Editor's Note: This is a guest blog from "Fives Timmy"
How did the saying “fore” to warn that someone may get a welt
from an errant Srixon or Bridgestone on Pro V1 on their noggin or back or
wherever start? I am sure Google will
tell you but I didn’t want to ruin your vision of this blog to research that so
let me tell you why.
I think there are some courses where you never ever will
hear the word “fore” - the courses that are carved out hole by hole with
debris, or trees protecting other holes, for example. There are some tracks (hello Myrtle Beach,
hello Thomson CC, hello Norton CC) that have condos or townhouses in the rough
instead of trees and we’ll get to that in Chapter 59 but for now we talk of
“fore”.
In 2004 I was playing solo golf in the middle of Germany;
hit an errant shot (yes the rogue off course shot) toward another solo Kraut. I yelled “fore”, but he never moved. As I approached my ball (which was on his tee
box a good 30 meters off course – European speak), he was yelling at me like a
F Hitler rally. ”Blah der blah der frau
blah der herr blah der ein auf weidesehan blah”. I say “whoa whoa Rommel, slow down. I said “fore”.
He screams “You are in Germany, yell veil”. Veil to me is a meal. OK, he wins, he is right, it’s his f
country. So, I join the Ted and play the
rest of the round with him. Having a miscommunication
due to a foreign language is one thing but what about those occurances where
“fore” isn’t warned in your own motherland USA?
In all of the times I have played Chemewa GC there has never
been a time when I didn’t hear someone yell “fore”. In fact, it’s a multiple event due to the DMZ
like layout of that battlefield, I mean golf course! Playing in a tight track, one has to be aware
and of course, there are still times when the little dimpled ball gets close
but no warning is screamed.
Recently, I participated, with 11 others, in a Ryder Cup
like event. 6 on 6 with one group
dressed in red/white/blue and the other in either green or yellow shirts at a
course called Old Scotland Links. Now a
Links course reeks of danger of getting hit by an errant shot given little to
no trees between the holes i.e. no protection hole to hole.
The fourth hole there – a par 4, 290 yard hole with wind at
your back on the tee box is a hole that some may try to drive the green
especially duffers with a large amount
of testerone or any Notre Dame football fanatic! So what happens on that
specific hole at The Old Scotland Lnks as my European squad is walking off that
green onto the next tee box? A Titleist 2 with a logo indicating the Deutsche
Bank Tournament on it comes perilously close to taking out our number one seed player aka “The Cigar
smoking Italian”, landing squarely on the cart path and bouncing over our heads
into the fescue. In a show of ultimate
sportsmanship and despite the fact we almost got hit with a ball due to no
warning or “Fore” being heard, we found the ball in the tall grass for the
Notre Dame fan to continue his quest for a subpar hole.
Now,
I ask you: is it understandable to have a slight disagreement over the faiilure
to convert the warning of “fore” to a foreign language quick enough to provide
the distress signal? The answer of
course is a resounding “YES”. So what is
the excuse for that lovable yet inaccurate golf loving Notre Dame football freak
to not send out the requisite scream of “fore”?
