Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Just in case my younger readers/golfers don’t know where that quote comes from, I will only say, “Follow the yellow brick road,” and you will be amazed and entertained by the original (1939) movie, The Wizard of Oz.

Over my years of playing golf at over 50 courses from Georgia to Pennsylvania I haven’t seen any lions, tigers, bears or flying monkeys, but I have encountered some “wildlife” along the way. In Georgia, while looking for my lost ball in a wooded area, I almost stepped on a six foot black snake. In North Carolina, I have played through Canadian geese on the fairway and greens.

In Maryland, I have battled crows on the fairway; they’ll fly into your golf cart and try to steal your food. In Delaware and Pennsylvania, I have encountered numerous deer and a rabid fox roaming the fairways.

But my most exciting adventure came in Virginia, where a sign hanging on a fence near the green at the end of a long par five read, “Beware of the bull, retrieve balls at your own risk.” (Let’s just say he didn’t like my third shot, which I hooked into his pasture with a five wood from 200 yards away.)

But thankfully (knock on wood), I have never been bitten or gored by an animal or reptile while playing golf. And I’m proud to say that none of these encounters have stopped me from shooting my usual 92 from the white tees on any course.

So with animals and reptiles now firmly embedded in your golf psyche, I will relate some additional animal/golf stories from around the world.

Story Number One: Double Trouble. I use a Cobra driver, but this story involves the real deal. At the Singapore Open in 1972, golfer Jimmy Stewart hit a tee shot into the rough on the third hole. As he approached his ball, a ten-foot-long cobra slithered out of the brush and coiled near his ball. Undeterred, Stewart took his club and killed the snake, but another emerged from the bush and he killed that one also. (No penalty strokes were assessed.)

Story Number Two: A Birdie in the Hand. August 12, 1975 was a memorable day for eleven year old Willie Fraser from Kingussie, Scotland. It was opening day for the highly anticipated start of grouse season and Willie was the first to bag a grouse. Young Willie didn’t need a shotgun to kill the first grouse of the hunting season; he did it with his driver when he hit his opening drive into a flock of grouse on the fairway. (I have heard that grouse taste like chicken.)

Story Number Three: Home on the Range. Avid golfer and veterinarian Allen Vendros from Merriam Kansas was playing golf at the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs when he noticed a buffalo in distressed labor in an adjacent field. He left his foursome and quickly climbed over the fence to help the mother give birth. He then cleaned the newborn calf, climbed back over the fence and finished his golf round. (Later in the club house, “no discouraging words were heard.”)

Story Number Four: Something Fishy. It is hard to believe, but golfer Dave Hickler combined his two loves, fishing and golf, into one sports outing.  While on vacation in Bangkok and playing a round at the Bangkok Country Club, he hit a high tee shot toward the par three, seventeenth green, where his ball hit the edge of the water hazard and bounced onto the bank. When he arrived to hit his second shot, he found a 12-inch carp floating next to his ball - it had been stuck by that high tee shot. (I have heard that carp taste like chicken.)

19 Hole Trivia:

• Japanese golfer Takaaki Kono won the 1972 Singapore Open.

• This fall I will be playing golf at Pawley’s Plantation, South Carolina, where alligators lurk in the water hazards. It will be my first encounter with ‘gators, so wish me luck. (I have heard alligators think people taste like chicken.)

• In 1939, The Wizard of Oz grossed $16.5 million.