KANGAROOS are a common sight on many of Australia's picturesque courses. Joondalup Country Club in Perth, ranked the country's number one golf resort and featuring 27 holes designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr, is home to a number of these marvellous marsupials. They tend to be more interested in lazing around and feeding off the local flora than paying attention to the golfing action on the fairways and greens. Whether it's true or an urban myth, one popular story making the rounds at golf clubs in Australia is that a golf ball has landed in a kangaroo's pouch on a couple of occasions. Nearby at The Vines, another leading golf and residential resort in Perth, disinterested kangaroos hardly move for the golfers, even when balls land in their midst.

Other common wildlife at a number of other courses Down Under include noisy laughing kookaburras - a definite distraction when teeing off - gentle gum leaf-chewing koalas clinging on to the trees lining the fairway at Noosa, Queensland, and waddling ducks content to treat the course as their personal bathroom at Nelson Bay Golf Club in Port Stephens.

Furry and feathered friends are rarely a threat to golfers, but more menacing reptiles can be observed on two different continents. The appropriately named 'Gator' course at Pelicans Nest Golf Club in Florida is home to a handful of alligators which frequent the par-3 12th, providing ample motivation for players to be accurate when targeting the green.

Another place where wayward balls are not retrieved is the par-3 13th at South Africa's stunning 100-hectare Lost City Golf Course (where the Nedbank Golf Challenge - formerly known as the Million Dollar Golf Challenge - is played. A number of crocodiles can be seen basking in the sunshine in an enclosure three metres below the green, which is shaped to resemble the African continent and protected by nine bunkers.

In South-east Asia, notoriously mischievous monkeys roam many fairways in the hope of snatching a quick snack, drink or digital device (there have been numerous incidents involving mobile phones and cameras) from players' buggies. Jeffrey Low, general manager at the award-winning Ria Bintan Golf Club, says it is not uncommon for monkeys to raid golfers' bags. 'The monkeys have now learned to unzip golf bags looking for food, but the most classic one was a story told to me by a French lady golfer. A monkey took her unopened soft drink, popped the can open and sat by the jungle fringe watching her putt. She was both amused and flabbergasted!'

The wildlife at Ria Bintan's ocean and forest courses wildlife extends beyond fur to fins and feathers as well. Golfing ornithologists will be pleased to see flocks of sparrows, cockatoos and parrots flying around in the late afternoon, plus colourful kingfishers, merboks, mynas, magpies, migratory egrets and herons, and possibly exotic long-tailed sharmas.

On the picturesque coastal eighth and ninth holes, sea otters and grey dolphins have been spotted by Mr Low, and there are different species of fish and amphibians along the rocky outcrop. 'During high tide, if you're a fishing kaki, you can haul in some bream, puffer, garoupa and spot the occasional baby shark,' he says.

An audacious squirrel at the halfway house is known to be partial to the nasi goreng - fried rice - there, while a black honey bear and some gibbons on the jungle along the fourth hole have also been sighted. 'There are also families of wild boars coming out in the late evening and sometimes creating havoc, digging for worms on the course,' Mr Low says.

Back in Singapore, Sentosa Golf Club boasts large monitor lizards, while Keppel Golf Club has a number of signs warning of cobras. Wildlife is generally seen as part of the pleasure package rather than a danger when playing, whereas water features and unique layouts represent definite hazards.

At the recent Euros-versus-Asians Royal Trophy tournament at Bangkok's Amata Spring Country Club, the par-3 eighth green was a floating island. This gave the organisers the flexibility of lengthening or shortening the yardage as they wished, and once players teed off, they had to climb aboard a boat to transport them to the green.

In the north of Thailand, the Chiang Mai Gymkhana Golf Course is attached to the local public sports club, and on event days one has to hit across the 'sports ground' on the ninth hole, which is transformed into a par-6. The nearby Lanna Golf Course is wrapped around a horseracing track, and players are required to play accurately across the track on the way to the green - in extreme circumstances, jockeys are allowed to play through.

Dubai Country Club, the oldest club in the United Arab Emirates, is home to two sand courses, the 18-hole Al Awir course and the nine-hole Creek Course. Players carry their own piece of 'fairway' with them to hit the ball from, and there are 'brown' putting surfaces instead of greens.

One of the most unique hazards of all, however, belongs to the signature par-4 14th at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club, often rated as one of the top 100 holes in the world. It also has the distinction, according to general manager Don Will, of being the only hole in the world where the tee box and the green are separated by a railway line.