I don’t think I had heard of this one before, but a good telephone-related mystery is fun to dig into.
As discussed on the Barely Sociable YouTube channel and numerous other sources, in the 1990s a toll-free number appeared on a billboard in Canada. That number was (800) GOLF-TIP. If you called the number all you heard was a recorded loop of someone counting from 1 to 10. If you stayed on the line long enough you’d hear a squawking or screeching noise.
IMPORTANT: Do not call this number today unless you want to connect to a phone sex service. Keep in mind as well that it is impossible to prevent the owner of a toll-free number from seeing your phone number on caller ID. So if you get a call from a shady-seeming toll-free number and want to call it back, use a payphone.
I think the answer to who was behind the (800) GOLF-TIP mystery probably lies with the PGA (Professional Golfers Association), and/or USA Today. I plugged the number into some research databases. Here is what I found.
This blurb in the December 3, 1994 issue of the Tampa Tribune refers to (800) GOLF-TIP.
Another reference appears in the December 1, 1994 issue of USA Today. That article refers to (800) GOLF-TIP as the “USA TODAY/PGA OF AMERICA HOT LINE”. I’d like to see the printed version of this, but a link to a text-only PDF version of the USA Today piece, found on ProQuest, is here.
Based on the Tampa Tribune blurb and the USA Today piece it looks as if the ability to call (800) GOLF-TIP and hear golf advice from “nearly 100 PGA members” was only available for the weekend of December 3 and 4, 1994; and only from 9am to 9pm at that. My guess is that before and after those dates the number remained in the possession of either the PGA or USA Today but, intentionally or not, got turned over to some test or placeholder content.
Contacting the PGA or USA Today to look for records of the billboard buy sounds promising but I wouldn’t expect records of something like to still be around. As for the screeching sound reportedly heard if you stayed connected long enough, I suspect that was the howler, or some kind of signal heard when landline telephones are left off the hook too long.
That the phone number got some level of national media publicity suggests to me that the billboards also appeared throughout North America and not just in Canada. Since the call-in event lasted only 2 days most of those signs were probably not out there for very long. Someone probably just failed to remove the Canadian billboard in a timely fashion.
That’s my take!
Thank you for this! As a Canadian who was a teen in the 90s, the 1 800 GOLF TIP mystery has bugged me for literal decades now. I’m not sure whether I’m happy or disappointed to find out it’s got such a mundane explanation, but at least it’s not a total mystery anymore.
Buried in the squall of the YouTube thread is the most reasonable and informed response to all this. A slickly-produced YT video can get over a million views and make its creators a bunch of money when really, there was nothing here to talk about:
“Sam Lutfi
I can explain to you exactly what this was all about. Around 1995 my uncle who is Lebanese(not Indian) worked/volunteer for the PGA. At that time members of the PGA decided to pay for a hot line where you could call and receive golf tips from around a hundred PGA members that were attending the Tommy Armour Teaching and Coaching and Summit in New Orleans that year. The line was active but for about a week until the board received a massive bill for all the toll free calls made that week. No one wanted to pay the bill and it remained in dispute for years. Now the message you hear is my uncle testing the line when it was initially set up. At the time you had to record numerous prompts so you can direct the callers what numbers to press. Upon filling the dispute, the phone company removed all the prompts and deactivated the numbers you can press and it defaulted to his initial test recording. now the funny part. My Uncle originally lived in Canada, his credit and address was based in Canada and he was the one that volunteered to apply for the account. After the bill was disputed we realized that if you called the number on certain regions in Canada, you would hear him counting and if you didn’t hang up you’d hear a screech that was actually the original recording being rewound. The phone company on paper deemed the number out of service and paid no attention to the voicemail millions of people heard. Prior to the summit the PGA board talked numerous outlets in both Canada and the states to print the number for free as an upcoming promotion and that’s why the number was posted in many papers and even on some billboards. in 1996 people caught on about this and rumors began to spread. Many college newspapers printed the number in ominous looking adverts as pranks and it went on for several years until the number was sold to a bulk dialer that was previously a bulk 976 erotic for pay number. My Uncles name was Basem, there was nothing ominous about the number, it was an ongoing topic in our family for years and then forgotten about until someone sent me the link to this.”
we called this number before June of 1994. I know this, because I lived in a different city before then, and we called it from the highschool I attended.
No you didn’t
Sara, I think you mean you graduated high school before 1994 (meaning you are 46 years old or older now). The person who explained the phone number’s origin said his uncle created the voice message “around” 1995, which is an estimate. The USA Today article mentions December 1994 and others have mentioned 1993. It is possible it was up and running in 1993. There are other reports that link to this person’s explanation, and it appears to be the truth.
Reasonable response Chris. But you response claims an equally sure answer. No you do not know that Sara did or didn’t call the number. So for the betterment of us all, stop assuming and start knowing.