...way you've seen a ball react? I'm thinking of Spaun's approach that hit the pin on the first bounce and rolled back 40 yards. My crazy result today? I topped a fairway 3 wood so severely that it drove into the turf at my left foot and left a crater, the turf rejected it backwards 5 feet where it landed with so much topspin that it jumped forwards and came to rest almost exactly where it started.

Followed that up with the longest and best 3 wood of my life and birdied, but that's off topic.

Just because its fresh, I had to hit a punch shot due to an enormously tall tree recently. Made excellent contact and the ball went screaming so far left of my aim point and swing plane. Only explanation I could think of and playing partners agreed was the lie affecting the shot. It wasn't plugged but it was in some pretty heavy, still wet, rough. I've never seen my ball jump out like that before, honestly scared the sh** out of me. I Spieth'd it.

Another was a few months ago, me and a buddy have a 156 yard par 3. Playing a little longer with the wind. Hit a beautiful iron shot. The hole was hidden by the ridge of the green and a bunker. We both think the ball had to land within 5-10 feet of the hole on the green. Walked up and couldn't find it anywhere. The ball had not only rolled off the green but was a good 30 yards short and right. Still have no clue what caused the ball to come back like that. Wind? Backspin? Green not holding? Baffling to say the least.

One that I hadn't seen before and haven't seen since. I was playing a high school golf tournament. We'd had a big rain that couple of days before and, even though there was no standing water, the greens were soaked. I hit a beautiful 4-iron for my second on a par 5 and just knew it was going to be good. I walked across the green to drop my bag and became concerned when I didn't see a ball on the green.

I knew the other competitors had not hit the green and I expected to be within 20 feet. We started looking for my ball thinking it had gone over the green. Didn't find it. One of the other guys started walking toward the front of the green to play his next shot. He got about 12 feet from the hole, stopped and waved me over.

The other player pointed to a spot on the green that had a slight dimple. As I got on top of the spot, I could see that there was a golf ball buried under the green surface. Looking straight down, there was a little hole less than the diameter of a dime and you could see the white surface of the golf ball under it. After the ball hit, the grass folded back over the top of the ball so neatly that you almost could not have seen that there was a ball in there.

I dug the ball out, identified it as mine, repaired the hole and played on from there. If the other guy hadn't just happened to look down at the right time, it would probably have been a lost ball!

I still have no idea how it happened. But, my buddy hit his drive far and straight (not slicing) about 50 yards to the right of the fairway. We're searching through the brush and such and then give up. We head to my ball and his is right in the middle of the fairway. We never heard a sound and the only realistic tree in play was right near the fairway.

120 yd par 3 with a 50' drop from tee to green. Wedge was tracking right on the pin but just short of the green, but disappeared as soon as it hit the ground. We searched everywhere around the green and couldn't find it. Eventually we started looking right where it would have hit and found it had demolished the top of a sprinkler head and was still down in the sprinkler.

Saw a putt turn 90 degrees and into the hole on a punched green.

1. Saw a guy top a ball so beautifully that it popped up and hit him on the shoulder.

2. Saw a ball get stuck in a tree (it was yellow so it was easy to see)

3. Saw a guy hit a marshall's cart windshield and broke it. Pretty funny

I got a ball stuck in a tall pine tree just a week or so ago, think that may be my most unusual ball memory. I'm sure that there are others I'm just forgetting.

I saw a guy skull a bunker shot on 18 at Landa Park. His ball was like a missile headed toward the big windows on the clubhouse. It hit the window so hard it sounded like a gunshot (no damage). The ball then bounced all the way back into play. It didn't make it to the green but he was able to chip it close and get up and down for par.

I'm still waiting for the ball to actually do what I want it to do

Crappy range balls have their own mind.... like turning over twice. Funniest I ever saw was a buddy of mine top his driver off the tee so bad it popped straight up and he caught it.

I had a putt that was about 10 feet. Hit it on my intended line and it was dead center going into the cup at a normal speed. It disappeared into the hole, hit the rim of the metal cup that was buried a little shallower than normal, and popped straight back towards me stopping about an inch away from the hole. I was pissed for obvious reasons but it also cost me the money I would have collected for the birdie.

