So you're one of those people fortunate enough to have made an ace this year, or maybe some other year.
We know what a big moment that was. What golfers were playing with you? How long had you been playing before you did it? What was the reaction like? Did you have to buy a round at the 19th hole? Where's the ball?
Anything that you want to share is fine. You have the floor, in comments:
Comments (13)
Heatherwood Golf Club, twelth Hole, 1035-wood
Heatherwood Golf Club, 12th Hole, 103 yards, 5-wood
About 10 years ago as a 16 yr. old I was playing the par 3 course at Ridge with my father when I pulled out my putter with an oversized head on the teebox of a 98 yard hole. I teed the ball up, smacked a line drive about 2 feet off the ground that skipped a couple times before the green and then rolled up and disappeared. When I got to the green, the ball was no where to be found until I checked the hole to find I had hit my first ace (with a putter).
A few years back,my bro-in-law Pete Magnuson and I took my Dad(scratch golfer for 40 years,Bellport club champ,never a hole in one) over to Crab Meadow to get his mind off some recent troubles. It was a muggy day and the course was crowded. As we approached the second par 3, four young gentlemen waved us up. 202 yds. uphill,wind in the face. Pete and i both use 5 wood and are off the green. Dad walks up,1-iron in hand (only god and my dad could hit that club)and blasts a screamer up the middle. Pete and I both tell him it's lookin' good. It hits the front of the green, bounces twice and we lose sight of it. That is when the 4 kids all raise their arms and start yelling. All Dad could say was "it went in" over and over and how he waited 40 years for that. It was just about the finest day of my life. Almost a year to the day later, my friends take me golfing upstate to Villa Roma as I was having some tough times as well. 9th hole 183yds 5iron and in!!! I ran right to the phone to call him. He said i was lucky he got his first or he would have kicked my butt!!! That was him. I lost my dad to a massive heart attack in Dec of '05. He's buried with my hole in one ball. I just hope I can get another one so I can rub it in when we meet again!!! I love you Dad!!!
This year's annual Suffolk Duffers outing, led by Doug Bose, was held at Villa Roma in Callicoon, New York on July 27-29th. My friend Bobby Wanczowski and I decided to stay and play golf on Wednesday. We went out as a twosome on the back nine, and finished on the par 3, 176-yard ninth hole. I told Bobby, "I'm tired of everyone being short here" and pulled out my 5-wood. I got off a good shot and it appeared to land on the right side of the green. The cup is hidden from the tee by mounds and undulations in the green. Bobby found his shot on the left side, but no sign of mine. Figuring it must have rolled off the back, I walked through the green and saw a white ball with a red dot in the cup. I lifted it out and sure enough, it was mine for my first hole in one. Bobby finished the hole and we had a great trip home.
As part of a steady group of 30 or so retired cops from the city that had a weekly gathering at Brentwood C.C., there were always the regalings of "this" great shot or "that" great putt from someone at the "19th". On this particular day...it was my turn. At the 14th hole, a 292 yard par 4, there was a temp "green" (if you want to call it that, as there was a regulation size cup...not even the usual "oversized" temp. cup... planted into the fairway's approach to the green. The grass wasn't even mowed shorter than usual.) approximately 20 yards in front of the green, making it an approximate 270 yard par 4. As I drove the ball out, a low, rising "screamer", we all knew it was going to be a terrific shot, but due to the natural rise of the fairway, we all lost sight of the ball once it got out about 175 yards . As everyone hit their 2nd and 3rd shots into "the green", my ball was no where to be seen. After looking around for a while and starting to get irritated that my ball may be lost, we all converged on the cup at once from different directions, and would you believe it...there she was in the bottom of the cup for my 2nd hole-in-one. (My 1st was at the Eisenhower White Course's 4th hole, a 172 yard par 3, about 9 years ago. Being my 1st, that too was very special and fun, but being "only" on a par 3, it lacks any special details that make it worth putting to print.) We all started yelling and screaming, drawing the attention of our buddies on the holes behind us and in front of us. They were all shocked that a hole-in-one was had on a par 4. And of course, they were all...all 30 or so of them...back at the "19th" waiting for their "ill-gotten" gains, the "fruits" of my lucky shot. (Boy, that was expensive!!!) It was, and always will be one of those great moments that will stick with me forever.
I had a hole in one at North Hills Country Club at the 16th hole 146 yards on March 15th, 1990. I had been playing golf for 24 years. My golf team insisted that I buy them all a drink at the bar. We went to the bar and I ordered drinks for everyone. There was one person at the end of the bar I told the bartender to give him a drink. When the Bartender came back he said to me do you know who that is? I said no and he told me that it was Whitey Fords son. I went up to him and told him that I used to play ball with Whitey Ford in Astoria when we were kids, we grew up together. When I went to an autograph signing with my grand-child Whiter Ford was there. I told him the story about the hole in one and how his son was there. Whitey Ford told me that his son had a hole in one on the same hole that I did. My club gave me a trophy for the hole in one. I sent it to Whitey Ford and he and his son signed it for me. Then I went out and bought a small trophy and sent it to Whitey Ford for his son ED.
