Golfer Loses Arm in Alligator Attack

Fox Sports is reporting a 77-year-old golfer lost his arm in an alligator attack on the golf course in Fripp Island, South Carolina. While on the course, the elderly golfer went to pick up a ball when an alligator sprung out of a nearby lagoon, pulling him into the water, and engaging him in death rolls.

Officials quickly captured and killed the alligator, gutting his stomach to retrieve the arm, putting it in a cooler to try and save it, but efforts to re-attach his arm were unsuccessful.

The unidentified golfer was playing at Fripp Island Resort's Ocean Creek Golf Course, which according to its website, was designed by pro golfer's Davis Love III and Paul Cowley. The website describes the alligator situation as an attraction, not a warning, urging golfers to take their camera along. "You may even catch a glimpse of a few alligators patrolling the lagoons or basking in the sun," states the Ocean Creek Golf Course website.

This news story may sound familiar to fans of Adam Sandler, whose golfing movie, Happy Gilmore, featured a character whose arm was bit off by an alligator. Chubbs Peterson, played by Carl Weathers, is an ex-golf pro whose golf career came to a screeching halt when an alligator jumped out of a course watering hole and snatched his hand. Chubbs works as a mentor to Sandler's Happy Gilmore, but is constantly tormented by the notion of the alligator returning for his other arm.

The familiarity of the story to the biography of Chubbs Peterson is making the story a popular one on the internet.

Alligator attacks on the golf course are pretty rare. A popular urban legend about a 1998 allegation that a crocodile devouring a golfer on the course has been debunked by Snopes, the urban legend website. The American crocodile isn't as much of a man eater as crocodiles from other continents, so it's likely the elderly golfer had just gotten too close to the alligator, and it was self-defense.

According to the Island Packet, the golf course alligators are a common part of the landscape of Ocean Creek Golf Course lagoons, but they were never aggressive before today. Playing a ball near the lagoon is a slight risk for golfer on that course. Officials say it was possible the alligator was fed by golfers in the past, which may have removed its apprehension towards approaching humans.

Sources:
Fox Sports, "77-year-old golfer loses arm in alligator attack"
Fripp Island Resort Golf
Snopes, "Crocodile Eats Golfer"
The Island Packet, "Alligator sightings on Fripp Island"