Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 21, 1992 TAG: 9202210364
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DRIVE TEES OFF CART OPERATOR; RUN-OVER GOLFER WANTS ARREST
Danny DeShields felt a little below par Wednesday morning on the fairway at a Roanoke golf course.An angry golfer had just run him over with a golf cart.
"I'm going to the magistrate this morning," DeShields said Thursday. "Golf's supposed to be a gentleman's game."
Wednesday, the game got a little bit rough.
DeShields, at 72 hardly a member of the rowdy crowd, was part of a threesome playing at the Countryside Golf and Tennis club. He said his group was teeing off at the fifth hole when it came upon a slower group.
The rules of the game say slower golfers should let faster play through, said DeShields, who's been golfing for half a century.
"We had to wait on every shot," DeShields complained.
When two men in the other group continued to stall DeShields' group by standing in the fairway chatting, his patience ran out.
"Fore in the fairway!" he hollered. That's golf lingo for warning fellow duffers of balls soaring in their direction.
The men playing in front of him drove away in their carts in response to DeShields' warning that he was playing through.
Still, one of the tee shots from the DeShields group came within 15 feet of the group in front. Close, but within the parameter of fair play, DeShields thought.
"I didn't think any more about it," DeShields said.
Minutes later, he noticed one of the men from the other group steering a golf cart in his direction.
The man parked his cart about 15 feet from DeShields and yelled.
DeShields quotes the cart driver as shouting: "We're playing as fast as we can! We'll let you through. You can thank me anytime for that."
DeShields said he thanked him. The other golfer, described only as a 63-year-old Salem man, heard cusses, not thanks, police said.
Tempers flared, the golf cart roared forward, and DeShields ended up beneath the wheels. DeShields swore out an assault-and-battery warrant for the man on Thursday, but no arrest had been made.
Police said the Salem man admitted striking DeShields with the cart.
As proof of the cart attack DeShields offers his golf britches - still stained by a tire mark on the leg and grass stains on the seat.
"I looked up and this clown was going down the fairway full speed," DeShields said. He claims his wrist was slightly injured in the fairway fracas.
He parred the fifth hole, despite the handicap.