iStockphoto / LagunaticPhoto
The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is among the most famous golf courses in America and golfers fork over an arm and a leg to play it with tee times going for $600 per golfer. With that, golfers get the chance to play the same course which has hosted PGA Championships won by Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson, and it will host again in 2031, but Kiaway golfers also get to cross paths with prehistoric alligators.
I’m a born-and-raised Floridian. Alligators don’t phase me. I see gators quite literally every day as there is either one in the lake in my backyard or if it’s not there it’s in the pond across the street and I pass it while walking my dog. And I’ve seen some MASSIVE alligators in Florida, don’t get me wrong, it’s just rare to see anything as large as this alligator walking across the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.
The viral video below was shared by @Top100Rick aka ‘Rick Golfs’ who maintains a very popular list of the ‘Top 100 Courses’ across America. He says a friend shared this video of the Kiawah Island alligator walking across the Ocean Course right in front of them like it owned the place.
Insane crocodile at the Kiawah Ocean Course! Props to the cameraman for getting close.
For a $600 green fee, you not only get to shoot a 103, but you get to meet this specimen!
My buddy sent me this. They literally walked right by him and then he crossed over the tee box… pic.twitter.com/YDaCAcQ63k
— Rick Golfs (@Top100Rick) April 2, 2025
Many have pointed out that he mistakenly called the animal a ‘crocodile’ and crocodiles only exist in the United States in South Florida, most certainly not in South Carolina. This true. It is an alligator. But you can look at the snout to see that.
As a Floridian, it is a little comical how many times over the years I’ve written about alligators in South Carolina in and around the Kiawah Island area. But over the years I’ve come to realize that the ‘low country’ is home to some of the largest alligators in the country. Whatever they’re putting in the water there (small sharks, redfish, turtles, etc) is keeping those gators nice and plump.
That alligator above reminded me of another one from nearby Fripp Island, just a little south down the coast, that is (was?) locally known as ‘General Sherman’ due to its massive size:
A 12-foot-long alligator was spotted crossing hole #4 at the Ocean Point Golf Links at Fripp Island–making its way to a nearby pond pic.twitter.com/tYKKhj4HyA
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) June 4, 2017
The Kiawah Island alligators will bite too, if provoked. A woman was killed by an alligator a handful of years ago when she tried to pet the gator while visiting a friend on Kiawah.