Golfer Survives 18 Foot Free-Fall Down Sinkhole In Illinois Golf Course

42-Year-old Mark Mihal was golfing with some friends when he was swallowed by an 18-foot sinkhole.

"I was just freefalling. It felt like forever, but it was just a second or two, and I didn't know what I was going to hit," BBC News reports Mihal as saying about his sinkhole experience.

The "absolutely crazy" accident, as Mihal calls it, happened at the Annbriar Golf Course in Waterloo, Illinois. Mihal went to investigate an odd looking depression in the group that turned out to be the sinkhole.

"It didn't look unstable, and then I was gone," he says.

Mihal was lucky to escape the sinkhole with only a few bruises and a dislocated shoulder.

The sinkhole was pitched black and Mihal knew that his shoulder was injured. He was resting on a puddle of mud, not knowing if it too would give out and he would sink further.

"At some point I said, I need to get out of here now," Mihal said.

His golf buddies did not see him fall into the sinkhole. They walked over toward it, knowing that was the last place Mihal had been. When they saw the hole they ran for help and a rope.

They were able to get the rope around Mihal and pull him to safety. "I felt fortunate I did not break both my legs or worse," he said.

This is the latest in a string of sinkhole incidents across America.

A Florida man is presumed dead after a sinkhole opened up underneath his house and swallowed his bedroom. It was too dangerous for rescue works to try and retrieve the body of Jeff Bush, and the search was called off.