From the outside, golf might seem like a calm and peaceful game. Isn’t it why many people play a few rounds of golf to relax? Well, for the most part, the answer is yes. But then there have been times when the sport has witnessed some of the most bizarre things imaginable. There have been several moments in history when the tiny golf ball has notoriously ended up in places that made no sense at all. Let’s have a look at some of the strangest lies the golf world might have ever seen:

1. Bianca Pagdanganan’s drive finds a human elbow! (FM Championship, 2024)

Have you ever seen a golf ball stuck to a human’s elbow? Yeah, as strange as it sounds, it definitely has happened, with Bianca Pagdanganan‘s one-of-a-kind drive. It was the 2024 FM Championship. On the 530-yard par-5 18th hole, Pagdanganan’s drive veered way left, took a big bounce, and landed perfectly in the crook of a woman’s left arm. “Ow, it’s in my arm,” she said, standing there, completely unfazed, before casually tossing the ball back, like it happened almost daily with her. “Look at that!” the commentators laughed.

After the match, Pagdanganan narrated the entire scene. “When it landed and she didn’t flinch, I was like, ‘OK, she’s fine.’” But when she later found out that the ball actually landed in the woman’s arm, Pagdanganan was naturally surprised, “Are you sure, because she didn’t move at all.” She and her caddie then walked up to the woman, who confirmed that the ball indeed ended up in the crook of her elbow, which she then tossed off. To this, Pagdanganan said, “You could have tossed it in the fairway!”

2. Bryson DeChambeau’s fire ant standoff (WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, 2020)

Of course, this list will be incomplete if we don’t include an incident of the Mad Scientist. At the 2020 FedEx St. Jude Invitational, Bryson DeChambeau‘s ball landed in the rough by the 7th hole. Not liking the lie, he called over rules official Ken Tackett and insisted he should get relief because of…fire ants.

DeChambeau argued that the ants created a “dangerous animal condition” under USGA Rule 16.2a, which allows relief if playing the ball could cause serious injury. He spent quite a while, pointing at the ground, trying to convince Tackett about the hazard. The poor official kept looking around but couldn’t see the issue. “I just don’t see it, Bryson. There’s a couple down there, but I don’t see fire ants.”

After nearly four minutes of debate, DeChambeau had no choice but to play it as it lay, eventually making double bogey. He finished at T30. For someone who loves to do bizarre challenges on his YouTube and Instagram, this entire incident turned out to be ironic.

3. Nasa Hataoka’s miracle turns into a disqualification (Shoprite LPGA Classic, 2024)

Golf gods giveth, and golf gods taketh away. Nasa Hataoka learned this the hard way at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. During the first round of the tournament, she hit her second shot on the par-4 9th into the tall fescue. Now, how do you come out of that? She and a large search party of caddies, even fans and volunteers, started combing through the inches-tall grass. Of course, they couldn’t find the ball.

Just when they had lost all hope, a cameraman spotted a ball and pointed it out. Hataoka heaved a sigh of relief, took an unplayable lie, dropped, and carried on. But it’s never that straightforward in golf. On Saturday, the LPGA reviewed the incident and announced that Hataoka had exceeded the three-minute search limit allowed under Rule 18.2. Even worse, since she didn’t declare the ball lost and instead dropped it as if it were playable, she happened to have committed a “serious breach.” She was immediately disqualified.

It was a brutal outcome as she was tied for fourth when she was disqualified.

4. Megan Khang vs the bike lane sign (Dow Championship, 2025)

Grasses, elbows, can it get weirder? Yes, it can. Here comes a bike sign. That’s what Megan Khang found herself battling at the Dow Championship. Lexi Thompson, her partner in the team event, hammered a drive so hard that it sent Khang’s ball near a busy road by the 16th hole at Midland Country Club.

When Khang got to her ball, she realized that her swing was completely blocked by a metal post holding a “Bike Lane” and “No Parking” sign. Now, what do you do? Officials were called, and after some debate, it was decided that Khang could take a drop because of the swing issue.

From here, things got downright comic. As Khang lined up her recovery, her caddie, David Taylor, literally stepped onto the road to halt cars, looking exactly like a school crossing guard. His image went viral, making rounds on the internet. Khang then smoked a low fairway wood through the trees and onto the green. She and Thompson, who had nicknamed themselves “Team Biggie Smalls” because of their height difference, went on to save par and birdie the next two holes. They finished in second place eventually. Such incidents are a reminder that the biggest hazard in golf could be city planning.

5. Hideki Matsuyama’s shirt-pocket shot (The Northern Trust, 2021)

After Pagdanganan’s incident, I think it’s fair to say that spectators should be as far away from the players and their playing ground as possible. Because the incident that happened with Hideki Matsuyama will definitely back it up. During the second round of the Northern Trust Championship, Matsuyama’s drive missed its mark, and the ball skidded towards the gallery.

Instead of bouncing away, it somehow slipped under a man’s T-shirt and stayed there! The fan didn’t even move. Matsuyama, looking for his ball, approached the guy and, with all seriousness, pointed at him and said, “You.” The crowd erupted in laughter. The man then sheepishly dropped the ball from under his shirt, and the very kind Matsuyama signed it for him as a keepsake. The video instantly went viral. Matsuyama finished at T43 eventually.

Well, these are a few of the strangest places a ball has ended up, and some really cost the pros. Some got away with a favorable ruling. Of course, all these make Golf the ‘normal sport’ that it is.