The 10 Most Ridiculous Temper Tantrums In Golf History

Golf is a game that demands patience, discipline and emotional control.

Unfortunately, those qualities have a habit of disappearing when a player three-putts for par or sends his approach shot into the middle of a lake.

Professional golfers are supposed to be masters of controlling their emotions and, to be fair, most of the time they do. They’ve spent thousands of hours practicing, competing under enormous pressure and developing skills that most amateurs can only dream of possessing.

And yet, every so often, they behave like children who have just been told they can’t have dessert.

Over the years, we’ve seen golfers throw shoes, destroy equipment, deliberately break rules and even abandon tournaments altogether. Some of these tantrums have resulted in disqualifications or fines. Others have produced moments so ridiculous that they’re still being discussed decades later.

This isn’t a ranking of the biggest competitive collapses in golf history (you can find that one here). It’s a celebration (can we call it a celebration?) of extraordinary moments when otherwise accomplished golfers completely lost their composure.

Here are 10 of the most ridiculous temper tantrums the game has ever witnessed.

10. Gene Sarazen saws another golfer’s putter into pieces

Yep, you read that correctly.

Long before modern professionals started snapping clubs over their knees, Gene Sarazen apparently found a more, let’s say, methodical way to express his frustration.

Early in his career, the seven-time major champion was having a miserable day on the greens when he decided his putter had become the source of his problems. Rather than simply placing it in storage, Sarazen put the offending club into a vise and sawed it into three pieces.

That would have been an impressive overreaction under any circumstances but what makes the story even better is that the putter reportedly belonged to a member of the club.

Imagine lending a major champion your putter, only to discover that he decided to perform surgery on it with a saw.

Sarazen’s reputation was considerably more dignified than that of some of golf’s other famous hotheads but he acknowledged having a temper earlier in his career. This particular incident suggests that even one of the game’s greatest champions wasn’t above blaming his equipment for his own mistakes. 

Hey, it happens to the best of us.

9. Hennie Otto turns one missed putt into a complete disaster

We’ve all been here at some point.

There’s a particular kind of frustration that occurs when a golfer misses a short putt and becomes so annoyed that the next putt barely receives any attention. Pretty soon, you are playing ping-pong.

Hennie Otto took this concept to an entirely different level.

During the 2005 Nashua Masters in South Africa, Otto faced a par putt on the par-5 12th hole. He missed it, became visibly irritated and started swatting at subsequent putts with increasingly little care.

Otto needed five more putts to get the ball into the hole, eventually recording a 10.

While we’ve seen golfers have breakdowns from short range (remember the Ernie Els six-putt on the first hole at the 2016 Masters?), Otto’s body language and expressions make this unforgettable.

The footage is extraordinary because you can practically watch his patience evaporate with every stroke. At a certain point, making the putt seems to become less important than expressing just how angry he is about missing the previous one.

It’s the professional golf equivalent of angrily pressing the elevator button 15 times.

8. Woody Austin repeatedly hits himself with his putter

Golfers have invented countless ways to punish their equipment after a bad shot. Quite frankly, club snapping and bending is pretty boring given the number of incidents over the years. This article largely ignores that kind of milquetoast behavior.

But Woody Austin’s self-punishment while bending a club? That is impressive.

During the 1997 Heritage at Harbour Town, Austin became so frustrated with his putting that he repeatedly struck himself in the head with the shaft of his putter.

Not once. Not twice. Five times.

He hit himself hard enough to bend the shaft, producing one of the most bizarre scenes ever captured during a Tour event.

Years later, Austin explained that he wasn’t trying to damage the club. He was directing his anger at himself. That was commonplace for Austin over the years—the man was known for sarcastically fist-pumping after missing putts (a move Scottie Scheffler has adopted every now and then).

Of all the incidents on this list, this is the most cartoonish.

Somehow, it actually happened on Tour. 

7. Sergio Garcia throws (then kicks) his shoe

There are plenty of examples of professional golfers throwing clubs in frustration but Sergio Garcia throwing his shoe is a clip that still makes me laugh harder than any club throw.

During the 1999 World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, the 19-year-old Spaniard slipped while hitting a tee shot and sent his ball into trouble.

