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That Time Hunter S Thompson Played Golf on Acid

May 30, 2016

It should come as no surprise that Hunter S. Thompson was capable of playing golf high. Thompson’s daily writing schedule famously included a potent mix of cocaine, whiskey, coffee and cigarettes.

Former Esquire Editor-in-Chief Terry McDonell has another Thompson golf story for the ages (add this to the time Thompson and Bill Murray invented a game called “shotgun golf” together). In this one, McDonell visits Thompson in Colorado, and Thompson insists they play golf. On acid.

McDonell notes that Thompson’s swing was “explosive if not smooth and his third drive was solid and long.” When Thompson missed a putt at the end of the round, he “let out a howl,” threw his putter into the water and used the 12-gauge shotgun in his golf bag to fire above the geese in the pond.

Sounds about right.

Read the rest of the excerpt from McDonell’s book, The Accidental Life, at Esquire.com.