Strangest Animal Encounters

[oubravs2b]

I got chased across the green by a momma goose after my ball came to lie next to its nest near a pond. My buddies were literally rolling on the ground laughing as this goose is honking and flying at me with its 5 foot wing-span.

Never did retrieve the ball...

[lukesmurf59]

A club I play a lot is next to a nature reserve, one of the larger attractions is the wild turkeys. Darn things are always on the 18th hole. Once I was helping out w/ a junior clinic and the kids saw one. We promised to chase on down if they focused and listened. The next weekend I'm on the 16 tee and there's this monster one (I'm talking like 4ft tall, a large turkey) standing right at the beginning of the fairway. I chipped a few near him (not to hit him) to try to make him move but he gave me a glare like Ben Hogan. Still wouldn't move. Eventually was like well, I'm a fast guy and I have golf clubs. I can either outrun or fend off a turkey. Got close enough to poke it w/ my sandwedge and he still wouldn't move! (I realize it was stupid to go and poke it but hey, how many times are you that close to a wild turkey that large?) The next group drove their cart to within a foot of him and that got him to waddle towards the woods for like 10ft before stopping and going right back to the middle of the knoll in front of the fairway. After about 20min he went back to the woods. Weird.
On the same course (which had been having some goose problems lately) I had another strange experience. First of all let me say if there are any Canadians reading these forums please, take back your geese! They are not welcome here! I will personally pay the shipping to remove every Canadian goose from the golf courses of America. Furthermore, if there are any Canadian geese reading these forums, please GTFO!! Stop pooping all over the fairways!! Go back to friggin' Canada!! But I digress. So to combat the goose problem this course put fake coyotes on a few of the holes. Pretty realistic too, especially in the wind when it looked like they moved. Well we didn't know about this and we get on the 8th teebox and my old high school coach sees the thing and goes "Holy $#!%. Watch out" and starts throwing tees at it, even takes my ball and tosses it right at the things head. (He's goofy but awesome) Then we start to wonder, wait, is that real? Eventually we figured it out but that was a pretty hilarious scene. I guess the strangest encounter I've had with a fake animal.

[avenali312]

[quote name='lukesmurf59' timestamp='1330396850' post='4392415']......"Holy $#!%. Watch out" and starts throwing tees at it...[/quote]

This was my favorite part haha.

[Kadin 25]

One time we had a Chicken Hawk perched on the T-box marker eating a squirrel. Looked like a murder scene lol. Blood and guts all over.

[Snufles]

A club I play a lot is next to a nature reserve, one of the larger attractions is the wild turkeys. Darn things are always on the 18th hole. Once I was helping out w/ a junior clinic and the kids saw one. We promised to chase on down if they focused and listened. The next weekend I'm on the 16 tee and there's this monster one (I'm talking like 4ft tall, a large turkey) standing right at the beginning of the fairway. I chipped a few near him (not to hit him) to try to make him move but he gave me a glare like Ben Hogan. Still wouldn't move. Eventually was like well, I'm a fast guy and I have golf clubs. I can either outrun or fend off a turkey. Got close enough to poke it w/ my sandwedge and he still wouldn't move! (I realize it was stupid to go and poke it but hey, how many times are you that close to a wild turkey that large?) The next group drove their cart to within a foot of him and that got him to waddle towards the woods for like 10ft before stopping and going right back to the middle of the knoll in front of the fairway. After about 20min he went back to the woods. Weird.

On the same course (which had been having some goose problems lately) I had another strange experience. First of all let me say if there are any Canadians reading these forums please, take back your geese! They are not welcome here! I will personally pay the shipping to remove every Canadian goose from the golf courses of America. Furthermore, if there are any Canadian geese reading these forums, please GTFO!! Stop pooping all over the fairways!! Go back to friggin' Canada!! But I digress. So to combat the goose problem this course put fake coyotes on a few of the holes. Pretty realistic too, especially in the wind when it looked like they moved. Well we didn't know about this and we get on the 8th teebox and my old high school coach sees the thing and goes "Holy $#!%. Watch out" and starts throwing tees at it, even takes my ball and tosses it right at the things head. (He's goofy but awesome) Then we start to wonder, wait, is that real? Eventually we figured it out but that was a pretty hilarious scene. I guess the strangest encounter I've had with a fake animal.

 

Good to hear our unmanned drones working as intended. It is our way of messing with your year round golfing, we get winter and you get the Goose.

[dpb5031]

My buddy struck a beautiful wood pecker in mid flight, killing it instantly, a few weeks ago in the Dominican Republic (Cap Cana).