Texmid said:

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I had a putt that was about 10 feet. Hit it on my intended line and it was dead center going into the cup at a normal speed. It disappeared into the hole, hit the rim of the metal cup that was buried a little shallower than normal, and popped straight back towards me stopping about an inch away from the hole. I was pissed for obvious reasons but it also cost me the money I would have collected for the birdie.

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I have never seen that, but seems like you see it come close quite often. Would the ruling really be "not made"?

snowaggie said:

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Texmid said:

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I had a putt that was about 10 feet. Hit it on my intended line and it was dead center going into the cup at a normal speed. It disappeared into the hole, hit the rim of the metal cup that was buried a little shallower than normal, and popped straight back towards me stopping about an inch away from the hole. I was pissed for obvious reasons but it also cost me the money I would have collected for the birdie.

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I have never seen that, but seems like you see it come close quite often. Would the ruling really be "not made"?

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Someone more knowledgable would have to answer if it counted or not. My group assumed that since it didn't come to rest in the hole it was not "made". Of course, they all had a financial incentive to rule that way.

Texmid said:

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snowaggie said:

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Texmid said:

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I had a putt that was about 10 feet. Hit it on my intended line and it was dead center going into the cup at a normal speed. It disappeared into the hole, hit the rim of the metal cup that was buried a little shallower than normal, and popped straight back towards me stopping about an inch away from the hole. I was pissed for obvious reasons but it also cost me the money I would have collected for the birdie.

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I have never seen that, but seems like you see it come close quite often. Would the ruling really be "not made"?

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Someone more knowledgable would have to answer if it counted or not. My group assumed that since it didn't come to rest in the hole it was not "made". Of course, they all had a financial incentive to rule that way.

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Didn't come to rest at the bottom of the cup. Therefore, it's not holed out.

Kind of like this guy in the PGA Tour School: Horrible Kickback Putt

oldflyer said:

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Texmid said:

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snowaggie said:

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Texmid said:

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I had a putt that was about 10 feet. Hit it on my intended line and it was dead center going into the cup at a normal speed. It disappeared into the hole, hit the rim of the metal cup that was buried a little shallower than normal, and popped straight back towards me stopping about an inch away from the hole. I was pissed for obvious reasons but it also cost me the money I would have collected for the birdie.

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I have never seen that, but seems like you see it come close quite often. Would the ruling really be "not made"?

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Someone more knowledgable would have to answer if it counted or not. My group assumed that since it didn't come to rest in the hole it was not "made". Of course, they all had a financial incentive to rule that way.

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Didn't come to rest at the bottom of the cup. Therefore, it's not holed out.

Kind of like this guy in the PGA Tour School: Horrible Kickback Putt

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That is almost exactly what happened to me. From where I was the ball completely disappeared into the cup before bouncing back out.

Texmid said:

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oldflyer said:

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Texmid said:

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snowaggie said:

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Texmid said:

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I had a putt that was about 10 feet. Hit it on my intended line and it was dead center going into the cup at a normal speed. It disappeared into the hole, hit the rim of the metal cup that was buried a little shallower than normal, and popped straight back towards me stopping about an inch away from the hole. I was pissed for obvious reasons but it also cost me the money I would have collected for the birdie.

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I have never seen that, but seems like you see it come close quite often. Would the ruling really be "not made"?

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Someone more knowledgable would have to answer if it counted or not. My group assumed that since it didn't come to rest in the hole it was not "made". Of course, they all had a financial incentive to rule that way.

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Didn't come to rest at the bottom of the cup. Therefore, it's not holed out.

Kind of like this guy in the PGA Tour School: Horrible Kickback Putt

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That is almost exactly what happened to me. From where I was the ball completely disappeared into the cup before bouncing back out.

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I would imagine that you had a similar reaction! BTW, the golfer's name was Joe Daley and this happened back in 2000. He missed out on his PGA Tour Card by one stroke that year!

That is some crummy luck, but I thought we were talking a putt that hits the bottom of the cup with enough force to bounce out? I can't picture it happening with a ball that rolls in, but couldn't a fast ball hit the back rim and jump up a few inches, so that when it fell it had enough energy to bounce out?

that definitely happens. i can remember of two short videos of it happening on tour.


I had one recently that hit the back of cup and jumped back at me ... it stayed in, but defitely came back and up.

evestor1 said:

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that definitely happens. i can remember of two short videos of it happening on tour.


