What lies beneath: Alligators can be a common sight on a Florida golf vacation.

Those Florida golf course signs that say, "Beware of Alligators" are not simply a marketing gimmick. Just ask Bruce Charles Burger of Tennessee, whose Florida golf vacation almost ended in tragedy on Monday when he was attacked by a gator at Lake Venice Golf Club near Sarasota.

After hitting into the pond near sixth hole, Burger reached into the water to retrieve his ball, but when he pulled out his arm, there was an 11-foot alligator attached to it. According to reports, the beast attempted to pull him into the water but he was able to fend it off with his free arm and escape largely unharmed.

(From the "weird coincidence" department comes news that the alligator only had one eye, just like the one that took off Chubbs Peterson's hand in the goofy golf movie, Happy Gilmore.)

At the time of the attack, a fellow golfer heard the commotion and called 9-1-1. Burger was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The Alligator was captured by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and will be destroyed because it was deemed "a nuisance." No word on whether Burger got the ball back.

Yes, it's tough to give up on a golf ball, especially if you know where it went in. But the next time you're tempted to reach into the water on a Florida golf vacation, remember that there could be a big alligator in there that wants you even more.

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