[Thomas Dai]

The discussion about the lack of rattlesnakes on the property in the thread following Chris Johnston's Dismal River interview got me thinking about what other wild and/or dangerous animals or reptiles etc GCA'ers may have come across whilst playing or constructing or maintaining a course.

I'm sure there are quite a few stories out there to tell about crocs and 'gators and wild things that might chase you and bite you and even eat you if they got the opportunity.

All the best.

[Aidan Bradley]

[Bill_McBride]

I'm on my iPad so it's hard to post photos, but there are three good ones I can remember, two from the Streamsong outing last month.

Big alligator who lives in the pond below the 13th green on the Blue.

The armadillo caddy Doc caught and posed with at Streamsong.

And, the sign by the first tee at Liphook, south of London, that included the advice, "Beware of adders!"

[John McCarthy]

I was bit by a duck. 

[Brad Tufts]

A coyote got in my cart once at Talking Stick and went rummaging through my stuff.

Also saw a 6-7 foot snake while looking for a ball right of the 10th fairway at We-Ko-Pa Cholla last year...didn't see if it was dangerous or not, as I got the hell out of there immediately.

I'm sure Bob Huntley has some stories about Africa in this regard....

[Chris Johnston]

I was bit by a duck. 

John,

Be careful next time, I've heard they can "nibble a man to death".   

[Bill_McBride]

Another.....

I was walking along the cart path along the right side of #14 at Rustic Canyon, looking for another player's errant tee ball.  Made a wide detour around a good size rattler who was basking near his hole in the sun.    We were both pretty happy to avoid an incident.  

One thing I love is deer on the course, whether its half a dozen in the fourth fairway at Cypress Point or a herd of Hill Country deer near Austin led by a 12-point buck who was Shetland pony size.  

You see both deer and wild turkey at the Meadow Club. 

[Bart Bradley]

Harry the killer Hippo:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,38667.0.html

Bart

[Greg Tallman]

Why am I thinking rabbits and Pebble Beach?

[Tyler Kearns]

A relatively small black snake slithered off the cart path at Barnbougle Dunes, I assumed being in Australia, it was deathly poisonous.  In fact, I think most courses in Australia would qualify -- snakes, crocodiles, spiders, scorpions etc.

I remember Mark Amundson at Sutton Bay warning me to be watchful for rattlers while playing, and while I know they are more scared of us, it was a little unnerving.  More so when I bumped into a yucca plant near the 17th green, and heard the seeds "rattle" around in the pods!!

TK

[Aidan Bradley]

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This guy attacked me at Jasper Park Lodge.......

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"When the animal first showed an interest in my hide, I collected all my equipment, got back in my cart and started to move away," says Bradley. "I sped up and down the fairway as fast as the cart would go with my friend trotting alongside about four yards away and making the occasional lunge at me. When I got tired of his little game, we faced off in the middle of the 11th fairway. That's when I decided to take the bull by the horns so to speak, and charge. With Admiral Farragut's famous words in my head ("Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"), I went straight for him. Thankfully he took the low road and I took the high road, which gave me just enough time to get to safety as he chased behind. I escaped with a couple of yards to spare."

The two met again a little while later, this time across a fence. "He recognized me," says Bradley, "and was clearly very angry. The fence was there but I still felt pretty uncomfortable."

Bradley got back to his hotel room at about 7.30 a.m., unscrewed the top of a bottle of 10-year-old Bushmills, which he refers to as "Mother's Milk," and poured himself a generous measure. His wife knew he liked his single malts but was surprised to see her husband drinking so eagerly and so early in the morning. "I described to her what had happened," says Bradley, who still shakes when recounting the story today. "She understood."

[Steve Okula]

It wasn't yet a golf course, and still isn't, but I was the turf consultant on a project in Kenya, a couple of hours northeast of Nairobi, being designed by David Jones from out of Belfast. During the clearing operation, David, the contractor, and myself were riding the centerlines  in a Toyota 4X4 when we came up to the 14th tee and ran into these bad boys, a herd of twenty or so Cape Buffalo. Very dangerous. I never saw one close up before, except for elephants I think they must be the largest land mammal.  The photo doesn't do justice to their size. I have no doubt any one of them could have crushed the flimsy Japanese vehicle like it was tin foil.

We gently reversed and made our way back up the trail. Apparently, the Buffalo are more docile in a herd, but if they're alone they're much more insecure and likely to charge.

[BHoover]

Ohio may have bad weather and long, grey winters, but fortunately we don't have anything too dangerous, apart from some pesky squirrels and the damn geese.

[Bob_Huntley]

Having been around a bit in Africa south of the Sahara I've encountered quite a few animals on a golf course.

