Comments on: Amazing Hole-In-One

Amazing Hole-In-One

five fresh fish — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:15:03 -0800

How the hell did Fuzzy sink this hole-in-one?! It hangs for looooong seconds in the rough, then accelerates directly to the hole. I swear, there were magnets involved! Quite possibly the most amazing hole-in-one ever.

By: JeremyT

JeremyT — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:19:39 -0800

I have a hard time believing that was real. It just screams... chickanery!

By: cloeburner

cloeburner — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:21:38 -0800

I bet it was that extra helping of fried chicken and watermelons he had back at the plantation earlier that morning.

By: Kwantsar

Kwantsar — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:25:00 -0800

Or collard greens, or whatever the hell they serve.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:26:05 -0800

How is that possible? It's fake, right?

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:27:36 -0800

Don't feel bad -- not everybody can hit the green on their first shot.

By: 517

517 — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:29:19 -0800

The green is downhill?

By: blendor

blendor — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:30:37 -0800

It seems fake. Why would that camera have held the shot for that long? Anyone have a story to back this up?

By: heresiarch

heresiarch — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:31:38 -0800

I'm no golf expert (or fan, really) but it seems to me that this looks a lot more incredible than it is because of the nature of TV cameras. The accelerate-at-the-hole bit seems weird because it's hard to appreciate the slope of the green from the iso-ish angle of the camera. As for the ball basically stopping, that's a little weirder. If it actually stopped I don't think there's any way to start again; static friction in the rough and all that. I suspect it's moving the whole time, it's just really really slowly - so slowly you can't tell from the camera's distance. In which case it's really all just a subset of the "can't tell the slope from the camera angle" problem.

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:33:23 -0800

It seems fake. Why would that camera have held the shot for that long? Anyone have a story to back this up? It's not fake. It happened yesterday. The Golf Channel has been playing it repeatedly since then.

By: blendor

blendor — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:37:12 -0800

Thanks, ericb. Pretty crazy shot.

By: scottreynen

scottreynen — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:37:15 -0800

Wow. Does anyone claiming it's fake have any explanation of how it would be faked, and why that's more plausible than the odd-camera-angle explanation?

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:39:44 -0800

Was that golf ball made by Diebold?? That was spectacular.

By: SeizeTheDay

SeizeTheDay — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:43:52 -0800

Damn...that shot just out-wowed last year's Tiger Woods Masters shot from the 16th.

By: danb

danb — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:47:31 -0800

I don't see why everyone is screaming fake on this one. It's definitely unlikely, but not at all impossible. Golf courses aren't flat!

By: JanetLand

JanetLand — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:50:58 -0800

Where's the shot of Fuzzy jumping up and down to create enough vibration to get the ball moving again? That's what we used to do in Putt-Putt.

By: fatbobsmith

fatbobsmith — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:56:29 -0800

I bet this is the same ball they used in that fake moon footage. Conspiracy!

By: c13

c13 — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 12:03:10 -0800

If you zoom in on the ball, you will notice that its shadow points in a different direction than the shadows cast by trees. It is clearly a conspiracy!

By: jonson

jonson — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 12:17:30 -0800

Why is everyone doubting this? The hole is back, and to the left of the rough, it's perfectly cromulent.

By: reklaw

reklaw — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 12:22:08 -0800

Don't be silly. It clearly rolls down a big hill into the hole.

By: tsarfan

tsarfan — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 12:33:03 -0800

SeizeThe Day, i hate to disagree with you, especially here on this harmonous website, but Tiger's shot was tougher, and more amazing. and less fake. :)

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 12:35:20 -0800

"I bet it was that extra helping of fried chicken and watermelons he had back at the plantation earlier that morning." The Alliance was in West Des Moines, Iowa so of course Fuzzy was powered by corn - it decreases his dependence on fossil fuel.

By: bim

bim — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 12:47:34 -0800

Chalk it up to the Law of Large Numbers. Sooner or later given enough shots something like this is bound to happen somewhere to someone. And in this case, the camera caught it.

By: cloeburner

cloeburner — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 13:01:22 -0800

Cranberry: Click here.

By: uosuaq

uosuaq — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 13:13:14 -0800

Watch the ball closely. Notice how it rolls back and to the left. Back...and to the left.

By: yoink

yoink — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 13:26:21 -0800

So I guess the trained helper-ants have finally been deployed...

By: afx114

afx114 — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 13:28:26 -0800

You guys ever heard of this thing called wind? Put a round object on something, add some wind, and, HOLY SHIT IT MOVES ALL BY ITSELF!!

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 14:03:02 -0800

I think it's a hill; it's just not obvious from the camera angel. And it is, nonetheless, one nifty-looking trick. yes, angel.

By: HTuttle

HTuttle — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 14:19:24 -0800

It was attacked by the microscopic wombats which inhabit the edges of lawns everywhere, waiting, waiting, waiting...

