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Jeff Shelman

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Great hole in one story
« on: June 03, 2022, 10:07:16 PM »
Here are a couple of stories about a wild hole in one story at my club from last night.


Scoggins: 1 ball, 1 day, 2 golfers, 2 aces — a wacky hole-in-one tale for Minnesota golf lore - StarTribune.com


The Curious Case (and aces) of Preston and Ricardo (firepitcollective.com)


It's a pretty amazing story. The 13-year-old is the son of a guy who I have played several rounds with.

Tommy Williamsen

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Re: Great hole in one story
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2022, 05:12:20 PM »
Zowie that is a crazy story.
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

V. Kmetz

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Re: Great hole in one story
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2022, 07:30:54 AM »
Great interesting tale... I'd like to give that ball a try myself... but I still have adolescent mysticism about aces, they have played an enormous role in my golf-life, which hasn't always been so far from my life-life.


As a seasonal caddie and golf staff worker for 40 years, and recreational and once-competitive player, I've probably made near 5000 total rounds on a course in my life...most often with or in a full foursome, meaning I have observed about 25,000 one shot/aceable holes played by 4 players...about 100,000 shots on such holes...maybe 90,000 is more accurate. Consequently (at 12,000 to 1), I ought to have statistically seen 7 or 8 holes in one... I have seen 31.


Though the last one was like 8-9 years ago now (Bernie J. 128, short pin on Hole #5 Brae Burn CC, 9-iron), I have had the strangest occurrences take place in my witness to achieve that glut number....I'm sorta glad to be having a break from seeing them.


#. 1 While rangering a shotgun field of a Sunday afternoon... was seeing THREE in ONE DAY...on the same hole...TWO of them from the same group, the singleton from the WIFE of one of the men from the other group... (Harvey B, Adrienne B, Steve S, 140-123 yd 11th hole Rockrimmon CC). I won't deny the pin was in a premium spot, but these were plain if less then plain golfers, all in their early 60s, including a senior female player who hit a driver.  And they each went in a different way (only Harvey's was actually a "good" shot, the other two couldn't be replicated except by black magic) That one made the Stamford CT papers, as it should. It should've been the cover story for a Golf magazine.

#2.  26-27 years ago....Two holes in one, exactly TO THE DAY one year apart, same player, same hole, same club, but different discussion. A guy named Ron R, who was a photo editor for a golf magazine at the time... 11th hole Siwanoy CC, 160 yd, 5-iron.  As his caddie for the first one, we had a extended even testy dialogue about which club to use...Ron said 6-iron...you know what I said, and what he went with ultimately... acted as I had forecasted, took the path I thought could be trouble free and still get good results...went as beautifully bounced in front, and trundled on into glory as you will ever see...bee-line. We erupted, but I stared him down with humorous contempt, as he bowed to my superior knowledge. One exact year later, on a Sunday now, not a Saturday, I was caddying in the group, but not for Ron that day (and I hadn't been in a group with his bag since the ace), I had two other players...same approximate short (the hole can play 185 from the back) tee and short pin... when it was Ron's turn, he started to have a similar conversation (6 or 5i) with his assigned caddie ( a lanky Jamaican named Junior)...this caught my nearby ears, and soon caught Ron's eyes and mine... I laughed, "Don't look at me, you know what my opinion is..."  Acknowledging, he pulled the 5 iron again, and in it went again, this time flying closer to the hole and side spinning over and into the side door of the cup.  Honestly it wasn't until after the round that I realized it was close to the same time a year ago, so I got out the previous season's starting sheets and looked for that loop, only knowing then it was the exact same day (5/14) the year previous (but on a Saturday). I caddied for Ron there a handful of times after then, from different tees and to different pins, which I never failed to observe and remark..."173 to THAT pin?  You don't have a chance."


3. It's hard to know what one to close the summary, because so few of them have been humdrum or without story...I could tell you about the one that I had a premonition... I could tell you about the one of the dentist's son, glancing off his father's (no metaphoric pun intended) ball (which almost went in itself) and into the cup...I could tell you the "bee sting" one, where the player was stung during his downswing, and how the hole in one was a distraction, no one including him could honor or enjoy or celebrate it, because he was allergic and had to be driven in (it was the 17th hole) to get an epipen shot, never finishing the round, it was truly an afterthought...I could tell you about the Caddie Day one, perhaps the most impossible and performed DURING a hole in one contest/shootout, with 50 caddies and a handful of members surrounding a water par 3, it was as thrilling as a Tour event...