The Nuanetsi Ranch in Southern Rhodesia was quite possibly the largest spread in Africa. It had a primitive golf course which was a lot of fun
to play,one late afternoon I saw a lion take down a cow

The most hazardous to play was the Bancroft G.C. renamed after independence as the Konkola G.C. Critters galore and even the scorecard warns against getting to close to the Hippos. It also allows that a ball can be lifted from a footprint without penalty

I think the most tragic remembrance was having a friend's small boat up-ended by a Hippo on the Kafue River in Northern Rhodesia. His leg was almost severed and he died on the way to hospital.

In spite of what you hear, I would hazard a guess that African bees kill more humans than any other animal.

Bob

 

[Steve Okula]

Having been around a bit in Africa south of the Sahara I've encountered quite a few animals on a golf course.

The Nuanetsi Ranch in Southern Rhodesia was quite possibly the largest spread in Africa. It had a primitive golf course which was a lot of fun
to play,one late afternoon I saw a lion take down a cow

The most hazardous to play was the Bancroft G.C. renamed after independence as the Konkola G.C. Critters galore and even the scorecard warns against getting to close to the Hippos. It also allows that a ball can be lifted from a footprint without penalty

I think the most tragic remembrance was having a friend's small boat up-ended by a Hippo on the Kafue River in Northern Rhodesia. His leg was almost severed and he died on the way to hospital.

In spite of what you hear, I would hazard a guess that African bees kill more humans than any other animal.

Bob

I've been told that the deadliest animal in all of Africa is the mosquito, it kills more people than any other animal via transmitted diseases.

[Philip Gawith]

That is probably correct Steve in terms of numbers. But in terms of animals, hippos are feared as they are very fast on land, never mind in the water. I once spent a few days sharing a tent in Botswana with a famous hunter Harry Selby (immortalised in a Robert Ruark novel) who said that the animal he most feared in the bush was the hyena. That is because they are capable of malice. While most predators are scared of humans and will avoid them, this is not true of hyenas.

There is a course in the northwest of South Africa - near the Kruger National Park - called Phalaborwa which has plenty wildlife and is good enough to have hosted a professional tournament. The first time i ever saw Fulton Allem play golf was there. And Hermanus, near Cape Town, where i have played lots of golf often has baboons on it - they come down from the mountains.

[Jason Thurman]

Hippos are no joke. A very good family friend also had a boat upended by one on a river trip. He lost the leg but survived, barely. His story was featured on a show on Animal Planet. I think it was called "I Shouldn't Be Alive."

The wildest thing I've seen was mating bull snakes at Wild Horse.

[Matthew Rose]

Things I've seen.

1. A giant black bear on the Smith course at Treetops in Michigan.

2. Elk on the fairways at Evergreen Golf Club in Colorado.

3. Kangaroos at Gisborne and Anglesea in Victoria, Australia.

[Bill_McBride]

Remembered a good one.   There was a nice little course at Subic Bay in the Phillipines that I played in 1966 while our destroyer was in port.  The second hole had an unusual hazard, a huge banyan tree in the corner of the dogleg left.   There were hundreds of little monkeys in that tree, who loved to race out after golf balls.  The caddies had a counter action, they would each forecaddy and stand on your ball until you arrived to play on with alacrity!   The little buggers didn't bother you anywhere else.  

[Carl Johnson]

Only 2.5 that I can remember.  Mama black bear and two cubs on the Waterton Lakes Golf Course in Canada.  Rattle Snake, alive, undetermined variety, at the Cowans Ford Golf Club in North Carolina.  And the one-half . . . a very large rattlesnake, probably timber rattler, dead, on a green at the Crowders Mountain Golf Course in North Carolina.

[Steve Lang]

 

Who has right of way?  Outgoing or incoming players, or grazers?


Alaska, where you should tee off after 10:20 at night in the summer…


Very dangerous local species..

[Dan Herrmann]

Beavers have built a couple os dams on the creek that flows thru my golf courses.   Ended up creating a new lake to the west of the property

[Lyne Morrison]

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/golf/kangaroos-delay-golf-star-karrie-webbs-round-at-womens-australian-open-in-canberra/story-fndedw3b-1226578628226

We tend to be a little casual with the kangaroos but a few years ago a golfer was attacked at a local course and the photo evidence was enough to convince me to steer clear of the larger males from there on.

Lyne

[Bill_McBride]

Another one.....

Playing the gawd awful Furry Creek in Vancouver, the highlight was the mama bear sitting on the back tee out on the second nine.  Naturally we chose to "play it forward."  

[Mickey Boland]

Near #10 tee at Grayhawk Talon.  We had looked for golf balls in the desert for 3 1/2 rounds.  We didn't look for our last nine.
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Wild turkey at La Cantera in San Antonio.
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