Shouldn't he be wearing only one glove, though?
Gator Golf, give it a whack!
Gator Golf, he'll throw it right back!
Gator Golf, what could be greater?
Than playing a game of golf with a gator!
Gator Golf, he'll throw it right back!
Gator Golf, what could be greater?
Than playing a game of golf with a gator!
— Gator Golf commercial theme
One common way to depict alligators and crocodiles in fiction is as golf players, or as mascots of golf courses. Alternately, there may just be an association between alligators and golf in general. This is probably because alligators are a common sight in many golf courses in Florida, the U.S. state where the sport is most popular. Another reason for the association may be that sportswear made by Lacoste
, a designer brand which has a crocodile as its logo, has long been popular with golfers. Additionally, alligators' large mouths can be depicted as targets to put the ball in like regular holes, which is why they appear in miniature golf attractions. Another possible gag may be to have alligators' eggs be mistaken for golf balls.
Note that for this trope to apply, there must be some kind of deliberate or relevant connection between crocodilians and golf. Alligators or crocodiles simply appearing in the background during a Mini-Golf Episode or the like aren't an example of this trope unless they are important to the story somehow, since, as mentioned, this is a phenomenon that naturally occurs in real life.
Subtrope of Animal Occupation Stereotypes. Compare Sewer Gator for another urban-based alligator characterization. Likely to overlap with Green Gators, as is the case with most cartoonish depictions of crocodilians. Often overlaps with Only in Florida. Also compare Boxing Kangaroo for another animal associated with a specific sport.
Examples
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Advertising
- Elefun and Friends "Gator Golf" features an anthropomorphic alligator playing golf in at least one commercial.
- One Lacoste ad from a series of animated series shorts made for the 2025 holiday season shows a golf game taking place on a snowy mountain, with a golfer putting a ball with the company's crocodile logo into a hole, only for the ball to pop out. When the golfer goes over to check, an anthropomorphic crocodile wearing a Lacoste jacket comes out of the hole and plants a flag (also featuring the Lacoste logo) next to it.
Comic Strips
- Mark Trail: A series of strips beginning on August 9, 2025 has Mark and his father dealing with an alligator that shows up on the fairway during a golf game. The owner of the golf course panics and the other players, including Mark's father, want to "wrestle the gator out of there", but Mark explains that an alligator coming through is usually only looking for a mate or a new pond, and that it'll move on if they clear some shrubs for it. He also points out that there wouldn't be any alligators if the golf course hadn't been built so close to their natural habitat.
- Many cartoons by Steve Moore feature humorous interactions between sapient alligators and golfers on golf courses, sometimes having the reptiles themselves playing against humans. In one, a golfer comes across two alligators next to a sign seemingly saying "Feed the gators", with the part of the sign that originally said "Do not" obviously bitten off and lying on the ground.
- One Todd The Dinosaur strip shows the titular dinosaur at a golf course, complaining about how there are always alligators on the golf course slowing things down for everyone. The reader is led to believe that he's talking about wild alligators, only for the last panel to cut to two anthropomorphic alligator golfers at the next hole, with one of them telling Todd to be quiet because his friend is trying to putt.
Film — Live-Action
- Evolution (2001): Barry Cartwright, the owner of a local country club, sets a midnight date on the golf course, but is dragged into the water by an alien alligator that mauls him to death. Wayne Grey, a disgruntled employee at the club, recovers the alien's carcass and brings it to the professors, secretly pleased about his boss's demise.
- Happy Gilmore: A one-eyed alligator bit the hand off golf pro Chubs Peterson during a game and ended his career. Happy soon encounters the same alligator at one of the golf courses when it eats Happy's golfball, only this time, Happy avenges Chubs by wrestling the alligator to death.
Literature
- Referenced in the sports psychology book Why Alligators Make Good Golfers, where the author uses the reptile as a metaphor for the thick skin and mental toughness that's essential when playing golf. The introduction even states (presumably jokingly) that alligators do play golf, and the reason we never see them do so is because they do it at night, since the darkness doesn't affect their vision.
Manhua
- Parodied in one Old Master Q strip. The titular character is at a golf course, sends the ball flying before it rolls into the opened mouth of a random, napping gator chilling near the hole. Master Q promptly lifts the gator's mouth open to knock the ball in, much to the frustration of the surprised gator.
Toys
- Electronic Arcade Mini Mini Golf by Ambassador Games is a tabletop-sized miniature in this game that includes, among other hazards, a motorized alligator figure in the middle of the ball's path that will try to chomp down on it.
- Gator Golf is a children's miniature golf game released in 1994 by Milton Bradley Company, in which players have to putt a golf ball into the mouth of a motorized alligator figure. Several commercials for the toy feature an animated anthropomorphic alligator playing golf.
