Exotic hazard: golfers confront 3-metre-long boa constrictors on UK course

For most golfers, the biggest hindrance they are likely to come across during a round is a strong gust of wind or getting their ball caught in a bunker. For golfers in County Durham , however, the obstacles that players have encountered are 3 metres long and covered in scales. Two boa constrictors have been found on Blackwell Grange Golf Club in Darlington one week apart, with the first being found on 13 June during a children’s golf lesson when a 12-year-old girl’s shot landed directly on the snake. Aaron Cox, 40, who had been conducting the lesson, said that he used his golf club to move the boa away from the course before putting it in a box. He did the same when the second boa was found near the rough of the course on 20 June. He said that he took both snakes to a nearby reptile shop, but that both passed away due to being “riddled with disease”. Cox, who moved to the UK from Australia eight years ago, said that he was used to snakes in his native country and that it wasn’t uncommon to see adders around the course, but that large snakes such as boas had never been seen in this part of England. “I’ve been over here for what, six, seven summers, and not once has it ever happened. And now we’ve seen two in a week, and now there’s three more just down in North Yorkshire,” he said. Boas are native to South America and can grow to be longer than 3 meters. …