But it is likely the very first one is the proper way to wrap.  I played on the golf team from sophomore to senior years in HS for Brookfield HS in Western CT. I most often played #3 or 4 on our roster, medal play matches against your matched seed opponent. Brookfield's chief rival then was New Milford HS...we played them twice a year home and away and in conference finals, so I saw New Milford 9x (actually 10, but that's another thing) in 3 years of playing golf.  For all but two of those nine, I played a New Milford #3 man, Bill M, who would from the first be a pesudo rival...The first time I played Bill, we came to the 3rd at Brookfield's home course, my "field of dreams" the irascible, arcane, goat-scape, Gene-Sarazen hobby course, the 9 hole Sunset Hills.


The 3rd is a drop shot, covering 110 yards, and descending 45 craggy feet from the hardpan and mats of the dusty hilltop tee into a boxed in meadow, where a plain thin oval green resides. It is a humble, modest but somehow lovely in its broad western view over the treetops and quiet nook charm of this corner of the property.  It s also a perfect metaphor for our apprehension of golf and golf holes in our life...we think it impossible as a beginner, we think we should kill it when we first get apt with the game, we are frustrated when we continually make more than 3, we forget it as our game and our travels take us to distant locales, rarely returning...and now, later in life, with most of the rounds behind us, it is beguiling to visit, thick with memories of the different outcomes and happy tales, events for which you hope heaven is a continual loop.


Even this...so I have the honor on this 3rd hole and my standard play then was my Gene Sarazen PW, green black rusted with unwashed and now permanent clover staining.... it GOES INTO THE CUP ON A FLY...but BOUNCES OUT and rattles away to some 12-15 feet... I was devastated, but outwardly proud to have hit such a good shot...Bill steps up, also with PW I think, and center-smile blades it, with the character of a 3-iron stinger... this fucking thing is headed for Los Angeles, over the tree tops... My first thought is "Ooooooh, he's going to make 5 or 6 here; I might make '2' and I'm going to have a big lead in this medal match." Remember, though this kid was going to be in my hair for three years, this is the first time I was playing him....Just as I was salivating over this reversal (totally erased that I went in on a fly and had the terrible luck of bouncing out) he clips the last thin leafy branch of the peak of the trees...it plinkos down the lower branches, then hits a thick hard one...yes....bounding backwards...yes...jumping onto the green and rolling with purpose....yes...and slowing as it bends with the break and the even the fierce municipal grain...and yes....as if an Angel didn't want to disturb a beetle in the bottom of the cup, falling in.... you see how this shit started?


What's that you say?  Yes, I made my par.
« Last Edit: June 05, 2022, 07:34:39 AM by V. Kmetz »
"The tee shot must first be hit straight and long between a vast bunker on the left which whispers 'slice' in the player's ear, and a wilderness on the right which induces a hurried hook." -

John Kavanaugh

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Re: Great hole in one story
« Reply #3 on: June 05, 2022, 08:21:51 AM »
I witnessed a hole-in-one with the author of the story. His. No one cares.

Peter Sayegh

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Re: Great hole in one story
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2022, 09:06:12 AM »
A case of bad parenting. Preston should know better.

Member of a golfing family and private club.
The HS logo suggests he didn't pay for the ball.
Shoulda put it in his pocket...and given it to mom or dad or kept it.

Congrats on the ace.

JohnVDB

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Re: Great hole in one story
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2022, 04:58:12 PM »
That was a great story. Here’s one of my favorite stories.


A few years ago (before 2019) I answered a call on the Rules hotline at the USGA. The guy told me about a situation:


Player A hits a shot and it goes in the hole.  Player B then hits and it goes in the hole also.  When they get to the hole, B’s ball is in the bottom of the hole. A’s ball is stuck between the edge of the hole and the flagstick, but not completely below the surface. Since this was before the Rules changed in 2019, it wasn’t holed yet.  He jiggled the flagstick and it fell in. 


There was a hole-in-one prize for the FIRST hole in one made that day.  The caller was from the insurance company and wanted to know who made the first ace.


I laughed and said I’d want to talk with my co-workers and would call him back.  He said he was calling from somewhere in Canada and this had happened up there.


I told him he had to call the RCGA since we had no jurisdiction up there.

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