Golfers Feared He’d Put a Hole in One

There’s nothing remotely sympathetic about a reserve deputy who’s also the sheriff’s martial arts instructor being suspended and charged with felonies after allegedly pulling a gun on golfers who hit his ball into another fairway after he drove into them.

Absolutely nothing. If true, it’s inexcusable behavior.

And yet....

Have you ever played behind a foursome that just won’t keep it moving? Guys who line up putts like they’re qualifying for the U.S. Open? A golfer who, while on the tee box, suddenly remembers the funniest story he’s ever heard and just has to tell it again?

That can get your goat. Especially if you’re already shooting a lousy round.

I wasn’t there that Sunday two weeks ago when reserve Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Raymond Yi allegedly violated a sacred rule of golf course etiquette: Don’t pull a gun on another golfer.

Yi is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 31. He’s charged with assault with a firearm and making criminal threats. A lesser charge of not replacing his divot has been dropped.

Who can say why Yi lost his cool? In filing charges, the San Bernardino D.A.’s office says Yi apparently became incensed after a foursome ahead of him knocked his ball, which had landed near them, off the fairway. They alleged that it was the second time that Yi had hit into them as they played at the Los Serranos Golf & Country Club in Chino Hills.

Ask any golfer. Either deed -- having a trailing foursome hit into you or watching the group ahead of you swat your ball off the fairway -- can turn meek men into tigers. These disputes often spill onto the next tee box, with an exchange of dirty looks or angry words. On rare occasions, long irons are involved.

Maybe that’s what Yi had in mind, until he remembered he had a short iron -- a revolver -- with him. The D.A. alleges that Yi pulled the gun on successive holes and threatened to kill one or more of the golfers in the group ahead of him.

Just an aside: I thought martial arts instructors had some kind of inner peace that guided them in such moments.

As you can deduce, it’s an unhappy mess. Yi could face prison time. The golfers in the other group may have gotten the scare of their lives. The members of Yi’s foursome may have to testify against him, if the case goes to trial. Normally, the worst thing your golf buddies have to say about you is that you didn’t count all your strokes.

And that doesn’t send you to jail.

The case will play itself out through the legal system. But just as any serious golfer replays every round he plays, surely Yi will look back on what he could have done differently on the fateful 13th hole where all the trouble started.

He’ll have to consult his conscience as to whether he intentionally drove into the foursome ahead. If so, that’s a no-no. Then, he’ll probably ask some hard questions about whether, as alleged, it was wise to pull his deputy’s badge and a gun out of his golf bag.

To me, that sounds like a correctable mistake. It’s not like he was shanking.

Depending on the evidence, Yi and his lawyer are probably already considering how to defend the case. Short of self-defense, showing a revolver on the green is usually not something the golf gods will forgive. Or a Superior Court judge.

Sportswriter John Feinstein once wrote a book on golf, “A Good Walk Spoiled.” He must have been anticipating Yi’s round in Chino Hills.

From the gallery, I see only one way out for Yi.

He must hope that the alleged victims understand. Traumatized as they may have been, Yi must hope that the golf fraternity saves him. Perhaps the brotherhood of golfers will compel the victims, realizing what golf can do to people, to sign off on tough probation for Yi.

If they’d do that, then Yi would then face only one more hurdle:

He’ll have to pray that the D.A. will allow him a mulligan.

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821 or at dana.parsons@latimes.com. An archive of his recent columns is at www.latimes.com/parsons.