After over 30 years of playing golf, had a Hole in One at the Smithtown Landing, Hole #7 160 hole with a 5 iron in a Broadway Golf Tournament.
Unbelievably, I had a hole in one on June 29, 2005. This was only my second season playing golf, my son got me into it in 2004. On this day I asked my son to play with me after work, but he was busy. So I went all by myself on an overcast day, deciding on Christopher Morley instead of Harbor Links. I thought if I can get on by myself, nobody in front of me, I would stay and do a fast 9. I was still a beginner. When I got to the 7th hole it really started to rain but I had gone this far I decided to stay. I got to the 8th hole, a 97-yarder and I decided to use my pitching-wedge, gave it a good hit. I went nice and straight, but I thought I may have hit it too much. I got up by the green and looked all around and I decided I might as well look in the cup. Sure enough, there was the ball! First thing I did was call my son and tell him, "I'm on the 8th hole and I just got a hole in one, and NOBODY is around to witness it!"
My Dad is the 88 year old who got the hole-in-one about 2 weeks ago. The real story behind the story is that he had an aortic valve replacement and bypass on April 1st of this year. He told the surgeon that he'd only agree to the surgery if he promised he'd be playing golf this summer. He started out the season very slowly being frustrated with his limitations. But in the last few weeks, he's shot his age twice, got the hole-in-one, rides his bike most mornings and is starting to lift weights. He's a "Senior Phenom" and an inspiration for every couch potato. I've come to accept that I will never be able to beat him on the course at any age--he loves sinking that winning putt, giving his little smirk as he strolls off the green to the 19th hole. Congratulations, Dad---you're a winner at any age!
On August 10, 1994, my foresome was approaching the famous 17th hole of the Black Course at Bethpage State Park. I just found a brand new top flight in the rough of the 16th hole. It had a red bullseye and the word "professional" written on it. The local pro's had a tournament here the previous week. I was a little worried about the sand traps on the Black Course. They had recently replaced all the sand with soft, fluffy sand which a ball could easily disappear into. I went to tee up on the left side of the tee so I can hit a high fade with my 5 wood. The green at that time was 110 feet long shaped like a long cigar. The hole (which is 187 yards long) was at the far right end between two traps, only half of the flagstick showing. I hit the most beautiful high fade I could hit. We all thought it was short. Nobody in my foresome made the green. While searching in the sand for my ball, my friend Bill Walsh decided to play up and as he passed the hole, he hollered to us that he found a ball in the hole. He said it was a top flight with a red bullseye on it. I was exstatic when I learned that it was mine. It was my first and only hole in one. I became very popular as the guy who made a hole in one on the seventeenth on the Black Course. I was 64 years old at that time and I got many handshakes! I am now 78 years old and still golf every other day.
P.S. I shot an 83 that day.
On August 28, 2008 I stepped up the the blue tee box at the 18th hole on Glen Cove Golf Course. The hole was playing around 230 yards due to the elevated green which is well protected by a large sand trap which blocks the players view of the green from the tees. I have landed more balls than I can count in that trap and had never managed to clear it with my 3 iron. This time it was different. I saw my ball just clear the top of the trap and made the comment to my friends that that shot may just be the most crisp 3-iron I have ever hit. Upon getting to the hole, I see a large roped of area at the top of the trap where a sprinkler head had been excavated and the bottom of the hole filled with two feet of water. I was certain my perfectly hit ball had fallen victim to the depths of this muddy bottomed hazard. My buddy Terry Gardrvits and I made a valiant effort to locate the ball at the bottom of this mess. As a courtesy Terry extended me the option to take free relief and drop a ball outside of the hazard and chip up. I took the option and was upset that I lost such a well hit ball. I chip 40 feet to the hole and am inches from a chip in*. My buddies all comment on the well hit shot and being that I was the last to be on the green, they waited to pull the pin. It was approximately 7:45pm and the sun had set when Matt Lopez pulled the pin and exclaimed, "Hey Joe, are you by any chance playing a titleist with an orange line?" I replied yes, why? He then reached into the hole and pulled out something that I was reluctant to accept at that moment. My first hole in one! We then located the ball mark just in front of the hazard, which I fixed.. Hugs were exchanged and a questionable smooch, but we will leave that alone. The 19th hole was a great time. We had a great time.. Drinks, laughs, hi-fives. Then I told my friend I recently have had relations with his X. Now we are no longer friends. However, it was a par four hole-in-one and that is better than a per three hole-in-one.
Kudos
Thank you Michael Lopez, Matt Lopez and Terry Gardrvits for a great round! I look forward to many more.
i got a hole in one at spring lake on the 6th hole 120 yards,sand wedge was the tool.on my 13th year of golfing i goterdone.thank you to matt m. and dano to share my best day ever...i had started the year with a feeling that this year was gonna be a good one.oct 18th 2008