Best April Fool's Day practical jokes for golfers

Today is April 1.

You know what that means: be on guard. Nobody wants to be the victim of a practical joke on April Fool's Day.

I'm still salty about the time my basketball ended up in the bushes by a basement window as a child. My younger sister yelled out the window when I went to retrieve the ball, scaring the crud out of me.

Golf buddies tend to be just as ruthless as siblings. Golf is a gentleman's game, but that doesn't mean a little practical joke now and then can't be fun.

There are lots of ways to mess with a playing partner. Some are just so cruel I don't condone them. Don't ever unsnap a golf bag so that it falls off a golf cart or step on/run over a ball on purpose. Those tricks aren't in the spirit of just having a little fun. Clubs could actually break falling off a golf cart. If a driver head shatters, that's a $500 joke gone wrong. Making a noise in the middle of someone's backswing isn't cool, either.

There are other tricks that I've either had pulled on me or tried on somebody else, though, that are fair game. They're harmless, as long as you choose the right time and the right person. Nobody wants to be pranked when they're playing an epic round at a Top 100 course. There are plenty of other days and courses where these pranks could spice up the laughs.

This one will take some real planning and multiple people to pull off, so good luck! And to the golfer who has never had an ace, it could be considered cruel and unusual punishment to stage a fake hole in one. But there are ways to make it happen. All it takes is a par 3 with a blind green. There's an urban legend that caddies at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland used to work together to stage aces on the famous "Dell Hole", the fourth hole where a hidden green is tucked between high dunes. The caddie of the group in front would put a tee shot in the hole and then split the tip with the caddie of the golfer who made the ace. It sounds like quite a scheme.

To pull it off, you'll need to stash someone, either in the group in front or in the bushes sight unseen. Once the victim tees off, the accomplice will retrieve the ball, drop it in the hole and run back to his or her hiding spot. Recording the excited reaction of the unsuspecting golfer and then their fall from grace when the plan is revealed could be priceless!

I almost feel bad that I took advantage of my dad, who isn't much of a golfer. It's his fault really. He's had an exploding golf ball sitting in a desk drawer for probably a decade or longer. I finally grabbed it for a round at our favorite hangout - a scruffy nine-holer called Overlook Golf Course on Big Lake near Mount Vernon, Wash.

If you've never seen one of these balls before, it's easy to tell they're fake. They look like a ball of dimpled soap. The key is to cause a distraction, so your victim is not paying attention before hitting. I did this by yelling loudly, "Look at that huge fury thing! What is that?" as I pointed toward the nearby riverbank. When my dad turned around, I quickly switched balls and gave the excuse that the creature must have disappeared into the water. I'll let my Instagram account tell the rest of the story.

Everybody panics when losing any of the three most important items they carry every day - wallet, phone or keys. I recently played a round where a buddy snatched my cell phone from my cart while I was in the bathroom. Thankfully I didn't fall for the joke by hitting the panic button. After a quick search, I simply drove to my ball. Low and behold, there it was. Thanks guys.

If you do attempt this trick (a rangefinder could also work), make sure to give the phone back right away. You don't want your buddy freaking out about what hole he or she might have lost it on and go searching for it.

Lee Trevino pulled out his famous rubber snake at the most awkward of times - the first tee of an 18-hole playoff for the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club. He tossed it at Jack Nicklaus, who took it well, especially considering he would end up losing the playoff.

"I had picked up that rubber snake in the Fort Worth Zoo gift shop a few weeks earlier... and I had just stuck it in my golf bag," Trevino told Golf World Magazine. "I wanted to use it to scare some of the caddies and other people."

I've actually had a rubber snake attack me on a golf course. Michael Patrick Shiels, a golf writer and radio personality from Michigan, has tried to scare me on more than one occasion with the snake he still carries in his bag to this day. He's even attempted to prank celebrities like Al Kaline, a Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer who passed away in 2020.

"I tried to use it on Lee Janzen at Treetops, but he said, 'I live in Florida - I know a real snake when I see one'.” Shiels wrote in a Facebook message. "Tom Weibel (a playing partner at the Golf Club of Georgia) launched his styrofoam coffee cup 10 feet into the air. Jim Nantz’s wife, Courtney, at Cape Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport (Maine), shrieked and leapt into his arms."

Will you be ready when a rubber snake or spider shows up in your golf cart today? April Fools!

What's the best golf April Fool's Day prank you've experienced? Let us know in the comments below.