Posted on 04/28/2012 9:14:56 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
World’s deadliest golf course boasts land mines and man-bear-pigs
Along the DMZ, golf is not a sport for the faint of heart. The golf course at Camp Bonifas, just south of the Korean demilitarized zone, boasts just one hole, but what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in hazards. Live land mines line the course, and bizarre animals stumble out from the woods. Formerly Camp Kitty Hawk, United Nations Command post Camp Bonifas was renamed in 1986 to honor Captain Arthur G. Bonifas, who had been axe murdered in 1976 during a conflict with North Korea soldiers over pruning a poplar tree. The camp lies 400 meters south of the DMZ's southern border, and that remote location offers little entertainment to the folks stationed there. So in 1972, a group of soldiers decided to make their own fun by constructing a golf course. There was only room for one hole, so the builders decided to up the ante on the hazards. The small astroturf green is surrounded on three sides by live mines. Once your ball has rolled out of bounds, it's gone. Still the soldiers have said there's a certain zen to hitting the balls down their deadly course. Par is three, but hitting par is rare.
While the most obvious hazards are man-made, the soldiers have reported some natural hazards as well. Golfers have spotted wild boars, Korean tigers, and water deer (sometimes called "vampire deer" for their protruding fangs). Some have even claimed to have seen a creature they call "man-bear-pig," which sounds like Al Gore's least favorite cryptid from South Park, but which the soldiers were apparently serious about.
What the folks stationed out there would really like, though, is a little money to help them clean up the course a bit. Not to remove the mines, of course. After all, the possibility of an exploding golf ball is most of the fun.
Give me a few hundered free tee shots and I can neutralize the OB landmines........
reminds me of a favorite book....I’ll Jump Over The Cliff by Hugo Phirst
I don’t really play, just watch.
Be fun to watch ya’ll play:-O
I don’t either, but we’ll watch AG hook a few into NK or set off some land mines.
Sounds like a Tiger Woods course....even though it was OB he still liked to *hit it*
Smack in the middle of Waikoloa Golf Course on Hawaii is a petroglyph field called ‘King’s Walk” It is a fascinating place to study ancient rock carvings...but watch out for flying golf balls! :-)
Not nearly as exciting as the DMZ golf course, i must admit...although the locals say that there are “Warrior Ghosts” there at night.
Has any body been killer there while golfing on this coarse?
Ya know that is a new way to go.
Most people exit this mortal coil in the usual ways, heart attacks, sweetart overdose, traffic accidents, walnuts thrown by squirrels, an accidental mixing of Zotz and Pepsi or bludgeoned by exasperated spouses but I dare say he is the only American in history who died in that fashion.
I raise a glass to your memory sir! And if I should ever find my self back in the DMZ I will ask to play a round and stand a round in your honor.
Rick Atkinson, The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966
Jack Wheeler, same class, died under mysterious cicumstances, Washington DC.
Thirty other members killed in Vietnam.
RIP, All....
“Ping to the memory of Art Bonifas.
Rick Atkinson, The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point’s Class of 1966
Jack Wheeler, same class, died under mysterious cicumstances, Washington DC.
Thirty other members killed in Vietnam.
RIP, All.... “
i have an autographed copy, as well as a pic from the newspaper of him/me while he signed it in the cadet bookstore....
Very cool. I’ve been there too.
Recall McArthur’s “Duty, Honor, Country” speech?
“As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, “Where are you bound for, General?” And when I replied, “West Point”, he remarked, “Beautiful place. Have you ever been there before?”
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