Just when you think that it is safe to go out onto the golf course again…..disaster strikes. Here’s a guy trying to enjoy a nice afternoon of golf….he is walking down the middle of the fairway… and suddenly the ground opens up under him and he finds him falling into a hole which turns out to be 18 feet deep.
In his own words, here is what happened to Mark, “I felt the ground start to collapse and it happened so fast that I couldn’t do anything. I reached for the ground as I was going down and it gave way, too. It seemed like I was falling for a long time. The real scary part was I didn’t know when I would hit bottom and what I would land on.”
This was on a course familiar to Mihal and the other three members of his foursome that Friday afternoon. They had all played that course and walked that fairway many times before. It was the beginning of the spring golfing season and everyone was enjoying the nice day…….until Mark fell in the hole.
According to Mark’s wife, “They were in the fairway on No. 14….Mark had already hit his second shot when he went to check out the distance for his playing partner, Mike Peters, who was getting ready to swing. Mike had his back to Mark and when he turned to say something to him, Mark was gone.”
Fortunately, Mihal’s partner was near enough to hear him moaning and quickly found the hole in the fairway and deduced what had happened. Mark had fallen into a bell shaped sinkhole about 10 feet wide and some 18 feet deep.
Rescuers showed up with a twelve foot ladder but Mihal had dislocated his shoulder in the fall and could not get out using only one arm. He was in pain and suffering from claustrophobia as well. Mark and his wife had recently seen the news clip about the man in Florida who fell into a sinkhole below his home and completely disappeared…..for good. Panic began to set in.
As a good golfing buddy should, Ed climbed down in the hole and used his sweatshirt to make a sling for Mark’s injured arm and eventually help him up the ladder and out of the hole after a very scary 20 minute stay underground.
