Golfer Survives 18 Feet Sinkhole at Illinois Golf Course, 'Absolutely Crazy' [VIDEO]

A golfer survives 18-feet sinkhole alive after being swallowed up while playing a course in Illinois.

The mortgage broker, Mark Mihal, 43-year-old is counting his blessings Tuesday, who suffered a dislocated shoulder four days earlier at the Annbriar Golf Club near Waterloo, Illinois, just southeast of St. Louis.

The frightening incident occurred while Mihal was on the fairway of the 14th hole when suddenly the sinkhole opened up. His friends frantically called the clubhouse for help as they managed to hoist Mihal to safety with a rope after about 20 minutes.

"I felt the ground start to collapse and it happened so fast that I couldn't do anything," Mihal said. "I reached for the ground as I was going down and it gave way, too. It seemed like I was falling for a long time. The real scary part was I didn't know when I would hit bottom and what I would land on."

The sinkhole that swallowed Mihal was approximately 18-feet deep and 10-feet wide.

Wife Lori Mihal added to the story "Mark had already hit his second shot when he went to check out the distance for his playing partner, Mike Peters, who was getting ready to hit. Mike had his back to Mark and when he turned to say something to him, Mark was gone.

"Mark has always been claustrophobic. He was beginning to panic and was in shock; he was also in excruciating pain.

"The clubhouse respondents brought a 12-foot ladder, which they put down the side of the hole and propped on a mound of mud within it.

"However, Mark was another six feet below that level and had dislocated his shoulder during the fall; he only had the use of one arm and couldn't pull himself up to the ladder."

Lori said the incident was "unreal."

"I was looking around, clinging to the mud pile, trying to see if there was a way out," Mihal recalled. "At that point, I started yelling, "I need a ladder and a rope, and you guys need to get me out of here.'"

"I felt fortunate I didn't break both legs, or worse," Mihal said. "I feel lucky just to come out of it with a shoulder injury, falling that far and not knowing what I was going to hit. It was absolutely crazy."