It's not the bears

[rainbowchaser]

that I worry about. Those golfers are dangerous. I fished a stream that runs alongside of a golf course yesterday. There is one hole with an elevated tee on one side of the river and a shot to a green on the other side. I was trying to work the bank and concentrating on what I was doing when something struck the water forcefully just behind me followed by a belated "fore". I quickly got downstream and out of the line of fire before the rest of the foursome teed off. Later I was fishing the same stretch back upstream when I heard the sound of a club striking the ball behind me. Having learned earlier I rushed to the bank nearest the tee and waited. Sure enough the next golfer drove the ball down and it struck the water about where I had been standing before skipping twice and sinking. On the bright side I hooked nice smallmouth about where that ball sank and had time to land it before the next group teed off. I'm not sure about fishing there again.

[Lotech]

I watched a couple of fellows fly fishing a stream adjacent to a golf course this morning on Fly Rod Chronicles. Was that by any chance you?

[rainbowchaser]

No, it wasn't me. This happened just yesterday. I'm thinking of a motorcycle helmet and a flack vest if I go back there. At least paying more attention to the tee and getting clear if there are golfers up there.

[Uncle Jesse]

My most frequent fishing hole begins about half a mile downstream from a high dollar golf course. It's amazing how many golfballs are in the river that far downstream. In a former life I worked for a company that managed a couple of resorts, we tried to get the tractor operators to wear the sun helmet and preferably hard hats when operating tractors and mowers on the course. There a water hazard in south Florida that has small tarpon in it, I would be willing to take my chances if I got a shot of fishing it again.

[branhap]

I live on a golf course and can attest to what you are talking about. We live on the 18th fairway and have at times had people hit their shots into our front yard! That means it went more left than it did straight ahead.

We've had a few impacts on our deck, and our dog is trained to bring any golf balls it finds in the yard to our door immediately. (We don't want her to play with them.)

Funny thing is, neither my wife or I golf!

[Uncle Jesse]

It might help with your wing shooting (not to imply your wing shooting needs help) to get on your deck and blast them from the sky with your shotgun. Video taping the golfer might be profitable also.

Forgive me, I have always thought it would be fun to hide in the woods and shoot at tee shots on the golf course.

[branhap]

That would be a riot. I used to shoot on a regular basis, but haven't picked up a gun in probably 8 years now. Not really the hunting type, but I always liked sport shooting.

Paul

[Uncle Jesse]

I hadn't popped a cap, other than shoot a rat in my backyard last year, in 20+ years. I always enjoyed dove and quail hunting, as well as rabbit and squirrel, although I typically ended up giving the game to my more dedicated hunting friends. The last quail I saw on a hunt flew off with its heart shot out and I took it as a sign to give up hunting. Actually, moving from small town Mississippi made it more difficult and expensive to have an opportunity. I enjoyed deer hunting until I found myself too often in the company of fools who came down from Memphis with a full cartidge belt and shot into brushpiles, kept a half pint in their pockets or pointed rifles at people. Besides I can catch a fish, look at it, even capture it with a photo, turn it loose and catch it again next week. There is a possibility for a squirrel hunt in the next year or so that has me considering getting the .22 out of the closet.

[jimmadsen]

I can definitely attest to the golfers! I live on a golf course and the entirety of my fishing this summer has been in the pond that lies between the tee box and the green for #6. I was fishing the green side one afternoon and saw some golfers on the tee box...I waved them to play through. Their first couple of shots either went wide or in the drink. The last one they tried started coming right towards me...I tried to get out of it's way by it skipped on the water 2 feet in front of me then bounced through my legs...fortunately it was a low bounce!

But its a small price to pay for the opportunity to fish this water - loaded with bluegill and bass and there are few carp in there that I've been trying to figure out how to catch.

Here's the funny thing...there's a row of houses with the back yards along the fairways, a street and a row of houses on the opposite facing towards the golf course. When ever I go for walks I always find balls that have hooked left of the fairway, OVER the house & street and have ended up in the yards of the houses on the other side of the street. Now I'm a golfer but even in my crappiest game I've NEVER hooked a ball that bad, nor that frequently! But at least I never have to buy balls to play...I just go for a walk and I'll fill my pockets with balls in 30 minutes!

[James Smith]

I used to have access to a small golf course for fly fishing and it was some of the best bass fishing I've found anywhere here in Georgia. That being said, I was fishing one evening when a ball landed "kerplunk" about ten feet in front of me. I waited a few moments to see which direction it had come from when I heard a couple of teenagers giggling and another ball came sailing my way. It seems that these young pilars of sportsmanship had decided that I was a much better target than the next green, so they were aiming 90 degrees off the fairway at me. I called to them and stepped back into the trees to wait for them so we could have a chat. Brave souls that they were, they decided to reverse direction and play the remainder of the course backwards. Now the few times I have golfed, I admit that I hit quite a few into the water hazards, but that could be because that's where I'm also looking, especially on a nice clear evening and the bass are active.

Jim Smith