His response was to remove his shoe and hurl it toward an advertising board (this was before George W. Bush had a shoe thrown at him so maybe Sergio was a trendsetter).

That’s already a pretty spectacular reaction to a bad golf shot but the immediate aftermath to the shoe throw is what makes this a virtuoso tantrum. When the shoe was returned to him, he kicked it away again, reportedly nearly striking an official.

It’s difficult to imagine what Garcia hoped to accomplish. The shoe hadn’t caused the bad shot and throwing it certainly wasn’t going to improve his lie.

But that’s the beauty of a proper golf tantrum—logic has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Garcia would go on to become perhaps the foremost temper tantrum golfer in history. He even claimed another spot on this list.

6. Dave Hill turns a bunker tantrum into a multimillion-dollar lawsuit

Most of these tantrums are harmless but Dave Hill’s meltdown involves actual money.

Hill was enduring a miserable week at the 1971 Colonial National Invitation when his ball finished in a greenside bunker on his final hole.

Instead of playing a conventional bunker shot, Hill simply picked up his ball and yeeted it onto the green, where he then finished the hole.

No matter the circumstance, that’s the ultimate cardinal sin in golf.

He was subsequently disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard (fair enough).

The PGA Tour fined him $500 for conduct unbecoming a professional. Remember, $500 was a pretty penny back then, especially because the prize pool was miniscule.

You might imagine that would be the end of the matter. Not with Hill.

He paid the fine, then filed a $1-million antitrust lawsuit against the Tour because he believed he was unfairly disciplined without an opportunity to defend his move. When the Tour placed him on a year-long probation, he increased his demand to $3 million (ballsy move).

The dispute was eventually settled out of court but the whole episode remains almost impossible to believe.

Hill became so frustrated with a bunker shot that he effectively invented a new golf technique, received a fine and responded by taking the organization running the tournament to court.

That’s quite an escalation from a bad lie in the sand. 

5. Rory McIlroy helicopters his 3-iron into a lake

Every golfer has probably wanted to throw a club after a terrible shot. It’s incredibly satisfying, even if the walk of shame that follows is tough to swallow.

Rory McIlroy did it early in his career and his effort was impressive enough to become one of the most famous club throws in golf history.

During the second round of the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, McIlroy sent an approach shot into the water on the par-5 eighth hole.

Without much hesitation, he launched his 3-iron into the same lake.

This wasn’t a casual toss a few feet away. McIlroy sent the club sailing about 60 to 70 yards, making it abundantly clear that he had no immediate plans to use it again.

The throw was memorable enough but what happened afterward elevated the incident into something truly ridiculous.

Donald Trump, owner of the Trump Doral property, arranged for a scuba diver to retrieve the club. Trump then personally returned it to McIlroy on the driving range before the final round, joking that 13 clubs was an unlucky number.

McIlroy put the club back in his bag, only to hit another shot into the water with a 3-iron during that final round. This time, he jokingly pretended to throw the club before deciding to keep it.

Few golf tantrums have ever required an underwater recovery mission and a ceremonial presentation from a future U.S. president. 

4. John Daly runs out of golf balls and quits

John Daly has produced his share of outrageous moments but his appearance at the 2011 Australian Open might be the most spectacular example of his frustration getting the better of him.

Daly’s problems began on the 10th hole at The Lakes in Sydney where he received a two-stroke penalty for playing the wrong ball from a bunker. OK, things like that happen.

But things deteriorated considerably on the next hole.

Daly proceeded to hit six balls into the water on the par-5 11th. Eventually, he announced that he had run out of golf balls, shook hands with his playing partners and walked off the course.

Yes, a two-time major champion withdrew from a professional golf tournament because he no longer had any golf balls. This is a tantrum on par with the ending of Tin Cup—a protest by refusing to do anything except trying to hit a low-percentage shot that clearly isn’t working.

Tournament officials were furious with Australian PGA officials subsequently withdrawing his invitation to another event later that month.

Daly, however, seemed to think his explanation was perfectly reasonable. He later defended himself on social media, essentially arguing that once you’ve run out of golf balls, you’ve run out of golf balls.

