Former NHL enforcer Nick Tarnasky shared his account of a viral golf course brawl that occurred earlier this month at Alberta Springs Golf Course in Red Deer, Alberta.
Tarnasky, who played as a center for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nashville Predators, and the Florida Panthers, explained the situation during an appearance on the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast.
And if you haven’t seen this fight, you really need to watch it. More on that below. It’s a gem of an encounter, though calling it a ‘fight’ may be a stretch. One doesn’t say a hammer was involved in a fight with a nail.
Tarnasky, of course, was the hammer. He explains that the nail was an inebriated man who took 20-25 minutes to play each hole and whose beer muscles prompted him to challenge other golfers to fights.
He made the mistake of issuing that challenge to a former NHL player standing at 6′ 2″ and weighing over 230 lbs.
“At the end of the day, I asked him not to, told him he shouldn’t get involved with me, I asked him to move on, I gave him every opportunity not to, and he charged at me,” Tarnasky said. “I’m not going to fold over, that’s not my nature.”
What happened after the warning was pure art.
What Was This Guy Thinking, Taking on Nick Tarnasky?
Again, if you haven’t seen the viral fight between Nick and the more petite guy with his beer-fueled courage, it’s worth taking a look. Tarnasky warns the man, but to no avail.
The whole thing started with a mundane request for the drunk man’s group to pick up the pace.
“That instantly set him off,” Tarnasky explained. “He’s doing the fist-clenching and the pumping his arms, and that’s where the altercation starts that’s on the video.”
He said even his warnings and his massive frame were not enough to deter the man.
“If I hear I’m going to get thrown in the pond by this (expletive) mutant, maybe I’m going to chill out,” Tarnasky said. “I thought maybe that could be a fun way to be like, ‘You guys are in the wrong, let’s speed things up.’”
But no, dude started flexing and tried pushing a wall of humanity. It ended very, very badly.
Ok, guys, this is officially the greatest FAFO video in the history of social media!
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) July 9, 2025
This guys commentary is hilarious 😂 pic.twitter.com/X5lM6m15R2
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Mouth Ran Faster Than His Brain
The best part of that video? The absolute pinnacle of the altercation? When Nick Tarnasky starts narrating his punches.
He repeatedly hits the guy in the face while shouting, “Bang! Bang!”
Cactus Jack’s got nothing on Tarnasky.
Luckily for the man in question, he didn’t suffer too much in the injury department despite being rag-dolled for an extended period on the golf course. He later admitted that the incident was “not his finest moment” and that his “mouth ran faster than his brain.”
Ya think?
Tarnasky played 245 games across five seasons in the NHL, scoring 13 goals along with 17 assists. More impressively, as an enforcer, he accumulated 297 penalty minutes.
More penalty minutes than games, and this guy thought the golf course fight was going to end well for him.
