When golfers are sidelined because of rain or sleet or snow or as in my case, the flu, our minds start dreaming of everything we have ever done around a course. I’ve been honking and coughing for weeks, so it’s been waaaay too long since I stood anywhere near a green. On the plus side, the Golf Channel has been on for 24 hours straight and I am getting some great tips on improving my short game. Choking up on the 9-iron might give me an edge. But, it’s me after all, and I started thinking about bodies on the course.
I’ve maintained that hiding a body on a course is not all that easy, because there is a lot of foot traffic from dawn to dusk, whether it’s the players themselves or groundskeepers in charge of maintaining the fairways, the greens, and the deep rough/woods next to the fairways.
In September of 2016, a woman was heard arguing with her boyfriend at 5 a.m., was dragged away, then driven to a golf course in the Chicago area and left there. Her body was found a little after 8 a.m. and the boyfriend was charged a few days later.
Then, in October, 2016, a body was found in a pond near a fairway at the Seven Bridges Golf Club in Illinois. It was golfers who discovered the body of the 29-year-old man, so they were probably looking for a lost ball. Imagine that surprise!
A Fire Dive Rescue Team recovered the body, and the police decided that there was no foul play involved. That made me think of all the times I’ve played near water hazards and was tempted to go in after a ball that didn’t quite make it across the lily pads. I always opted for keeping my feet dry and left the ball to the ducks unless I could see the little white orb right at the edge. What could have made the guy go in far enough to lose his footing and drown?
Private and/or public courses are not the only places bodies pop up. In January, 2017, a 50-year-old man’s body was found in the water at the Cypress Lakes Golf Course, which is operated by the 60th Force Support Squadron at Travis Air Force Base. Another non-suspicious death, but seriously, how expensive was that golf ball?
All these bodies had been discovered within a few days of the person’s death. But with this next case from February, 2017, the remains had been there since 2005. Twelve years of nobody tripping over a young man who had committed suicide? He was found next to the second fairway at a Columbus, Ohio, Golf and Country Club.
Danny Sanders was a senior at Worthington Kilbourne High School when he left his house in February, 2005 and he wasn’t reported missing for 10 days. When asked why they waited so long, the family thought that he had just taken off somewhere. Then three months later, the father discovered that his handgun was missing.
What’s even more tragic was that Danny’s body was found about 100 yards away from the family’s house, 30 yards into some woods and heavy brush off the fairway. At least the family has closure. In this case, I have to concede that it was unlikely that the body would have been discovered any sooner, since most guys/gals won’t bother looking for a ball that far off the fairway. My guess is that the heavy brush will disappear soon.
Interested in finding out more about two of the cases? Check out these links:
http://nbc4i.com/2017/02/06/human-remains-discovered-near-northwest-columbus-golf-course/
Stay out of the water hazards and stay safe on the golf course!
*Kerrian is a fictional character, but the bodies on the golf courses were real.
*Photo by Patti Phillips