While technically true, tournament officials pointed out that additional balls could have been provided.

Every golfer has “taken their ball and gone home” at some point but it’s hard to imagine a pro doing it.

Daly just managed to lose all of his balls before going home. 

3. Phil Mickelson deliberately hits a moving ball

What Phil Mickelson did during the third round of the 2018 U.S. Open is still hard to believe.

Playing on his 48th birthday, Mickelson was already enduring a frustrating afternoon when he reached the par-4 13th hole.

After sending a putt past the cup, he watched the ball continue rolling down the severely sloped green. Rather than allowing it to come to rest, Mickelson jogged after the ball and struck it while it was still moving.

No, it wasn’t a club throw or taking off his shoe—but such a defiant act in a major championship is essentially unheard of.

The resulting two-stroke penalty contributed to a score of 10 on the hole.

It was an astonishing moment from one of the most accomplished golfers in history, particularly because Mickelson had spent decades trying to win the one major championship missing from his resume.

But the aftermath might have been even more memorable.

Rather than simply admitting that he lost his composure, Mickelson defended the decision as a calculated move. He explained that he understood the penalty and preferred taking two additional strokes to repeatedly playing shots around the difficult green.

This didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Mickelson could have taken the two-stroke penalty and replayed his putt which would have been the simpler option. Not sure what he was thinking.

Whether it was an act of protest, a strategic decision or a moment of frustration, the sight of a six-time major champion chasing down his golf ball and hitting it before it stopped was almost impossible to comprehend.

It looked more like someone deciding the rules of mini golf no longer applied to them.

2. Sergio Garcia gets disqualified for damaging greens

Look, tantrums generally don’t affect anyone else in the field. They are isolated incidents and then we all move on.

What Sergio did at the 2019 Saudi International did impact his playing competitors.

Competing at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, Garcia became increasingly frustrated with his performance during the tournament. At one point, television cameras captured him angrily hacking at the sand in a bunker.

But that was only part of the problem.

During the third round, Garcia deliberately damaged multiple greens, reportedly striking the surfaces with his putter in frustration.

The damage was serious enough that players following behind him complained to tournament officials.

After reviewing the situation, the European Tour disqualified Garcia for serious misconduct under Rule 1.2a.

Garcia subsequently apologized and acknowledged that he damaged the greens out of frustration.

Most golfers occasionally blame a green for a missed putt. Garcia apparently decided the greens needed to suffer the consequences.

This is just a line you absolutely never cross as a golfer. It’s the height of tantrums in our game.

1. Bobby Jones tears up his scorecard at St Andrews

Long before he became one of the most revered figures in golf history, Bobby Jones was a talented teenager with a famously combustible temper.

And during the 1921 Open Championship at St Andrews, that temper produced one of the most extraordinary moments the game has ever witnessed.

Jones was just 19 years old and competing in his first Open Championship when he arrived at the famous par-3 11th hole during the third round.

His ball found the Hill bunker, one of the Old Course’s most notorious hazards.

What followed was a nightmare.

Jones needed four strokes just to escape the bunker, becoming increasingly furious with his predicament. Eventually, he had enough.

He picked up his ball and tore up his scorecard, effectively disqualifying himself from the championship.

Why does this tantrum take the top spot? Consider the circumstances.

This was one of the most talented young golfers in the world, playing in the game’s most prestigious championship, on its most famous course.

And he became so angry that he decided he simply wasn’t going to complete the hole or the tournament.

He later described the episode as one of the most embarrassing failures of his golfing career.

Jones returned to St Andrews in 1927 and won the Open Championship. Three years later, he won the British Amateur there during his historic Grand Slam season.

The same course that once reduced him to tearing up his scorecard eventually became one of the places most closely associated with his greatness.

Jones would go on to become a symbol of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct, making his youthful outburst all the more extraordinary.

Nearly a century before golf tantrums became viral videos, one of the game’s greatest figures demonstrated that even the most talented players are occasionally capable of behaving like frustrated children.

And he did it at the Home of Golf.

So that is the list of golf’s greatest meltdowns. What did I miss? Let me know below in the comments.