So the disc hit him smack dab on the shoulder blade...*ouch* He did seem a little confussed on why I hit him for no reason. So im my limited spanish I said sorry and he was kind enough to toss my tee-rex back on the right side of the creek. Im just glad he didnt decide to grill my disc. ( if anyone has a better story than that feel free to share)

[CBass]

When you've hit enough people and have been hit enough times it makes you be mindful of your surroundings. I hit a kid who was sitting behind a pine tree once, the tree didn't slow it down and he never saw it coming. I hit a woman in the arm on a really poor shot once also. I've taken a shot in the ankle and on top of my head, that one made me bleed for a little bit... Moral of the story is, don't assume you're good enough to miss someone passing through, you might surprise yourself.

[Matt B.]

How about "this guy". If he was a "white guy" who you thought was "American" would you describe him as such? Or would you just say "this guy"?

[Mike]

It is always when you think you won't hit someone that you amaze yourself and send it straight at them. And you know you couldn't hit them if you had aimed for them.
I have been hit in the calf when a competitor across the other fairway grip-locked a fairway drive 90* the wrong direction. I saw it coming and tried to jump but I'm white, so it still hit me and left a big welt and bruise. I still had to laugh because I fell down when I landed. It had to look hiliarious.

[mark ellis]

In my early playing days ('94 ??) I was at Pinnafore Park for the Can-Am Finals in Ontario, Canada. Pinnafore is a gorgeous botanical garden park which hosts a temporary disc golf course in the fall for one tournament a year. The course has many roads and paths and flower beds which are played as Out-of-bounds.

Back in the day I threw backhand. Poorly and errantly. Even more so than now. No, really. Even worse than today.

So I found myself on a teepad with a paved walking path along the right edge of the fairway. The basket was only 20 feet to the left of the path. There was a steady stream of pedestrians walking along the path. The folks on my card all threw but hyzered safely away from the path. When it was my turn to drive I waited for the pedestrians to clear. They kept coming. It was a beautiful day and the park had lots of people in it. I told my group I didn't think it was safe to throw. They told me to go ahead and yell if it might hit someone.

I waited some more. Finally it looked like there was a break in the stream of walkers so I threw a drive directly at the path with an overstable disc so it would also hyzer safely away. Yep, you guessed it, I turned it over and it flew directly at the path. Hidden from my view when I decided to drive was a section of the path where several big trees grew. And what emerged from that hidden section of the path? A mother and her young son on rollerblades. The kid looked about three years old, barely able to maintain his balance while holding his mother's hand. They were travelling with their backs to my drive and the disc was beaming in on them. I started screaming "FORE". I was screaming at the top of my lungs. The guys on my card screamed "FORE". Mom and kid didn't stop, didn't turn around and didn't seem to hear us.

At the end, the disc hit the top of the kid's head and skipped far ahead and OB by 50 feet. The kid was wearing a helmet and it skipped like it hit a sheet of glass. The kid and Mom didn't even react. They just kept skating along and never looked back. I almost had a heart attack. Then I was so relieved. I thought I was going to wallop the kid and maybe hurt him badly. I didn't even notice the helmet until the disc skipped off it.

I thought I was pretty cautious before that incident but I've been more cautious since.

[Jordan Mardis]

I have a few good ones...

I was driving on a dogleg left with a ditch on the left (I had only been playing for a few months) with a soccer field to the right. There was a large lady standing almost straight in front of me maybe 280 away. My disc was going dead straight and we all started yelling fore. She was oblivious and it chunked her in the back - she was fine. The best part is when I walked up apologizing her kid say "You hit my mommy!"

A buddy was driving on a hole right next to a road coming down a small hill that you can throw a biiiig hyzer over to get to the basket. He lets his drive rip and it is headed a bit low, and just as a minivan is about to get crushed the disc skips off the top and back in bounds!

Another buddy with a cannon for an arm is about to drive and the people at the basket are not paying attention. He says "watch me hit them." He proceeds to hit one of the guys and the disc bounces off the guy and into the chains!!!

I was driving on a short temporary hole at a winter series tournament with a wizard. The footing was bad with snow and I let it go way low. The disc hits a minivan (we were all driving right over it) right above the driver side window, skips up, stands on end still spinning on top of the van, rolls down the windshield and off the hood and back in bounds where it stands up standing in the snow for a few seconds before falling over! Thank goodness there was nobody in the van.

I was thinking of another but forgot it while writing these and laughing!

