A comedian drumming up interest in golf may have sliced into a hornets nest by hitting balls in Yellowstone and other national parks.
Jake Adams is touring the nation to hit golf shots in 50 states in 30 days, posting video of the adventure on his Instagram account — jakemadams3.
On day three in a snowy Colorado mountain meadow he uses a small pile of snow to tee up his ball and swings his driver while strapped to a snowboard.
On April 26, Adams stopped in Billings, Montana, where he is shown hitting a ball at Briarwood Golf Course as well as off the Rims with two locals. That was day 25 of his tour.
Yellowstone golf shots
These screen grabs show comedian Jake Adams teeing off in three different locations in Yellowstone National Park.
Later the same day he’s shown on the banks of a river hitting a ball in Yellowstone National Park, then on top of Mammoth Hot Springs’ travertine terraces toward the hotel and boardwalk below and finally from a boardwalk next to a hot springs pool.
KHQ 6 news first reported Adams teeing off in Yellowstone. The National Park Service responded to the station’s request for comment with an email stating: “The individual who recently was captured on video hitting golf balls in Yellowstone National Park showed a lack of judgment and common sense. He violated regulations designed to preserve Yellowstone and protect the experience of other visitors. The National Park Service is investigating this illegal act.”
Adams isn’t the first online personality to run afoul of park regulations. In 2016, four travel bloggers were sentenced to jail and fined after they recorded their walk onto the thermal area around Grand Prismatic Spring. Visitors are required for their own safety and to protect delicate thermal features to remain on boardwalks.
Boardwalk shot
These screen grabs show comedian Jake Adams teeing off in three different locations in Yellowstone National Park.
In an interview, Adams told ABC News he was making the trip to emphasize a different side of golf.
“My kind of mission for golf as a whole is … it gets so stuck and like it’s patriarchal and kind of like traditional values of this stuffy country club and you know, kind of my message is there’s so many more people, you know, my age … who don’t believe in those traditional values that love and enjoy the game.”
Along his journey, Adams said he’s seen some stunning landscapes from which to hit golf shots, including drives aimed at state capitol buildings.
“Every state has something beautiful in it, except for Mississippi,” Adams told ABC.
In his last post, on Day 29, Adams was in Alaska. His final stop is Hawaii.
Watch Now: Yellowstone, where strange tales abound
Yellowstone National Park historian Lee Whittlesey describes the three expeditions that were made into what is now Yellowstone Park in order to confirm the fantastic stories that surrounded the landscape.
