[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

I spent 35 years in the golf business. I have done business with ball divers and I have witness them doing their job.
They are more concerned poisonous snakes than they are gators. Gators are generally not aggressive and will usually run away from people in the water. Still, occasionally they will bite and many of these divers will proudly show you their gator bite scars. Like Gracie says, I would never do it, but there are thousands of people around the world that do.
As far as the managers being cheap, that is exactly why they would contract these people to do this. Most of the divers agree to clean out the ponds in return for a supply of free used golf balls to the pro shop. In some cases it is what keeps the pro shop in the black.