COMMERCIAL APPEAL (Memphis, Tennessee) 26 June 08 Snakes just another obstacle on golf course (Larry Rea)
On a recent golf outing at Bear Trace Chickasaw near Henderson, Tenn., Louis Ralph of Olive Branch had one of those unwelcome, but not unexpected, encounters with a snake.
It's all part of playing in an area known for not only its abundance of quality golf courses, but also for lots and lots of prowling critters, especially snakes, at this time of the year.
Ralph, 60, was playing his second shot on No. 16 when the snake, which Ralph and his playing partners said was a harmless black snake, came slithering along as he approached his ball. With one eye on the snake and the other on the flag on the green, Ralph somehow made solid contact -- and then did what all of us would do. He got away as quickly as possible.
No. 16, we might add, is one of seven finishing holes at Bear Trace Chickasaw where flowing water from Piney Creek and several small tributaries creates a perfect habitat for snakes, according to Rob Hessing, the course's head pro.
"There is no real good way to keep the snakes away," Hessing said.
Like the 5-foot black rat snake that showed up one morning curled up in a golf cart.
"He would take up refuge at night inside a cart," Hessing said. "I guess the heat of charging (the cart's battery) was good for him. He would come out early in the morning scaring me and my staff to death. We saw that he wasn't poisonous and didn't want to harm him. We didn't want to be around him either."
So one of the course's maintenance workers moved the snake to another area not once but four times, and the snake kept coming back to spend the night in a cart. The snake was finally taken off the golf course property and released.
Keith Hickman, the manager at Paris Landing State Park Golf Course near Paris, Tenn., which is a favorite destination for many Mid-South golfers, tries to emphasize to visitors that snakes are part of the natural habitat at the course, which in 2004 became one of only three park-affiliated courses in the nation to be an Audubon Certified Sanctuary.
"There's not much we can do to help the snakes other than providing good snake habitat, and we have plenty of that," Hickman said. "The main thing I do is try to tell our golfers not to harm/kill the snakes. I try to impress on them that most snakes are good snakes. I know most people are scared of snakes, but in reality the snakes are just as scared of you as you are of them."
By the way, Hickman said with a laugh, "by rule a live snake is an outside agency; a dead snake is a loose impediment; and (USGA) Rule 1-4 provides relief from a dangerous situation (i.e., your ball is resting on a rattlesnake)."
Snakes just another obstacle on golf course