Of the ten international golf courses listed by the British newspaper, four are located in the United States. Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, S.C., Prison View Golf Course at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Furnace Creek Golf Course in Death Valley, Calif., and Kingsboro Golf Course in New York represent the U.S. in the list, with dangers ranging from stubborn alligators to soaring temperatures to freak accidents.
British newspaper The Independent has published a list of the world’s ten deadliest golf courses, four of which are located in the United States.
The first golf course listed is Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, S.C., based on an incident in which Kip Henley, a caddy for Brian Gay at the RBC Heritage Tournament in 2012, happened upon a six-foot-long alligator while retrieving a ball stuck in the mud. Henley called to another caddy, Scott Tway, and the two hit the animal with a rake until it left, The Independent reported.
Fourth on the list is Prison View Golf Course at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Located on the grounds of the maximum security prison that was the inspiration for The Green Mile, with three-quarters of the inmates on Death Row or serving life sentences, inmates are not allowed to play, though they built and manage the course. The tee markers are in the shape of handcuffs, welded shut.
Next on the list is Furnace Creek Golf Course in Death Valley, Calif. The 18-hole course is the lowest in the world, and the temperature can climb as high as 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Furnace Creek staged the Heatstroke Open in 2011, where 48 competitors faced the course at 115 degrees Fahrenheit (they all survived).
A freak accident landed Kingsboro Golf Course in Gloversville, N.Y., on the list when 16-year-old Jeremy T. Brenno was so frustrated after missing a shot at the sixth hole that he hit a bench with his club back in 1994. The shaft broke, bounced back, and pierced his heart, killing him.
As a bonus on the list, The Independent reported that in 1982, Naval Lieutenant George M. Prior fell mysteriously ill after playing 36 holes at Arlington, Va.’s Army Navy Country Club. Ten days later, he died in the hospital with eighty percent of his skin burned and major organ failure. The cause? He had an allergic reaction to the pesticide used on the greens—which he had swallowed due to his habit of keeping his tees in his mouth.
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