I started playing golf in 1969, at the age of 8, in Erie, PA at the Kahkwa Country Club - a Donald Ross designed course. There was a short par 3 there, and I figured I’d have 5-10 aces before my 18th birthday - yeah, that never happened. Like many, I was always around the hole, but never in the cup.
At 18, I went to college in Boston, MA and didn’t play much for nearly 30yrs, other than corporate golf, as the demands of career and children took priority. At best, I’d get a few weekend rounds in each year, but it was frustrating to say the least.
We joined a Club in Manatee County FL, in the Bradenton/Sarasota area, called University Park Country Club almost 5yrs ago. There’s 27 holes, plenty of good challenge, and six sets of tees, so it’s never boring. I tend to play the Whites, about 6400yds, and carry an 8 handicap in the GHIN system.
On Super Bowl Sunday this year, I was playing with my brother, an old friend from the college days, and another guy - all of us UPCC members. The 22nd hole is a par 3, plays about 174yds, and has a tricky green with an upper/lower shelf, and pitch, meaning that you don’t really fire at the pin as much as you play to an area and hope to get a bounce. Anyway, I hit a perfect 174yd, 5 iron (hey, I’m 63 years old), using my 718 TMBs. We ALL knew that it was right on target when it was struck, and expected that it’d be within a few feet of the cup, which was blind to the tee box. There was a mountain of anticipation when we approached the green and only saw three balls. My brother approached the cup, while I nervously followed a step behind. He looked in the hole, didn’t hesitate as he turned to me and said congratulations! We were all totally fired up, took some pics, played out the rest of the round, and had a few great big vodka drinks at the bar after giving the hole in one details to the assistant pro in the Clubhouse.
The experience is amazing .. I hope EVERY golfer could get a chance, but know that it’s very rare (I’m the only one in that group of four now in the hole in one club) .. let’s hope, if there’s another for me, that it doesn’t take 55yrs, cause the odds don’t favor me living that long!
Cheers!