Jordan

PS: Nascar Dave's story is damn hilarious, but wouldn't have been if the old lady got hurt!

[Dustin]

I haven't hit a pedestrian, but I have hit another golfer. I was throwing a thumber out of the woods at Northend Riverside in Big Rapids Mich during a tournament. I expected all of the branches to slow it down, but somehow I missed all of them and my disc flew far past the basket and skipped off the ground and into another player on the next tee in the back of the leg. He wasnt too upset, he said he just bashed his hand on a tree during the drive, and was hit shortly after which took his mind off of his hand. :-)

[Swan]

The roles are reversed in this story. I was at a tourament in ann arbor, the first time I ever played in advanced am's. It was also the first tourament in advanced for two other people on my card, quite a coincidence! Everyone on the card was feeling anxious, and there we stood waiting for the 2 minute warning to end. I was last on the card, and I dont remember the names of the other two that threw before me. The horn blows and its game on. So there I am, behind the tee, watching the first throw in advanced am's ready to see a new level of competition. To my horror the fella on the tee grip locks so wildly that he reverse drives... right into my head. My ear to be exact! Talk about pain, it took a while to walk that one off.

[Jordan Mardis]

Oh yeah, remembered the one I just forgot.

My local park here in Boise is Ann Morrison, and it gets super busy in the summer. Many of the holes run along the road throughout the park. I had been playing for less than a year and I was throwing on a simple hyzer hole when my hand decided to grip the disc a lot longer than it needed to. There was a black lowered car with the stereo blazing with two guys in it and my disc was headed straight for it. They turned just as the disc hit the passenger side door with a loud clunk. They kept riding, I don't think they even noticed, and my wife and I couldn't stop laughing!

Jordan

[bazillion]

I was playing #4 at Oak Grove a few years back when my drive went straight for a family setting up a picnic nearby. All of yelled "watch out" and stuff like that but they didn't hear and my disc smacked this kid in the head. We all ran up there but before we could get there the Mom scooped the kid up in her arms and they all took off.

Later I called the local hospital to see if a kid had come in to the ER with a head injury but it must not have been that bad.

I got my karma back a few weeks later when my daughter (twelve at the time but still d@mn strong) hucked a drive and smacked me in the NECK!

Talk about a pain in the neck!

[Tino "SilverBack" Medina]

wow, someone is a little touchy. I am mexican, my name is Tino Medina, and I was not offended by the comment. Hell, at least the mexican was using a grill and not one of the baskets to cook on. I've seen it, my own people.

Matt B. said:

How about "this guy". If he was a "white guy" who you thought was "American" would you describe him as such? Or would you just say "this guy"?

[eric beich]

Jordan Mardis said:

I have a few good ones... Another buddy with a cannon for an arm is about to drive and the people at the basket are not paying attention. He says "watch me hit them." He proceeds to hit one of the guys and the disc bounces off the guy and into the chains!!! .

I hope your buddy has since learned how rude it is to drive a hole when people are still on it.

and even if they were lingering at the basket you should yell something like "clear on #?" and "fore" before throwing

[Nascar Dave]

Jordan Mardis said:

I have a few good ones...

I was driving on a dogleg left with a ditch on the left (I had only been playing for a few months) with a soccer field to the right. There was a large lady standing almost straight in front of me maybe 280 away. My disc was going dead straight and we all started yelling fore. She was oblivious and it chunked her in the back - she was fine. The best part is when I walked up apologizing her kid say "You hit my mommy!"

A buddy was driving on a hole right next to a road coming down a small hill that you can throw a biiiig hyzer over to get to the basket. He lets his drive rip and it is headed a bit low, and just as a minivan is about to get crushed the disc skips off the top and back in bounds!

Another buddy with a cannon for an arm is about to drive and the people at the basket are not paying attention. He says "watch me hit them." He proceeds to hit one of the guys and the disc bounces off the guy and into the chains!!!

I was driving on a short temporary hole at a winter series tournament with a wizard. The footing was bad with snow and I let it go way low. The disc hits a minivan (we were all driving right over it) right above the driver side window, skips up, stands on end still spinning on top of the van, rolls down the windshield and off the hood and back in bounds where it stands up standing in the snow for a few seconds before falling over! Thank goodness there was nobody in the van.

I was thinking of another but forgot it while writing these and laughing!

Jordan

PS: Nascar Dave's story is damn hilarious, but wouldn't have been if the old lady got hurt!

she might have, I never found out, they left in such a hurry, I did call the parks dept and no incident was ever reported