Video Games
- 3-D Ultra Minigolf by Sierra features an alligator on the game's cover. In the actual game, the alligator appears in the 18th hole, "The Incredible Machine'', where it resides in a rectangular pool near the final stretch. The player can try to putt the ball toward the alligator's mouth for a boost — if done correctly, it'll open its mouth to propel the ball closer to the hole and save the player some effort, but if done incorrectly, the ball will land in the water and result in a penalty stroke.
- Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach: Montgomery Gator, an animatronic alligator, is the mascot of Monty's Gator Golf, a swamp-themed miniature golf course located in Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex.
- Golf With Your Friends: The Peaceful Pines DLC course has a giant alligator statue (as well as a giant snake) into whose mouth the player has to hit the ball in order to reach one of the holes, with the ball going through it and coming out of a hole in the tip of its tail.
- Mario And Sonic At The Rio 2016 Olympic Games: In the Nintendo 3DS version of the game, golf is one of only two events that Vector the Crocodile is playable in, the other being Table Tennis.
- Preppie is a Frogger-inspired game in which the player has to traverse a country club to retrieve golf balls while dodging various hazards. Part of the terrain is a river that the player has to get through to reach some of the balls, with alligators swimming in it and the player having to jump on their backs, as well as canoes and logs, to get across. An anthropomorphic alligator dressed as a golfer also appears on the game's cover and title screen.
- Sam & Max Hit the Road: One of the places that the titular duo visits is Gator Golf Emporium, a golf course located in Florida with a ticket booth shaped like a giant alligator head, a statue of an anthropomorphic alligator playing golf, and several live gators in the water. According to the owner, the place used to be a relatively ordinary golf course, but after one bad flood left the place almost completely submerged and infested with alligators, the owner decided to just work them into the attraction. It's proved reasonably profitable... though given that his last golf ball retriever broke, the owner now has to retrieve lost balls from the water manually — and still has the bandages to prove it!
- The Simpsons: Tapped Out:
- The Golf Course Alligator NPC, an alligator that carries its baby in its mouth, was unlockable as part of a limited-time golf-themed event occurring in 2023. The characters themselves are a reference to a parent and baby alligator that made a minor appearance in The Simpsons episode "Lost Verizon". When tapped, the baby alligator throws a golf ball with its mouth and hits it with its tail. Their in-game description says that alligators often mistake their own eggs for golf balls.
- The game's depiction of Sir-Putt-a-Lot's miniature golf course also includes a statue of a large green anthropomorphic alligator.
- Skator Gator: Inverted; the goal of the hero Greenjamin Gator is to prevent the swamp where he lives from being drained by a big corporation to make way for a mini-golf course.
Websites
- Neopets: The Elderly Paint Brush, which transforms pets into either a male or female elderly stereotypical design, turns the Krawk, a crocodilian-like Neopet, into retired golfers.
Western Animation
- Baby Looney Tunes: "Win, Lose, or Daffy" has the babies playing a game of miniature golf. In one of the holes, the obstacle is a robotic alligator that tries to chomp down on the ball as it comes through. Daffy cheats by covering Taz's club in motor oil, causing him to lose his grip and accidentally throw the club into the alligator's mouth, where it gets crushed. Taz cries in frustration at the loss, but still cheers for Tweety when he gets a hole in one, to Daffy's annoyance.
- Codename: Kids Next Door: In "Operation M.I.N.I.-G.O.L.F.", one of the holes during Numbuh 2's mini-golf game against Putkin has a robotic alligator, with Numbuh 2 having to putt the ball into its mouth when it opens so it'll come out of the tip of its tail and go into the hole.
- Cracked (2016): Referenced in the short "Birdie!", in which Ed, in his usual attempts to protect his eggs from the hungry crocodile that wants to eat them, spots a nest resembling a golf hole that inexplicably appears in the middle of the desert (complete with a flag and grassy area surrounding it), giving him the idea to pelt his eggs like golf balls (and later himself, by popping out his own eye and hitting it) towards the nest and away from the crocodile.
- The Raccoons: Mr. Knox is a Texan-accented alligator businessman who is a member of a golf club named Lock Links Country Club, and in the episode "A Catered Affair!", he is shown playing golf with Mr. Sneer.
- The Simpsons: In "Lost Verizon", Bart is fishing golf balls out of a lake to make money for a cell phone when one of the "golf balls" turns out to be an egg that hatches into a baby alligator. The parent alligator then walks by, snatches up the baby, and knocks away all of Bart's golf balls with its tail.
Real Life
- Gator Golf Adventure Park is a miniature golf course in Orlando, Florida which has an alligator as its mascot. The park is home to hundreds of alligators that visitors can feed and watch while they play golf.
- Golf N Gator is an attraction in Cape Canaveral, Florida which includes an arcade, miniature golf, go-kart racing and an animal exhibit with live alligators. It has an alligator as its mascot.
- Hazzards Mini Golf is a golf course in Ohio that has an anthropomorphic alligator as its mascot.