If you think golf is the ideal way to relax after a hard day at the office, think again.  It turns out that life on the course might be even more dangerous than the potential for a market-crash related coronary, at least if you’re lacking in the common sense to stand well out of the way of the fast-moving golf balls.  Thankfully Apple’s iPhone has an unadvertised feature: life preserver.  It’s a function that 53 year old Irwin Koss of DeWitt, New York can thank for not ending up in hospital suffering internal bleeding.

Irwin took his iPhone on the golf course, keeping it safe in his pocket rather than leaving it in the golf buggy at the mercy of thieves and wolves.  Unfortunately he was too busy thinking about aforementioned thieves and wolves to bother moving out of the path of his friend’s swing – a ball moving at an estimated 100mph hit him in the side, coincidentally right near a four-inch scar remaining from prostate cancer surgery.

Thankfully his brave iPhone placed itself between the ball and Irwin’s delicate, fleshy tissues, sacrificing its touchscreen and leaving the unlucky Koss with bumps, bruises but health insurance still intact.

Apple obviously have high expectations of their products, since the plucky iPhone wasn’t given a hero’s welcome but a replacement instead had to be paid for out of Irwin’s pocket.  He’s now hoping for a bullet-proof casing for future models, though I’d suggest he spend less time fantasising and more watching where he’s standing.