[lukesmurf59]

A club I play a lot is next to a nature reserve, one of the larger attractions is the wild turkeys. Darn things are always on the 18th hole. Once I was helping out w/ a junior clinic and the kids saw one. We promised to chase on down if they focused and listened. The next weekend I'm on the 16 tee and there's this monster one (I'm talking like 4ft tall, a large turkey) standing right at the beginning of the fairway. I chipped a few near him (not to hit him) to try to make him move but he gave me a glare like Ben Hogan. Still wouldn't move. Eventually was like well, I'm a fast guy and I have golf clubs. I can either outrun or fend off a turkey. Got close enough to poke it w/ my sandwedge and he still wouldn't move! (I realize it was stupid to go and poke it but hey, how many times are you that close to a wild turkey that large?) The next group drove their cart to within a foot of him and that got him to waddle towards the woods for like 10ft before stopping and going right back to the middle of the knoll in front of the fairway. After about 20min he went back to the woods. Weird.

On the same course (which had been having some goose problems lately) I had another strange experience. First of all let me say if there are any Canadians reading these forums please, take back your geese! They are not welcome here! I will personally pay the shipping to remove every Canadian goose from the golf courses of America. Furthermore, if there are any Canadian geese reading these forums, please GTFO!! Stop pooping all over the fairways!! Go back to friggin' Canada!! But I digress. So to combat the goose problem this course put fake coyotes on a few of the holes. Pretty realistic too, especially in the wind when it looked like they moved. Well we didn't know about this and we get on the 8th teebox and my old high school coach sees the thing and goes "Holy $#!%. Watch out" and starts throwing tees at it, even takes my ball and tosses it right at the things head. (He's goofy but awesome) Then we start to wonder, wait, is that real? Eventually we figured it out but that was a pretty hilarious scene. I guess the strangest encounter I've had with a fake animal.

 

Good to hear our unmanned drones working as intended. It is our way of messing with your year round golfing, we get winter and you get the Goose.

 

You've figured it out! Quite the revenge technique. Would be a good war technique. Worse than dropping bombs, just airmail several thousand Canadian geese into the opposing nation. Society would crumble.

[Stretch]

Dispatched a guineafowl with a golf ball on the range the other day (quite by chance -- I probably couldn't hit an ostrich on purpose!) The attendant offered to retrieve and dress it for R20 ($3).

 

 

Like a lot of game birds, they're quite tough so you either have to braise them or prep quite thoroughly. In this case, marinated the ugly bugger in red wine and Coca-Cola for a couple of days then roasted him with potatoes, onions, garlic and butternut and washed it all down with a couple of appropriate bottles.

 

 

 

It's a rough life in Africa!

[BigDave11]

Like the rest of south Florida golfers, I'm used to encountering many different kinds of birds, ducks, turtles, snakes, gators and the occasional deer. But I was playing Auburn Links at Mill Creek in Auburn, AL last year. I hit my drive in the right rough on the 17th hole. There are houses on that side of the fairway. As i was approaching my ball I saw a big black rottweiler eyeing my ball. When I saw him, he took off running for the ball and got to it before I did. He scooped it up in his mouth and started running around. After ten minutes of chasing him around I gave up.

I really only wanted the ball so he didn't choke on the thing. But after a while I could he had no intention of trying to swallow it.

[spike1212]

[attachment=1053813:Horses on 11.jpg]

[Goldenhawk]

An emu. Some years ago a group of emus jumped the fence at the Reston Family Zoo and were running around Reston.

[Medic]

[quote name='spike1212' timestamp='1330865494' post='4431325']
[attachment=1053813:Horses on 11.jpg]
[/quote]

Incredible pic. Worthy of a calendar in my humble!

[MizzyBYU24]

We've got chipmunks on the course, stray cats, and it's built into the marshlands, so there's also the occasional snake, frogs, of course fish in all the ponds, geese, and deer. Had one chipmunk steal my ball! Other than that I've been pretty lucky. Except for looking like the Pebble Beach Geese Chasing Dog

[armydiver]

Wild boars and mongoose are pretty common on some courses here in Hawaii and they are not shy around humans. My buddy had some french fries stolen out of his cart by a mongoose I also played a few times when I was stationed in Panama and saw sloths, coati, and the occasional boa constrictor. In Florida, my friends and I witnessed in one round: deer, gators, bald eagles, armadillo, and a mamma racoon along with her babies. Part of the reason I love the game is being out with nature.

[MaybeImLeftHanded]

I was on #8 at the Cape Breton Highland Links when I was probably 17 with 3 of my buddies. I was just getting ready to hit my approach shot from the left side of the fairway (in my head its fairway, in reality it was probably rough ha) when one of my buddies yells at me, "Moose behind you!". Being the jackass' they were I assumed they were joking but turned to look anyway and sure enough there was a full grown moose trotting right down the fairway directly at me.

