Golfers are used to avoiding hazards on a golf course to hit the ball clear. From natural hazards like bushes and trees to man-made ones like a water body, the players train hard to tide over different conditions to reach the green. However, sometimes nature can throw up challenges where luck also plays a major role because it can become a matter of life and death.
Here’s a look at some of the world’s deadliest golf courses:
1. Camp Bonifas, South Korea: Infested with landmines left over from the Korean War on three sides, a shot going astray can trigger one of those and you are not allowed to retrieve balls from the surrounding rough.
2. The Merapi Golf Club, Indonesia: The natural hazard here can keep players and visitors on tenterhooks with one eye on any sign of smoke around. That’s because it is located on the slopes of the country’s most active volcano. In 2010, an eruption resulted in 122 deaths.
3. The Skukuza Golf Course: This 9-hole course is nestled in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, and being the natural habitat of the wild, there are no fences to prevent lions, rhinos and other animals from walking onto the green. Apparently, the lake at hole 9 is home to hippopotamuses and crocodiles.
4. The Prison View Golf Course: Louisiana’s only maximum security prison is home to this 9-hole course. The inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in the US have mostly those who are on either a death row or sentenced to jail for life. The golf course is maintained by these inmates, but understandably they are not allowed to play.
5. The Furnace Creek Golf: This golfing facility in California is located at the world’s hottest spot, the Death Valley. Temperatures at this 18-hole course can go as high as 60 degrees Celsius.
6. Uummannaq Golf Course, Greenland: You can’t carry graphite clubs here because chances are that those will burst open because of alarmingly low temperatures here, which can even hit minus fifty (-50).
7. Carbrook Golf Club, Brisbane: It’s been often called the world’s first shark-infested course because of the presence of bull sharks that have made the water hazard at the 14th tee their home. However, the sightings since 2013 have been close to none.
8. Lost City Golf Course: Playing at the 13th hole in this golf course at the Sun City in South Africa can be an intimidating affair. The reason is the presence of more than 30 crocodiles in the lake that is their home.
(Compilation)
Here’s a look at some of the world’s deadliest golf courses:
1. Camp Bonifas, South Korea: Infested with landmines left over from the Korean War on three sides, a shot going astray can trigger one of those and you are not allowed to retrieve balls from the surrounding rough.
2. The Merapi Golf Club, Indonesia: The natural hazard here can keep players and visitors on tenterhooks with one eye on any sign of smoke around. That’s because it is located on the slopes of the country’s most active volcano. In 2010, an eruption resulted in 122 deaths.
3. The Skukuza Golf Course: This 9-hole course is nestled in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, and being the natural habitat of the wild, there are no fences to prevent lions, rhinos and other animals from walking onto the green. Apparently, the lake at hole 9 is home to hippopotamuses and crocodiles.
4. The Prison View Golf Course: Louisiana’s only maximum security prison is home to this 9-hole course. The inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in the US have mostly those who are on either a death row or sentenced to jail for life. The golf course is maintained by these inmates, but understandably they are not allowed to play.
5. The Furnace Creek Golf: This golfing facility in California is located at the world’s hottest spot, the Death Valley. Temperatures at this 18-hole course can go as high as 60 degrees Celsius.
6. Uummannaq Golf Course, Greenland: You can’t carry graphite clubs here because chances are that those will burst open because of alarmingly low temperatures here, which can even hit minus fifty (-50).
7. Carbrook Golf Club, Brisbane: It’s been often called the world’s first shark-infested course because of the presence of bull sharks that have made the water hazard at the 14th tee their home. However, the sightings since 2013 have been close to none.
8. Lost City Golf Course: Playing at the 13th hole in this golf course at the Sun City in South Africa can be an intimidating affair. The reason is the presence of more than 30 crocodiles in the lake that is their home.
(Compilation)