Spring often means it’s time to upgrade your golf clubs, return to the driving range or hit the local muni for the first round of the season.
It also signals the emergence of alligators on golf courses throughout the Southeast as mating season approaches.
In the latest chapter of Golfweek’s Alligator Chronicles, a “monster” decided to play through a group of golfers in Savannah, Ga., Sunday.
The alligator, which appeared to be about 9 or 10 feet long, broke up a group that included Ed Vance, who caught the gator’s stoll on video on the 17th green at The Club at Savannah Harbor around 5 p.m.
This gator kept his cool and flopped near the hole to enjoy some of the sun and warmth that is vital to its survival.
The golfers, not so much.
The PG-13 rated video was uploaded to Facebook by Vance and an edited-for-work version was shared on the website of the Island Packet of Hilton Head, S.C. Vance told the newspaper that he was preparing to “chip up” to the green when he and his group heard a noise coming from the brush line.
“We all looked at each other and were asking what is that noise,” Vance told the newspaper. “At first, I thought it was the maintenance crew on the other side of the brush cutting it back or something. “
Then the gigantic prehistoric beast, whose species’ roots go back 200 million years, rumbled through the brush and strode onto the green. One of the golfers is seen in the video retrieving his putter on the far side of the hole.
“That is nuts,” Vance is heard saying in the video. “Dude, that’s a monster.”
Vance said he and those in his group could the hear the “thud” created by the gator as it moved.
“I will always remember the sound of his feet when he was walking on the green,” he said. “The video doesn’t pick it up, but the ‘thud, thud, thud’ sound was what you would think a dinosaur sounds like. It was surreal.”