 

The hole is kinda bowl shaped so I scurried up the side to the woods and he changed direction towards two of my buddies on the other side of the fairway and further up. They took off for the woods as well and yet again the moose changes direction and trots right across the green leaving about 5" tracks in it and heads off into the woods. Being a country boy I was crapping my pants but my friends had no clue how close they came to being maimed. My buddy chipped into one of those prints too lol, he was not happy.

 

The hole:

 

[zala19]

Having lived a number of years in Northern Sweden I´ve had a few memorable encounters..

Reindeer grazing on fairways and sleeping in bunkers a few times. More annoying than anything cause reindeer don´t give a crap about anything and won´t move or be moved by anyone - you stand there waving your arms and hollering and they just stare at you like some confusing math problem.

Had a fox steal my ball off the first fairway at a local competition, kinda set the tone for that outing....

Most memorable one was when I played at Norrmjöle GC just south of Umeå, on the 16th hole - a short par 4 360yd with a 90dgr left dogleg over a pond, we heard a few splashes as we were teeing off but thought nothing of it. as I come up to my ball I look out over the pond - maybe 30yds away - and there is a huge moose bathing in the pond , antlers and all ! To make things worse he is right in my line for the green and I am not skipping this hole or taking an illegal drop for this furry bastxxx so here goes.. I tell my partner to keep an eye on him as I slowly set up at the ball and prepare for my shot.. At this point all I am thinking is " don´t skull the ball and hit that monster for f´s sake"- if I do he will either get really "upset" and probably charge out of the water to literally kick my a**, or I will knock him out cold - in which case me and my partner will have to try dragging a 800Ibs unconscious moose out of a pond...neither is a good option. Anyhoo I chunk the ball and clear both the moose and the pond ending up on the fringe of the green and as I turn around to watch my buddy take his shot the moose slowly walks out of the pond and into the forest on the side of the fairway clearly unimpressed by my wedgeshot.

[bafana87]

I used to see plenty of impalas when I was growing up in South Africa at Goldfields West, and 2 zebras would always be there as well, but only on 1 and 9, for some reason.

I've heard about the lion kills near Kruger as well, I believe there was one near Sabie River Sun years ago, which made the cover of the scorecard for a while.

Plenty of hippos and crocodiles all over Sun City and Lost City courses. Usually the hippos roam the course at night. The 13th hole, I think, at Lost City has a pit, 6 feet deep, that is shaped like Africa. Several monster crocs can be found. I always carried cheap golf balls and threw them at the crocs when I was younger, but they just bounce off like a ball would off concrete.

In North Carolina it's no surprise that you'll run into a fox everyone now and again.

[amaeyzing]

Kangaroos, cockatoos and Galahs while golfing in Australia

Mongooses, rate snakes and Cobras while golfing in India . Oh, and had a crow steal my ball and leave it in a tree, made for an interesting ruling on score....

Turtles/snakes while golfing in the US

[nole149]

I've encountered a hedgehog on the course...first and only time I've seen one in person.

[bnied8]

I worked at osprey, I saw a deer get taken down by a 3 legged gator. probably the most intense first hand experience I've ever had. My brother also hit a whooping crane with a ball, the thing jumped up flipped in it's back and made the worst sound I've ever heard. like a raptor dying in jurassic park.

[verderraul]

Last year at my local muni (Darlington Golf Course) hole number 13 (little dog leg right) . thick bushes on the right. Always wet, moist down there. Hit my ball to the edge (not in the bushes) . Guys playing with me were slow.......so as i am standing at my ball waiting for them. I saw some brand new balls deep in the bush....all stacked close to each other. I was hoping for them to be ProVs And they were.

I took my 3 iron and started dragging the balls towards me one after another. The first one took me about a 15 seconds....so i figured i will just try and push the whole stack towards me. So i gave it a shot. They felt heavy ... but i wasn't letting those ProVs go so easy. I had pushed the stack about 5 inches towards me that i saw the snake that was coiled around the stack.

I quietly stepped back and walked onto the fairway. Why didn't i get attacked is beyond me.

[MaitriMike]

While playing a course in NJ.... I ran into this....

 

 

It's called a snooki.. and wanted to smoosh... So scary! HAHA.

 

On a serious note, you guys are a daring crowd, especially running into all these animals. Amazing. The most odd animal is frogs on a course in Long Island, New York. There were all by the water and one actually died and was dried up on the green Par 3.... My friend picked it up with his putter and tried to throw it at me. The bastxxx...