By: jimfl

jimfl — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 14:42:42 -0800

When the ball bounces in the rough you can see that it has a bit of spin on it. Perhaps when it "stopped" it was still spinning in the grass on the rough, enough to pop it back onto the green and start rolling toward the pin.

By: graventy

graventy — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 14:44:03 -0800

I think it's a grassy knoll.

By: jaronson

jaronson — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 15:11:38 -0800

The Allianz Championship

By: smackfu

smackfu — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 15:51:18 -0800

That would have to be a hurricane to move a golf ball if it's off the green.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 15:51:58 -0800

That wa awesome, the only thing I can think of that could make a ball stop and then start again is if the grass underneath the ball slowly gave way and then it looks like a good little slope down to the hole. Pretty amazing really.

By: evilcolonel

evilcolonel — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 16:27:35 -0800

Did anyone see Bill Murray messing about with dynamite nearby?

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 16:36:56 -0800

Teetering is the word. Then it rolls.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 16:43:12 -0800

I think I figured out. Fuzzy is god:

An old man, Jesus and Moses were all playing golf... [filler] ...as the other two men applaud the old man steps up to the tee and takes his swing. The ball heads for the water hazard, but just before it hits the water a large fish jumps up and swallows the ball. From seemingly out of nowhere, a mighty eagle swoops down and grabs the fish, then soars off into the sky. Suddenly a lightening bolt flashes through the sky and smotes the eagle. It drops the fish, the fish lands about four feet from the hole, the ball pops out of its mouth—and lands in the hole, making a hole in one. Jesus spins around, hands on his hips and yells, "Dad! If you're going to show off, we aren't going to play golf with you any more!"

By: ericb

ericb — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 16:56:51 -0800

Did anyone see Bill Murray messing about with dynamite nearby?

By: gum

gum — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 18:56:26 -0800

How is this different from standing on the same highway overpass for five years and seeing at least one amazing traffic accident?

By: jaronson

jaronson — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 19:25:05 -0800

What, you mean five years...non-stop?

By: theora55

theora55 — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 20:13:54 -0800

It's amazing to watch. Know what else is amazing? There's a Golf Channel.

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 20:41:24 -0800

earthquake.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 20:55:45 -0800

Tiger's shot is still better. Even Zoeller thinks it was a lousy (but lucky) shot. Plus, Tiger's ball obviously understood dramatic tension better, putting the pause at the last moment, on the lip of the hole. ;-)

By: bashos_frog

bashos_frog — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 21:16:10 -0800

The grass is holding up the ball, but when the ball blocks the sunlight to the blades of grass, they wilt just a bit, and give way. The natural slope (and gravity) then takes over.

By: bashos_frog

bashos_frog — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 21:17:36 -0800

I heard a long time ago that if your golf ball is hanging on the edge of the cup, held up only by the grass, that you should position yourself in such a way as to block the sun and try to induce that effect.

By: scottymac

scottymac — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 21:49:36 -0800

This is not the first amazing thing I've seen from Fuzzy. At the 1985 Westchester Open, I was in the gallery when he, at the fringe of the green, whiffed at a shot, fell down and rolled around laughing with the crowd, gathered himself and holed the chip. Much laughter and applause ensued.

By: johnny7

johnny7 — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 01:40:26 -0800

Nothing is too strange on a golf course. I've had a hole in one !!

By: zardoz

zardoz — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 02:46:20 -0800

Metafilter: Golf courses aren't flat!

By: mrzarquon

mrzarquon — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 07:26:21 -0800

When I saw it i thought of Backspin, where forward momentum of the ball was finally overcome by the spin going in the opposite direction and had it roll back down the hill to the hole. I don't know how it could lasted that long, but i've played around on pool tables and gotten a ball to go forward and then backward that way.

By: Lazlo Hollyfeld

Lazlo Hollyfeld — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 08:21:46 -0800

It isn't backspin. It's the grass at the edge initially supporting the ball, keeping it from rolling down the hill, and then slowly giving way.

By: Lazlo Hollyfeld

Lazlo Hollyfeld — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 08:22:43 -0800

err... what bash_frog said.

By: Crash

Crash — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 08:32:22 -0800

If you look closely, you can see a small puff of smoke from the grassy noll on the right. The only plausible explanation was a second golfer. Not only was Tiger's shot better, but he managed to get the ball to pause for a second with the nike logo perfectly centered. Fuzzy's not going to cash in with a shot like that.

By: Lazlo Hollyfeld

Lazlo Hollyfeld — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 08:32:29 -0800

bashos_frog. I suck at the internet.

By: benATthelocust

benATthelocust — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 10:31:37 -0800

It's clearly voles.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 21:45:03 -0800

Could be that global warming thing they keep talking about.