Ghosts Of The Golf Course

Ever been alone on a golf course, maybe finishing up a quick twilight nine after work, when suddenly you feel someone – or something! – watching you? You get the goosebumps, give a little shiver, take your shot and hurry on, uneasily looking about for the cause of the alarm. Chances are that spooky, pale entity you sensed was only the marshal comin’ to tell you to hurry up, but in the Halloween spirit this Caveman’s compiled a list of haunted golf courses!

• Willbrook Plantation Golf Course – Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is a golfer’s paradise and offers incredible courses for just about any skill level. But only one course can claim to have been built over an ancient graveyard. Tread lightly around the eighth hole, as local folklore says that restless spirits still wander the golf course.
• Trails West Golf Course – This course near the prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Catherine Sutter, who was traveling west in the 1880s. Somehow along the way her husband and children disappeared, and legend has it that she still wanders the grounds, looking for her lost family.
• Garrison Golf Club – The Hudson River Valley in New York state was the setting for Washington Irving’s famous short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, so it should come as no surprise you can find this haunted golf course there. Built adjacent to a 19th-century graveyard, the 215-yard par 3 #14 overlooks the hundred-year-old tombstones and might make keeping your head down even harder than usual.
• Trilogy at Vistancia – Near Phoenix, Arizona, many golfers have encountered swirling winds that may seem harmless at first, until you remember the long (and sometimes bloody) history of the area and observe the winds’ behavior, described by some as moving in odd or eerie ways. “Our group saw two different whirlwinds – what Native Americans call restless spirits. Whipping around in the distance, with winds hitting 60 to 70 mph in the whirling, small funnels,” said one golfer.
• City Park Golf Course – New Orleans is no stranger to spooky scenarios, but the early-morning reenactment of a woman golfer’s death may take the cake for scary in the Big Easy. It begins with the distinctive crack of a drive, followed by otherwordly laughter and the voices of two women. Suddenly, a gunshot is heard, and one of the disembodied voices screams, “I’m hit!” This situation originally played out in the early 1960’s and has been repeating itself ever since. The suicide of the lead investigator’s son on the course only adds another layer of intrigue.

Did I miss any? Add your favorite golfin’ ghost stories in the comments below! And keep an ear open next time you’re in a pro shop and you might overhear a story that’ll make your spine tingle… Hope all my Rock Heads have a safe & happy Halloween!

~Scratch the Caveman

PS: Want more? Check out Part 2 for haunted golf courses from around the world!