[Supra GTR]

Well I played today, and am in southern Alabama. I was hoping to see an alligator while golfing on my trip. Sure enough, i was on the 18 hole (Kiva Dunes) and they bunker is literally a small beach. Behold, an alligator sun bathing right on the water line. Very neat. It was a pretty big gator too.

[that70sshow]

I live in Alaska so we have some interesting wildlife. I've seen several black bears including moms with cubs. Lots of moose. They wreak havoc on the greens. There's a salmon stream on one of our courses so you see the eagles dropping down for dinner. Foxes geese. The craziest one I've encountered was a wolf. I was putting and he just strolls up to about 10 yards away. He didn't look like he was gonna stop so I raised my putter up and he took off. Kinda scary

[mogc60]

My dad and I were playing Rio Rico in Southern AZ, and we had a Wild Boar go charging down the fairway. If you've never seen one of those, they are pretty scary. They are so loud with their breathing and they look like a huge, ugly muscle. (or similar to Zubacks forehead). The marshall came by and asked if we'd seen the Boar. We said we had and I think he was trying to sell us on the ambiance of his facilty when he said," You should see the Rattlers we get in the summer!" My dad replied," Really, what month, we'll be sure to come back and take a look at them!" We still laugh about that one all the time.

[Arizonalefty59]

Gila Monster up at troon north in scottsdale

[SparkyC]

[quote name='NPVWhiz' timestamp='1320454660' post='3760967']
While I was playing Torrey Pines back in 1999 or 2000, we were on one of the back nine greens on the North Course and a coyote loped up from nowhere.

He sort of looked at us for a second, then slowly walked over to the other side of the green..maybe 20 yards away from us, and without ever looking away from us, took the longest leak that I've ever seen an animal take.

He must have had a bladder the size of a milk jug. He was clearly letting us know that this was his territory, but just in case we were thinking about marking it, he was going to give it a quality marking. He finally finished, took brief look about then trotted on away.

Other than that, deer, snakes of all types, foxes (one of which used to steal balls on one of the holes at Sharon Woods back in the late 80s). I met a whole family...village...army of yellow jackets at a local course five or six years ago.
[/quote]

I play a lot at Torrey and have seen families of Coyotes, the pups are so freakin cute. Also seen lots of predation out there, hawks on rattlesnakes, hawks on bunnies and squirrels, and coyotes on rabbits. Have also seen aerial battles with hawks and blackbirds that were just epic.

[bepo]

Theres a roadrunner that lives on the side of the driving range, he'll run across the grass tees to the other side and usually comes back with a lizard in his mouth. I've also seen plenty of coyotes just hanging out down the driving range. I'm waiting for the day both the roadrunner and a coyote are out there at the same time, hopefully the coyote has a pair of roller blades with an ACME rocket strapped on his back.

[yoshiod9]

Saw my first roadrunner last year when a bunch of the Byron Morgan guys got together to golf and shoot the breeze (and watch Byron make some putters!).

I also happened to save a ground squirrel's life that same round @Black Gold GC-- I pulled a shot left into the rough (almost onto the side of a hill with cactus and stuff) and when I went to take my stance, I heard a loud rustling noise in the brush behind me. After a second or two of seeing the brush move about, I heard a loud SQUEAK and saw a ground squirrel sprinting away. I figured that a rattler must have gotten close to getting him and went back to address my ball. As I got back into my address, I heard a few muffled squeaks, so I looked back into the brush and saw a constrictor of some sort (I'm assuming it was a Northern 3-Lined Boa) wrapped around a ground squirrel.

Now, normally, I wouldn't do anything. It's the circle of life, right? However, as I looked over, I saw the squirrel look up at me and we made eye contact and I decided that I needed to help him out. I mean, we're both mammals, right? Haha. So I kinda knocked the snake a few times with a club until it let go. The squirrel scampered away (to be eaten another day, I'm sure) and I felt better about my horrible round of golf.

[InspiredTP]

Maybe not strange, but cool. A few weeks ago I was playing as a marker in one of our member events and alongside the fairway on the par 4 9th, our caddie spotted some herons walking in a line....6 of them. He was intrigued and went to the other side of the bush they walked behind and saw the reason for the parade, the 6 were all following a 7th, who had a bass of about 2-3 lbs. skewered in his bill. The mooches were waiting for him to stop and start eating so they could join in.

On the scary side, one of my old mans golfing buddies likes to fish at his course, so when there's a bit of a backup, he pulls out his rod and casts for a few minutes to pass the time. One day he caught something, and after reeling it in, he reached down to pull it from the water and a gator surfaces and takes the fishes body clean out of his hand. Before he could even move he said there was nothing but a fish head in his hand. Promptly went to the locker room for a change of underwire I'm sure...