Gutsy Golfers Shoot From The Mountains

Golf balls were ricocheting across the rugged mountains of New Mexico, as the Elfego Baca shootout—a one-hole, six-hour, three-mile-long golfing ordeal—teed off for the 51st straight year. Only A Game's Ron Schachter reports on the adventurous golfers who play among rattlesnakes, rocky terrain and treacherous heat. As one Elfego participant remarks, this tournament is often defined by dangerous vegetation.

"When you talk about experiences and memories, most of them deal with cactus. You know, people slipping on cactus and falling into it. You better take tweezers with you and be ready to pull cactus spines out of you. I think if I’m ever in an autopsy, they’ll find lots of cactus in my legs from the Elfego.”

This is far from any traditional golf tournament, to be sure. But the Elfego shooters live for the challenging thrill that this event provides.