Golfer Impaled With Broken Club During Fight

Man home after being hospitalized for nine days

A golfer was hospitalized for nine days after he was apparently stabbed with a broken club during a fight at an exclusive course at Eagle Mountain Lake.

Clay Carpenter, 48, of Springtown, and two friends were involved in a fight with a group of slower golfers they were trying to pass at the Resort Golf Club, said Tarrant County Sheriff's spokesman Terry Grisham.

"The man was impaled with the shaft of a broken golf club," Grisham said. "Exactly how is still under investigation."

It happened on Hole 13, Par 3 on the afternoon of Jan. 27.

"This guy is bleeding profusely," a caller told 911 dispatchers. "He just passed out. You need to get somebody out here now."

The caller claimed he didn't know how Carpenter was injured.

"He fell on a golf club or something," he said. "He's already lost a pint or two of blood here."

Carpenter declined to talk to NBC 5 but told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the attack happened when two groups of golfers got into a fight. He told the newspaper he can no longer lift his feet and may lose his right leg if his muscles don't regenerate.

A total of seven people were involved in the altercation but not all are cooperating with investigators, Grisham said.

"We are attempting to interview everyone at the scene," he said.

Resort resident Larry Phillips said the incident happened near his home.

"We heard the ambulance and started looking out the window," he said. "The next thing we see is three patrol cars coming up."

Phillips, a retired hospital administrator, said the gated community full of upscale homes is usually quiet.

"That's one reason people live out here is, it's so quiet," he said. "A fight over golf is sort of ridiculous. You can't take golf that serious."

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