Hilton Head Man Drowns after Retrieving Ball from Pond


After successfully hitting his shot into the fairway from the edge of a muddy pond, an elderly man saw another ball in the murky water and tried to retrieve it with his club.

As he reached into the pond with his club at the Country Club of Hilton Head near his home in Hilton Head Plantation to get the second ball out, 86-year-old Lawrence Monroe Slovin lost his footing and fell into the waste-high hazard.

Slovin's playing partner tried to pull him out by the feet, but Slovin began thrashing in the water and went under.

The man found Slovin's body five minutes later, pulled him to shore and waited for emergency personnel to arrive.

Unfortunately, Hilton Head Island EMS couldn't revive Slovin, and he died at the scene.

His playing partner told deputies the victim had only recently resumed playing golf after a hospital stay. The man said Slovin's health issues prevented him from bending down to grab the ball, so he tried to knock it toward him with his golf club.

The body has been sent to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for an autopsy.