True or False? A golfer was killed by a golf club that he broke in anger.
There is a story about a young spoiled golfer, so upset by a bad drive that he had made, that he smashed his golf club on a nearby bench. When he did, the golf club’s shaft broke and sprang back at him, the jagged end piercing his heart and killing him. At first, this story appears related to a fictitious tale about an angry golfer who threw his golf bag into a water hazard, then realized his car and house keys were in the bag. When he tried to retrieve it, he got tangled in weeds and drowned. But it is not.
In 1994, Jeremy Brenno of Gloversville, New York, was killed when he vented his frustration over a bad shot by hitting the nearby player’s bench with his No. 3 wood. The shaft broke, bounced back and punctured his heart. Brenno had missed a shot on the sixth hole at the Kingsboro Golf Club. And, Brenno’s is not the only accidental death by golf club. In 1951, Edward Harrison was enjoying a round of golf at Inglewood in Kenmore, Washington, when the shaft of his driver broke, and pierced his groin. He bled to death within 100 yards.
Then in 2005, Rafael Naranjo from Gardner, Massachusetts, died after he found a 5-iron golf club in the street, and swung it at a nearby fire hydrant. The impact caused a piece of the shaft attached to the club’s head to break off, and fatally spear him through his neck. Also in 2005, Chandler Hugh Jackson, from Frisco, Texas, died after falling onto a broken club at Dogwood Hill golf club down in Cunningham, Kentucky. A piece of that golf club’s shaft went through the boy’s chest and pierced his aorta (a major blood vessel), causing massive internal bleeding, and death.
