Golfer Dies After Being Struck in Head by Ball
by Ryan Ballengee on Oct 18, 2010 6:00 PM EDT
in Playing Golf
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PrintIt's rare, but golf kills. Unfortunately, 69-year-old Hiroshi Tango was struck in the head while playing Los Serranos Country Club in Chino, California, on October 7. He complained of head pain - obviously - and was taken to a local hospital. On Saturday evening, Mr. Tango died from the injuries sustained from the accident.
This is one of those unfathomable incidents for most, but for a friend of mine, was all too real. When we were in high school, a couple of my friends were taking up the game in the wake of the Tiger craze. Just learning, they liked to play a local par 3 course. I would go to get in some short game practice.
The opening hole of the course we patronized was this downhill 80 yard hole. Site of many a hole-in-one-for-a-lot-of-money contests, the tee shot was about a fifty foot drop from the range mat that designated the first tee outside of the fenced-in adjacent mini-golf track.
On this day, though, I was at home (or with my girlfriend, or something). My buddies played the first hole - making who knows what - when they were making their way to the second tee. They were going to the second tee when out came this horrible scream and thud. My friend Ed had been struck in the head by an errant tee shot that sailed much too far. He got no warning from the goofs up on the tee. Maybe they didn't know what to do or were paralyzed by the fear of a horrible shot.
Either way, Ed was the victim here. He had a massive gash on his head from where the ball struck him. The bleeding was pretty profuse but not unstoppable. He would be ok, but that was probably the nastiest injury I've ever seen playing sports.
We can talk about my head injury another time.
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Man, am I confused here..
You said you were at home, trying to do what to what girl (did her father ever find out)….same one you married, or were you into chasing what ever ya could? Than, ya say you were on your way to the second tee….Than ya say yur buddies were on the way to the second tee….Than your buddy got hit in the head, than, (whew, catching my breath here) it was the nastiest injury you ever saw…..Damm, Ryan was ya there or not …..STUB
TRUE STORY: I don't remember the
year, but it was at the Old Byron Nelson at Preston Trails GC….There was a guy who had climbed into a tree about 275 yards from the tee box….from there to the green was another 120-130 yards…very flat, so had a great view….Problem was, someone teed off, hit the guy and knocked him right out of the tree….Like a squirrel getting shot….he was allright, just dazed a bit….funny as heck to see….once in a life time….Bet Wendy could do it with one of her wayward 3 woods….STUB
Stub......
I seem to remember that a tree got struck by lightning and killed a spectator standing underneath it.(did a limb fall on him??) We were there that week-end…..nasty, nasty, weather.
The Saints ARE the SUPER BOWL CHAMPS....WHO DAT!
Yup...deader than dead...Same
tree too….When that first crack of thunder came, I had been walking with Tom Watson and Lee T,,,,,Lee had been hit by lightning a few years earlier….Man he looked like he was a world class sprinter going up the hill…..Tom and I never got closer than 50 yars to him….I don’t think the Merry Mex has ever done anything like it since…..STUB
If I remember correctly, it was on Friday.....
we had driven over to attend the weekend rounds and we were sitting in a Steak house for dinner and the sky turned the strangest color and the clouds were spooky. Word came in that a tornado was close and we were instructed to get under the tables…..pretty scary stuff. We found out the next morning that the spectator had been killed and the Saturday round was postponed because of the damage to the course. I don’t remember whether or not we stayed and went Sunday or just came home. One of the most frightening weather situations I can remember.
The Saints ARE the SUPER BOWL CHAMPS....WHO DAT!
Damm EM yur memory is better than
mine is foggy…It was on Friday….and the sky got orange, and the clouds were like they had search lights in them….Saturdays round was cancelled….when the tornado hit, it tore the flags and cups right out.of the greens…left big holes….and it took every bit of sand out of every bunker on the course….they had a hell of a time getting enough sand on Saturday, to fill the bunkers….Sunday, every shot that went into a bunker plugged…..If you remember where the Hospitality Tent used to be (for you that aren’t with the program, that was where all the lasses went to show off their charms, and boy did they show them off…it was always a contest between the Nelson and Colonial to see where the most see through blouses were…and a course, the Sour Mash flowed pretty good to) anyhoo,,,,It flattened the tent with about 200 people in it…Most were so drunk, and the music so loud they never knew a tornado was coming….Good thing was, it than jumped right over the club house…into the parking lot….dumped more caddys on top of each other than you could shake a stick at….had to get cranes in to clean up everything….That was on Monday, and it was business as usual….the card games went on, lunch was served and the talk was back on the oil and gas business….For you that don’t know, Preston Trails was a men only club…and if you wern’t worth at least 2-3 oil wells, ya didn’t get in….This is for Chip, Diana, Wendy and Red….it was so men only, they didn’t even have a ladies room…When the Nelson was being played, they brought in Porta Potties for the tour wifes….Course, they made up for it with those Neiman shopping trips….Ahhh them was the days, and yes darlin, fashion another Martini….jist 3 olives and a twist…and would ya mind jist rubbing a bit there between the shoulder blades…..Ohhh, that feels wonderful….STUB
Truth be told...
I’ve actually been hit twice by a golf ball: once in the back of the head, and the other in my shoulder blade. Luckily for me I was wearing a hat when I was clocked in the noggin’, but it left a pretty nasty bump.
Adam Fonseca
It could be worse, you could be a teaching pro and then it’s the club and not a ball.
by chip n'putt on Oct 19, 2010 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions
Or that poor gentleman who was teaching his wife
Driving through the Goodwood Estate, we stopped to watch/not disturb play. Silly man stood directly behind his wife, who took a swing and broke his nose – blood everywhere. We could only proffer a roll of kitchen towel paper we kept in the car and drop him off as close as we could get to the clubhouse. We didn’t discuss the incident with him. Leave the teaching to the pros!
I joked to someone last week who hit an errant tee-shot “Missed me, missed me” only to be greeted with a grin and “Lady, there’s still 14 holes to go”. Pretty fast round.
Wendy...you mean you let someone covered
in blood sit in your Bentley ? how very charitable of you….I would have just given him the towels….I don’t remember the movie, but I’m sure Court will….where a couple of city boys are taking a vacation out west on a working ranch, and driving cattle…The Foreman is a real cowboy and tough as nails…One day one of the greenhorns asks him if he’s killed anybody yet….the reply was like yours….Nah, but the day ain’t over yet…Classic…..STUB
City Slickers
Jack Palance delivered the line.
"(I)f you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated." Saul Alinsky
Damm Diane...ya was
quicker on the draw than Ol Court……thankee kindly…..STUB
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