This is every golfer’s worst nightmare.
Growing up playing golf in upstate South Carolina, it’s never an issue trying to reach into a pond to retrieve a rogue golf ball you just hit into the water, in an effort to save that $5 you nearly threw away because of a garbage golf shot.
However, it’s a different story playing golf down at the coast, because the ponds down there are chock full of alligators, just ready to rip off an arm or leg if you try to enter their domain.
Unfortunately, this tragically happened to a man in Myrtle Beach, SC, where an 11-foot alligator decided to take a victim to his death at the Myrtle Beach Golf and Yacht Club Horry County in the residential area of the club.
According to MYHorryNews, the Horry County Police Department responded to a call at 11:45 AM to recover the victim.
Spokeswoman Mikayla Moskov told the outlet:
“Upon arrival, units determined that an alligator had taken hold of a neighbor and retreated into a nearby retention pond.”
She also added that the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources captured and put down the massive gator.
According to the Horry County Police Department Facebook page, the man was mowing his lawn around the pond, when the alligator made the attack.
Neighbor Jason Repak had recently taken pictures of three large gators living in the pond, and told the outlet:
“They are 12 to 14-foot alligators. They are big. We’ve never gone anywhere close to them. When we walk the dogs near the pond,… we don’t walk them on that bank because you just don’t know where they’re lurking.”
He also added about the death of his neighbor:
“It’s absolutely horrible. As far as I know, most neighbors have always treated the alligators with a healthy respect and almost like part of the community. This is just a tragedy that nobody would have expected.”
According to Field & Stream, there’s an estimated 100,000 alligators native to South Carolina.
The University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory notes on their website:
“You are more likely to get struck by lightning or win the lottery than you are to be seriously injured by an alligator. In South Carolina, only 13 alligator bites have been recorded since 1948, two of which resulted in fatalities.”
