Giant Florida Alligator Cruises Through Golf Course [Video]


Golfers in Palmetto, Florida, got quite an eyeful over the weekend when a giant Florida alligator strolled across the fairway at Buffalo Creek Golf Course. The alligator was massive, and one golfer captured the close encounter of the Jurassic kind on cellphone video. Charles Helms recorded the video of the Florida alligator that has since gone viral. Check it out.

As Fox 13 Now reports, you can hear Helms talking to other golfers as he records the video of the giant Florida alligator.

“That is the biggest freaking alligator I’ve ever seen in my life! Have you ever seen anything that big?”

“No! Never!”

“That is a monster!”

As you can see in the viral video, the alligator was indeed a monster – at least in size. In disposition, the giant Florida alligator seemed pretty indifferent and even passive as it made its way across the golf course. It didn’t even try to approach the spectators. In all likelihood, the giant alligator didn’t feel threatened by something as relatively puny as a few humans knocking around golf balls and holding cell phones.

NBC News reports that the giant Florida alligator is estimated to have been roughly 14 to 15 feet in length, which is pretty big for an American alligator. On average, a male will only grow to just over 11 feet in length, and females tend to be a bit smaller. One of the bystanders in the viral video can be heard joking about the size of the giant alligator as it walks by, presumably headed to a lake on the course.

“You ever see anything that big? I think that’s two guys in an alligator suit.”

According to Helms, who shot the viral video of the alligator, he figured out right away that the gator didn’t seem to want to interact with any of the people on the course. He said that when it comes to alligators in Florida, “people really aren’t on the menu.” Helms added that the rule only applies if you don’t “bother” the alligators and that people should definitely refrain from cornering the reptiles.

While the video of the giant alligator at the Florida golf course just went viral over the weekend, it turns out that the gator itself is well known at the course. He’s so popular and shows up so commonly, in fact, that it’s not uncommon for golfers to snap his picture and even bring guests along to get in on the action.

Wendy Schofield, a pro shop clerk at the course, said that alligator is kind of the course’s unofficial mascot.

“He doesn’t bother anybody and they don’t bother him. He’s like a mascot for the course, which is owned by Manatee County.”

Even though the giant alligator at Florida’s Buffalo Creek Golf Course is getting a lot of attention this week, he’s apparently not the only massive gator that regularly hangs out at a Florida golf course. According to reports, just last year, another giant was seen living it up at the Myakka Pines Golf Course, which is about an hour away. Employees at the golf course said that the alligator appeared to have moved in, taking up residence at the #7 hole.

In other Florida alligator-related news, at least one gator was found eating a dead human body on Monday in the Everglades, reports the Sun-Sentinel. Local authorities are treating the death as a homicide until they can determine otherwise, but law enforcement doesn’t believe that the person in question was actually killed by the alligator that was found devouring it.

What do you think? Would you be comfortable golfing on a course next to that giant Florida alligator?

[Image by Shutterstock]

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