Animal Encounter Stories

Eagle Chase Golf club Marshville, NC. A buddy and I saw a couple of deer run across the fairway as we were waiting to hit off the tee. They disappeared into the woods and a few seconds later came a mountain lion/cougar right after them.

So I play in Ct & Fl every year so I have encounters with the basic deer, fox, alligator, osprey, hawk, Turkey, bobcat etc etc. The funniest, that could have been painful, was on a sales trip to Hawaii and playing at Kapalua. My buddy hooked his drive into some waist deep stuff and decided to give it a look. We hear some movement and suddenly a wild pig bursts from the weeds and begins to chase my friend around the golf cart and down the fairway. The event felt like it took 1 hour but was actually 1 minute. It just felt longer due to my lack of oxygen from laughing so hard.

Great Blue Herons are regulars at Tecolote Canyon and other golf courses around San Diego. They will stake out a hole in the ground right in the middle of the fairway, frozen like a statue, just waiting for a gopher or squirrel to pop their head out so they can stab and eat him. Always have the fear that one of our tee shots are going to catch him in the head

My favorite animal encounter happened this year when I was on the Big Island of Hawaii. I was on Makali GC where they have both wild turkeys and beautiful peacocks. They are all over this beautiful mountain course. Please enjoy the photos of both.

Seen almost everything this gator was at Caledonia last year must have deleted all the other pictures I had, coolest thing 2 of us seen was at Barefoot I think the Love course was on a par 3 with water on the right side waiting to tee off and an eagle swooped down and snagged a fish out of the water,seen a gator get a stork at Heritage and funniest thing was in Amherst Mass my buddy hitting his 2nd shot over water and a bunch of geese were startled on his back swing he popped one in the butt the goose was fine but the stork and fish didn't make out as well

Playing in Cancun and the cart guy asked me if I wanted to take a picture with "Homer" in the background .

All of the crocs are named after Simpson character names and they are all over the course ( Marge , Lisa , Bart , etc... )

Oh how I wish I had a picture to share....while teeing off on a par 4 that ran alongside a pond, an alligator was enjoying some morning sun. Because he was a good 75 yards from us, we were not concerned that he would impact our game. However, for some reason my friend topped the ball sending it bouncing down the rough into the side of the alligator. That’s when the alligator’s head suddenly lurched, spinning around and caught the ball in mid air! (We still wonder if if it was a stroke penalty for lost ball.)

Lets just say my very first time golfing didnt end well for a seagull that landed on the green during my backswing from the fairway. I never saw the seagull and the seagull never saw the ball, but only one of us survived that round of golf.

This 12 foot alligator possesses excellent golf etiquette. He stood quietly at the edge of the green until we putted out. He then crossed the green and went about his business.

Any Bigfoot sightings?

On the courses, I have played, I have seen
Birds in general, cranes, ducks geese, eagles, and falcons.
Alligators, snakes, copperheads, rattlesnakes, lizards, spiders, and I mean arachnophobia type, giant spider.
Deer, mooses on northern Michigan, coyotes wolves, foxes, and of course squirrels, a couple of dogs, and some cats.

Typical stuff at the local course include deer, hawks, squirrels, beavers, turtles, and the like. More of the interesting animals have come while traveling. The picture attached was at TPC Las Vegas, a coyote caught a desert hare on the left side of the fairway as we were coming up the hole. He then decided to cross to the other side as I approached my ball, then started to have his snack. I didn't really want to get closer.

Myrtle Beach, had raccoon squirrels constantly try to steal my food, those little suckers have no shame. At TPC Myrtle Beach, playing with some fellow TT members, Gary, Bob, and Chuck, Gary had a little too close encounter with a small gator on the 18th green. Thankfully, no one including the gator were hurt, but certainly both were startled quite a bit.

Yes, we do invade the natural habitats of these various beautiful creatures. And we should always remember that they are wild animals. Alligators are faster than you can imagine and yet people stop close by to have a picture taken. Over the past two years in Hilton Head two people have been killed by alligators by venturing off the walking paths and being attacked by these speedy unpredictable giant lizards of the lowcountry. We enjoy photographing them and have even seen the pros taking practice shots from the tees to see who could hit them in the water at the PGA Championship. Nature provides us with many wonderful sights while we are playing the great game but be respectful of it's creatures. One of our cart girls got too close to a juvenile red tail hawk one afternoon and yes, mom took offense to it. She attacked from overhead with pinpoint accuracy, hit the cart girl in the head and face area sending her to the hospital. As to seeing wild pigs the area, run. They are mean critters. Run. And the damage they can do to the area is massive. Deer taken at Pacific Grove Golf Course, in the Monterey/Carmel area of California. Typical of the lazy sunning gators at Oyster Reef Golf Course in the Hilton Head, with a fellow TT member a few years ago. Have always been told, they are there to look at from a distance.

Guess the pix did not take.....my bad....

First day of men’s league this year we had this guy coiled up on the 14th green and bound and determined he wasn’t moving till we prodded him along.

Nothing as exotic over here in the UK - dogs, cats, foxes (one at West Derby that liked pork pies!!), sheep, cows & birds... Remember a remote course in Scotland with fences around the greens to keep the sheep off!
Saw a snake (it was brown - I won't lie, I didn't get close) for the first time on the second hole at Salgardos in Portugal last month but nothing like the zoology above....
At one stage I thought I'd switched to the National Geographic website.
JT

We recently had an issue at our club with a fox that steal golf balls from the fairway! Luckily he never got one of my golf balls, but he stole quiet a few. Link the article below.

clubandresortbusiness.com/.../