The Best Animal Golfing Encounters

Golfers expect a few distractions on the course – from the weather to their fellow golfers. But we’re not usually expecting animals! We’ve rounded up some of the best animal golfing encounters…

1)  Course Dragon

What’s the one animal you don’t want picking up your ball? Maybe a dragon?

At the CIMB Classic in Malaysia last year, all of a sudden there was an enormous Komodo dragon wandering slowly down the fairway. Needless to say, the golfers gave him a wider berth.

That’s not all, though, as before the second round at the same tournament – they had to remove a six-foot python from the course too! If you ask us, we’d skip this tournament next time…

"Yeah … let's just take bogey and skip this hole." pic.twitter.com/XzKeGvx7Ca

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 23, 2016

2) Fetch!

Finding lost golf balls during a round can often be a frustrating and time-consuming endeavour. If you live near a golf course, finding a few when you’re walking is one of life’s small joys. With a collie though? You can pick up more balls then you ever thought possible.

Meet Barrie Gell and his collie Jess. With the use of dog treats, Jess finds about 12 balls a day – which means over 53,000 collected since 2005 – good dog and lucky golfer!

Image credit: Today’s Golfer

3) Olympic Sightings

What did you expect to see on the Olympic Golf Course in Rio? Thrilling shots? Justin Rose take home the gold medal? Capybaras roaming the course?

If you weren’t expecting the last one – neither were most of the players!

4) Bear Left

It turns out not all animal golfing encounters happen on the professional tour! In this case – a local game in Canada is disrupted by some adorable bear cubs who want to play on the green.

The golfer filming gets quite close, which we wouldn’t recommend, particularly since you never know where Momma Bear could come from!