Top 10 Spooky and Haunted Golf Courses

Top 10 Spooky and Haunted Golf Courses

For many, the scariest thing on the golf course is a snap hook or blow up hole, but at some golf courses, there are things much more frightening than the dreaded snowman.  There are stories and legends of golf courses where spirits roam the fairways and spooks haunt the greens.  It’s said that many double bogeys and lost balls are not the fault of golfers at these courses, but they are caused by the restless spirits who haunt the holes.  We’ve put together a list of the top 10 spooky and haunted golf courses – just don’t read it before bed – you may not sleep!

  

Victoria Golf Club BC1. Victoria Golf Club – Victoria, British Colombia

Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, the legend of the ghost that haunts Victoria Golf Club is one that will surely send a chill up your spine.  The story goes that in 1936, a woman named Doris Gravlin met up with her estranged husband on the course one night on the seventh hole.  Five days later, a caddie found her along the shoreline on the course.  When police found the body of her husband a month later, it was deemed a murder-suicide.

 

Ever since, reports of a woman in a white gown hanging around the course have popped up.  She’s known to rush towards people only to vanish at the last second.  There have also been reports of strange bursts of wind on totally calm days and one particularly disturbing take of a clammy hand grabbing a woman’s shoulder before vanishing.  Course security cameras have also picked up a strange glow floating around.  Pretty creepy!

 

2. City Park Golf Courses – New Orleans, Louisiana

If you’re a golfer, you’re familiar with the wide variety of noises and sounds that spring up during any given round.  However, hearing a gunshot and a scream is something that would surely throw off even the most staid golfer’s game. 

 

The City Park Golf Courses in New Orleans, Louisiana reportedly plays host to a repeat of a grisly crime.  The story here is that in the early 1960’s, two women were just finishing their round when a man shot and killed one of them on the 18th green.  Decades later, people have heard the same sequence so clearly that it has prompted them to call the police.

 

Alister Mackenzie3. Pasatiempo Golf Club – Santa Cruz, California

It’s a real treat for most golfers to meet a famous golf designer, but meeting one from the beyond might be a different story.  The ghost of Alister Mackenzie, famous designer of illustrious courses like Augusta National and Cypress Point, reportedly walks the course regularly.  When Mackenzie passed away in 1934, his ashes were spread over Pasatiempo where he had a house built off the 6th hole..

 

4. Trails West Golf Course – Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

In the late 1800’s, many settlers from the East Coast were moving west in the hopes of planting roots with their families.  Catherine Sutter was one such settler who was traveling through Fort Leavenworth with her two children in the 1880’s when tragedy struck.  Her two children disappeared one day and Catherine spent months over a cold Kansas winter searching for them.  After months of searching, Sutter died of grief.

 

The legend is that the kids were kept safe by Native Americans over the winter and were brought back in the spring only to find that their mother had perished.  Today, some golfers at Trails West have claimed to see a woman wandering the course with a lantern in hand, searching for her lost children forevermore.

 

Martyrs Monument St Andrews5. St. Andrews Old Course – St. Andrews, Scotland

Some golfers who have the honor to play the game at the birthplace of golf, have reported an eerie feeling on hole 18.  Strange chills and odd breezes have been known to frighten certain golfers and there are a few things that could be to blame.  In the 15th and 16th centuries, Protestant martyrs were burned at the stake and are honored with a monument directly behind the 18th green.

 

In addition, Old Tom Morris actually passed away at St. Andrews.  Legend has it that he was searching for a restroom when he fell down the stairs and fractured his skull.  Either way, if you’re at St. Andrews, make sure you say hello to the ghost of a true golfing legend.

 

6. Lincoln Park Golf Course – San Francisco, California

Lincoln Park Golf Course in San Francisco offers some of the most breathtaking views of the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge.  However, it may take your breath away for something much less pleasant.  The course  was actually built right on top of the Golden Gate Cemetary, which housed more than 1,000 corpses.

 

The cemetary had been in use until the mid-1800’s when it was repurposed by the city to make way for the new Lincoln Park Golf Course in 1909.  Families that were wealthy enough paid to move the remains of their deceased did so, but the large “potter’s field” for poor residents was left unmoved and the course was built right on top.  Patrons of the course are now welcomed by a variety of spirits.

 

7. Church Stretton Golf Club – Shropshire, England

You may think that the biggest hazard on a golf course would be the bunkers, but at Church Stretton Golf Club in Shropshire, England, the biggest hazard is a ball-stealing ghost.  The 13th hole is home to a Bermuda Triangle of sorts where golfers tee off, walk to their ball, only to find that it has disappeared.  Some blame the bird population for the disappearing balls, but based on the fact that golfers have been plagued for decades with vanishing ball syndrome, we’re pretty sure that sources from beyond are to blame.

 

Garrison Golf Club Hole 148. Garrison Golf Club – Garrison, New York

One of the greatest scary stories of all time, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman, was based in the Hudson River Valley, so those who play Garrison Golf Club may already feel a bit ill at ease.  When you add to that the fact that the Par 3 14th Green is surrounded by a slave graveyard.  The old tombstones are now cracked and covered with moss, which adds to the creepy vibe.  To play it safe, if you play Garrison, you’ll probably just want to take a quick birdie and move on to Hole 15 as quickly as possible. 

 

9. Mt. Lawley Golf Club, Perth, Australia

Mt. Lawley Golf Club in Perth Australia has had more paranormal sightings than almost every golf course in the world.  It probably doesn’t help that they have a hole named “Satan’s Elbow”.  That kind of creative naming is bound to draw some attention from beyond.  It may have started in 1930 when the body of a young man named Michael Oakleigh was found on Satan’s Elbow.  He apparently had committed suicide by poisoning.  Since then there have been multiple reports of apparitions, floating orbs and golfers being seized with fear for no apparent reason.  Spooky indeed!

 

10. Aetna Springs Golf Course – Pope Valley, California

Aetna Springs Golf Course plays host to many golfers every year, but the course also hosts something much more eerie.  The course is said to be haunted by the spirits of 8 monks.  The monks were reportedly tortured and killed in the 15th century and some golfers claim to have seen them wandering the course.  The spectral monks bear clean-shaven heads and their faces are contorted in pain.  

 


 

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