Earlier this week Dick Huber was hitting the sticks at Myakka Pines Golf Club in Englewood, Florida (Sarasota County) and he stuck his approach shot on #7 right next to the flag. Then upon arriving up to the hole he found this big ass gator sitting next to his ball and took these pictures that have since gone viral.
First posted on the Myakka Pines Golf Club Facebook Page, these pictures of that big ass alligator squatting next to his incredible approach shot have since been picked up by news sources all over the nation, from WPTV to The Blaze, and as these pics were taken from the tiny corner of the world in which I was born and raised I felt the need to chip in my two cents. Here are the pics:
I first came across these pics from my fellow BroBible editor Douglas Charles when he IM’d me the link with the caption “That’ll make you give up golf.” Upon clicking on it I realized not only have I played that golf course before, I don’t find it strange at all that there would be an alligator sitting on the green, and I CERTAINLY wouldn’t consider giving up golf based on seeing a big ass gator going all ‘Happy Gilmore’ on my ball.
And while I could definitely see why a sight like this would be jarring to someone who isn’t used to seeing gators everywhere, to me it really is just an every day occurrence. Growing up my dad worked at a golf course that had ‘Gator’ in the name, and the lakes on the course were littered with alligators. You’d see see one every other hole and wouldn’t think twice about it. In H.S. my campus was set up so all the hallways were outdoors, and I shit you not we once found an alligator (a juvenile, about 5ft head to tail) walking down the hallways of our high school between classes.
Just two months ago when I was down in Sarasota prior to my wedding I played that aforementioned course from my childhood and we snapped these pics:
I’m not trying to make this into a pissing contest at all, I’m just trying to illustrate that I cannot begin to fathom the thought of being freaked out from seeing gators all over the golf course. Those pics above were taken in the course of two rounds in under 48-hours. Down in that part of Florida it’s just a facet of every day life on the golf course.
SBNation just tweeted that pic of the gator next to the ball with the caption ‘On a scale of 1 to 10, how terrifying is this golf course gator?”…and I just don’t get it. Contrary to popular belief: Gators are not terrifying, and they are not out to get you.
Though if that chubby gator was sitting that close to my ball and the hold I’d likely make a shitton of noise to scare it off before even considering approaching him.
P.s., these are the front nine flags at the golf course I keep talking about that I used to play all the time growing up. On the front nine you’ve got the chick bent over with her top hanging out, on the back nine you’ve got the reverse view: