A 12-year-old junior golfer was left gobsmacked after she chased her golf ball to a hole on a UK course, only to find it had settled on a snake measuring a whopping six feet.
The young golfer was part of a group of junior players being led around Blackwell Grange Golf Club in Darlington, County Durham, by PGA Pro Aaron Cox on Saturday, June 13. She hit a tee shot from the par-4 fifth hole while playing a round of the sport.
The shot travelled to the 353-yard hole, and the youngster dutifully rushed to pick the ball up and continue the game when she discovered a monster snake had beaten her there. She got the shock of her life when she arrived at the spot to find a six-foot-long boa constrictor resting in its place, with her ball having rolled up against it.
The Snake
Boa constrictors are non-venomous and kill prey, some as large as pigs and even deer, by strangling or constricting them until they die and can be swallowed whole. They are not native to the UK, being typically found in tropical and subtropical parts of the Americas, and are consistently ranked among the world's largest snakes.
Reaction from the Pro
Pro Aaron, 40, who is from Australia but now lives in Darlington, said he was not fazed by the beast, having seen more impressive snakes back in his home nation. But he said some of his group were. He added: "I have seen bigger back in Oz so I was not too bothered by it, but most of the other golfers were."
"I had been taking my elite development group around when one of them hit a tee shot from the fifth which landed just right of the fairway in the rough. She was then rather shocked and alarmed to find the ball had come to a rest against this snake, and she said 'I am not going to play that'."
"It looked like a python at first so I was reluctant to touch it, but it seemed quite quiet and calm. It was just curled up in the long grass. I thought it was about three or four feet at first, but it was actually six feet long, so quite a size."
"We think it was left near a pond not far from the hole and it has slithered over and made itself at home in the long grass. It was probably a pet, so it would not have lasted long with the cold nights, so it is lucky we found it when we did."
Capture and Aftermath
Aaron and his boss, head pro Peter Raine, were eventually able to coax the large snake safely into a cardboard box after deciding it would be too heavy to pick up with golf clubs. He added: "It has been reported a snake had been seen on the course, but we never expected to find it or that it would be non-native."
"The grass was knee high, so you would never have spotted it otherwise. Pete came along with member Ian McDonald on a buggy and a cardboard box. They thought of using golf clubs to move him first, but we realised it would be too heavy for that."
"It got a bit grumpy while we were trying to get him into the box, but eventually we were able to coax him in there. I was not too fazed, but I think Pete and Ian were a bit more apprehensive as they had never seen a snake on a golf course before."
The snake was taken to Coast to Coast Exotics, which has since issued an appeal on social media to help find its owner. A spokesperson for the shop said the boa "appears to be in good health".
"It is not very often you get a snake at a course in the UK," Aaron said.