I had one recently that hit the back of cup and jumped back at me ... it stayed in, but defitely came back and up.

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so similar to taking a shot of Malort.

Recently hitting a 2ft high screamer into the concrete face of a culvert 10' from you actually comes back at you at a much higher velocity than when it left your club face.

I once thinned a 7 iron from a 160 yard par three that bounced off the flag and into the pond in front of the green. I was actually happy I had at least aimed spot on. Mind you, it would be different if it was a good shot but without the flag the ball was never going to land anywhere near the green anyways.

Star Ranch (Hutto,TX) #8 par 4 with a house 90 degrees to my right. I somehow hit my driver so badly that it rocketed 90 degrees towards the house and exploded a window. The ball somehow rebounded back towards the white tee box in front of me. An old lady came out with her hands over her heart because she said it sound like a bomb went off. I offered to pay but she declined for some reason (thank you Jesus). I smoked a 3 wood to 120 yards, wedged to 8 ft and made a par.

Few years ago had a greenside bunker shot, probably 10 yards to the pin. Absolutely skulled the ball, straight into the flag. Ball wrapped up in the flag and dropped straight down for a 1 foot putt. Was unreal, no one in my group could believe it, especially me

Once, I hit an 8 iron on a 152 yd par 3. I chunked it, but the ball hit off a rock, then a bench by the cart path and ended up landing on the green and rolling 3 ft from the hole. Worst birdie ever

Ben****er east course probably 25 years ago. Short skinny par 4. Friend hits his drive at about a 45 degree angle, hits a tree about 20 yards away, ricocheted right back to him where he tees it up again and hits again. About passed out laughing.

When I turned 50 in November of 2007, my handicap was a 1.5 at Cimarron Hills. I maintained that into 2008, which qualified me to play in a Senior U S Open Qualifier held in San Antonio that year. I went down the day before to play the course, and shot a 73 from the tips on a course I'd never played before and can't remember the name of now.
I get paired with a local guy named Frank Connor, who played on the senior tour some and was kind of a celebrity among the local players. I get off to a solid start, and we get to the tee on a long par 5, that I had birdied the day before. I smoke my drive right down the middle. As I'm picking up my tee, I see this little flash way to my left at about 10 O'clock and thought nothing of it. We get out to the fairway and we're looking all around, and my ball is nowhere to be found, and it was right down the middle. I remembered that flash and went back probably 50 yards and over a good 40 yards, and there was my ball, just behind a hazard line.
Freaked me out. Bogeyed that hole and proceeded to get on the bogey train for the next 5-6 holes, finishing with a freaking 80. Just not in the cards that day.

Any theories on what could have happened?

While playing in a two-man scramble in Anson, Texas we were paired with a couple guys from Hamlin. We were tied with them at the top of our flight after the Saturday round. They could do no wrong on Sunday and were a couple strokes ahead of us with only a few holes to go. On hole 9 there is out-of-bounds most of the way down the left side. We get one in play in a fairly good spot before they tee off. The first guy duck-hooks his ball left and OB. The second guy does the exact same thing, except, his ball hits a rock at least 30 yards OB that kicks it back into the fairway. My playing partner looks at them and says "guys, your dogs are f****ing today". They go on and par the hole and win our flight.

snowaggie said:

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Any theories on what could have happened?

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The sprinkler head casings had rounded edges. That's all we could come up with. The hole was close to 600 yards, so the 250 marker was not even close. It was a fluke I saw something flash in my peripheral vision. It was like the best drive of the day, too. Crazy

I've had a putt go pretty much all around the rim, not go down initially but have so much spin when it popped out it spun back in completely.

The Hall boys from Hamlin?

They are some sticks.

AggieP18 said:

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The Hall boys from Hamlin?

They are some sticks.

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The first guy was Danny Rister and the one who hit the rock was John Rister. I do know those Hall boys too.

Something else I just remembered was a two-man scramble in Hamlin. A guy named Michael Benevides aced one of the par threes on the first nine and then aced it again on the second nine.

(Edited to fix the name.)

Hit a flop shot way too hard, and looked like I was about to fly the green. Then it hit the flag and fell straight down to 4 inches from the hole