Test Pilot Boone Guyton was out flying the Corsair prototype one day... It did not go well, SNAFU, rain blew in fast, while he ran out of fuel, because he was at max power, using more fuel than normal in a new plane, and had to put 'er down some where fast. Thank you John!

As Harrison Ford can attest, a golf course will do in an pinch. https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/03/did-you-hear-todays-celebrity-news.html

As he circled lower and lower, desperately looking for a place to land, he saw nothing but trees below. 

Then the rain let up, and he spotted a church steeple and a few seconds later the outline of a golf course. 

 As he dropped below the height of the steeple, he slid the canopy back and steepened his bank to keep the golf course in sight. It was the Norwich Golf Course, where an 18-year-old caddy had been watching the Corsair since it first appeared overhead, obviously in trouble

"On the green of the straightest and longest fairway, I could make out the flag. It was hanging limp- no wind. Behind it was a stand of heavy woods, but at the far end, the fairway was wide open - a good approach. I would land toward the green.”

 The fairway that Guyton chose was the 14th, and the caddy was already running in that direction because he knew it was the longest and most suitable place to land. 

While Guyton was setting up his approach, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the once flickering fuel light had turned solid, he had little fuel remaining. 

 He lowered the landing gear and flaps and set the prop in low pitch,  “Dropping down just above the course, I hung the Corsair on its prop, slow as I dared; I wanted to get down to the last flyable knot. Then I jerked the throttle full off. The big fighter hit hard a quarter of the way down the fairway. It headed straight for the green, and I got on the brakes fast. Relief at being safe on the good earth was instant, sweet- and totally false.

Slick form the wetness, the fairway that appeared so inviting was a skating rink. Braking had no effect, as the XF’s smooth tires held contact. I was a hundred yards from the green, and I knew I was headed for the bank of trees beyond.” As the XF4U skidded and skipped along the fairway with unchecked abandon, Guyton stomped a boot full of rudder to induce a ground loop, but it had no effect. 

 Seconds before he crashed into the trees, Guyton undid his parachute harness, shut off the ignition, cut the fuel, grabbed the bottom of the stick, and pulled himself down into the cockpit. That final action, Guyton said, probably saved his life, for when the fighter plunged into the trees, which concealed a large ravine of rocks and boulders, he was in for a rough ride. 

“Paradoxically, the trees were both destructive and helpful, but at the exact moment, my only thought was survival. As the sturdy, tough saplings bent and split, they arched the XF into the air as though it were flung from a sling. As it flipped inverted, I felt a hammering at my head, hard thumps against my shoulders, and then- nothing. Its momentum barely broken, the big fighter crashed, inverted, down through the trees, slid backward down the steep slope of the ravine, and smashed into a huge tree stump.” Guyton related.

from somewhere outside his darkened universe, he heard the caddy ask, “Hey, you alright down there? Can you get out?”

Guyton replied, “I think so, I’ll let you know.” Guyton’s injuries were minor, and even though he had released his straps, he was still trapped in the darkness of the inverted wreckage, but after digging a small opening in the damp soil, he crawled out of the cockpit and made his way to the top of the ravine. 

As he spoke to an elderly police officer, who arrived on scene surprisingly fast, Guyton looked down at the “sad remains” of what was then the only Corsair in existence

An engineer said, “Don’t worry, we can always fix the airplane. You got it down, and here you are, that’s what counts.” 

 The night after the accident, the fighter was hauled out of the ravine, and “Pop” Reichert, who headed the shop, told Guyton they’d have the fighter flying again in three months.

In 1976 the test pilots had a reunion 

the photos of that made the news, and 54-year-old World War II Navy veteran turned postal worker read about the reunion in the New Haven Register. 

It took him back to a rainy July afternoon in Norwich, Connecticut, where he saw a Corsair crash into a stand of trees at the Norwich golf course, where he’d been a caddy before the war. 

 That postal worker wrote a letter to Guyton, who was 63 at the time and still working for Vought. They met, and the newspaper got a photo op and cool story about the reunion

https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/corsair-slice-on-the-14th-fairway.html