The rare eagle that you don’t want while out on the golf course.
There’s nothing like spending the day golfing with your friends. Even if you shoot a few (or a bunch) over par, there’s just something about being outside and being one with nature… and drinking a couple of beers and powering through some hot dogs at the turn. The way I look at it, you just happen to be hitting a little white ball around while you are out there.
And typically, the word “eagle” is reserved for a score in golf that’s two-under-par. However, because golf happens in the great outdoors, occasionally the “Big Bird” can make a literal appearance. If I’m losing you with all of the golf jargon, I’m just trying to set the scene here… a bald eagle is featured in this wild video below.
Some golfers were out at Glen Oaks Club in Old Westbury, New York when one of them came upon a challenging approach shot. Not only did the guy have to carry the golf ball over some water and onto the green… he had to avoid hitting America’s national bird, which was perched green side.
Potentially putting it in harms way (depending on how good or bad the golfer is).
Fortunately, the golfer made great contact with the ball, and sent his shot safely onto the green, leaving it only a few feet from the hole. I’d say it was a very well-struck golf shot, and adding the pressure of a bald eagle’s presence made it all the more impressive. In fact, it was such a good approach that it got the bald eagle interested.
Once the ball came to a stop, the predatory bird made a beeline for it, and the group’s reaction was hysterical:
“Yo, he’s going for your ball! AMERICA BABY! AMERICA! He’s putting it in the hole. I’ll give it to you if it goes in.”
It truly did look like the bald eagle was attempting to guide the golf ball into the hole for a moment. And the guys were saying to their playing partner that they would have counted it as a hole-out if it did (I would have held my buddies to that if my shot did find the bottom of the cup with an assist from an eagle).
Bald eagles have some of the sharpest talons of all predatory birds, and the one in this video put its talons to work in a way that’s different than it normally would. The large birds generally sink their sharp talons into their prey to help stabilize their grip… but this one couldn’t exactly do that with the golf ball it was trying to scoop up. That made for quite the entertaining couple of seconds, as the group watched to see if the bird was going to drop it into the hole, or fly away with the golf ball.
Check it out:
That guy undoubtedly told his friends later that day, “Eagle today out on the golf course,” and never clarified what “eagle” meant.
It looks like the bald eagle did successfully pick up and fly away with the golf ball, though it’s unclear if it was able to keep it in tow as it flew away. I’m thinking it dropped it just off the green, which is still a funny outcome. The funniest outcome would have been the big bird guiding the golf ball into the hole. Flying off with it would have been comical as well… but not as funny as some of the comments that were left behind by social media users:
“I’d tell my friends, ‘Just put me down for an eagle bro.'”
“I swore I was about to see an eagle over and eagle.”
“Talk about a scary shot. Not only do you need to get it over water but you run the risk of striking an eagle, which may as well be treason.”
“I mean honestly that’s kinda your bad. Clearly the eagle was playing that hole and you hit in on him so. Valid response from the eagle.”
“I don’t trust my game enough to risk taking out our national bird and an endangered species with a bladed approach.”
“Rules state eagle puts ball in hole, it counts. If it takes it, free drop.”
If only the golf rules actually stated that.
For those that really want to know how that golfer should have proceeded after having his golf ball jacked by the bald eagle, it’s actually not all that exciting. If an outside force of nature acts on the golf ball, the player is supposed to replace the ball as close as possible to where it originally laid at rest. So technically, the shot wouldn’t have counted if the bald eagle had tapped it in, just as the golfer wouldn’t have to play his next shot from wherever the eagle dropped it.
And yes, something like this has happened on the PGA Tour before. In 1998, Steve Lowry’s golf ball was stolen by a seagull and dropped into the water surrounding the famous island green on the 17th at the Players Championship:
