SAN JOSE, Calif. – I’ve written about this silly topic before.
But apparently I have to do it again and again with an even rhythm Stronger voice:
DON’T HIT GOLF BALLS INTO MOTHER NATURE AIM EXACTLY!
It’s as direct and severe as possible. An influencer’s stupid antics caused the topic to explode last week. It is time to end this dangerous and sometimes illegal practice once and for all. I consider this to be the biggest no-no in golf because it has a bigger impact than just the golf course. This harms our already struggling planet’s environment. What’s bigger than that?
When I wrote about the subject of hitting golf balls into oblivion off the course three years ago, I tried to gently tiptoe into the subject. I even admitted that I had done it: hitting a golf ball into the ocean at The Cape Town kidnappers in New Zealand in 2013. I haven’t done it since and I never will again. All golfers should shame anyone who does it.
Golfers haven’t learned their lesson yet
Three recent events have reminded me to continue to educate golfers about this topic. This remains a major problem.
1. TikTok ‘influencer’ Katie Sigmond is now in legal trouble after being filmed hitting a ball in the Grand Canyon near Mather Point, Arizona. During the swing, she lost the club and threw it overboard. She faces charges from Grand Canyon law enforcement and a court appearance. “Throwing objects over the canyon rim is not only illegal but can also endanger hikers and wildlife that may be below,” the park said on its Facebook page.
2. Last week I was hiking the trails above my original route, the Santa Teresa Golf Club, a San Jose municipal course that is part of a Santa Clara County park. Clearing brush beneath the trails but above the club’s short course revealed at least 25 balls scattered throughout the woods. There is absolutely no reason for them to be there. These are not lost records. These are golfers – probably beginners, because that’s most people playing on a short course – who hit up the hill while waiting for the green to clear. Some of these balls have probably been there for at least a decade. In the five years I have hiked the trail, this area has never been cleared in this manner. The balls just sit there like plastic trash. It’s disgusting. I plan to clean them myself since no one else will.
3. Over the summer, a poster in a golf Facebook group I belong to made a terrible claim that he was looking to purchase some shag balls to hit into the lake from his dock. I commented that I wasn’t happy with his antics, but I guess he still does it. Think fish, man! Plastics in our lakes and oceans affect fish, birds, turtles, crabs and anything else that mistakes the eroding bits for food.
Do I really need law enforcement or me to beg readers to stop this practice? How about some good old common sense? Come on. If you want to escape, there is a time and a place to do it. There’s probably a Topgolf, driving range, or golf course nearby ready to scratch your itch to tee one up. We only have one planet. Let’s do our best as golfers to take care of it. It’s part of the credo of the game to leave the course better than how you found it. This also applies to Mother Nature.
Should golfers face heavier fines or prosecution for deliberately hitting balls out of bounds? Let us know in the comments below.
