Have you ever had a hole in one? If not, the odds of ever getting one are not in your favor.
Trust me, I know.
The closest thing to a hole in one is the day I had to throw out my favorite pair of socks because….
wait…
I had a hole in one.
We are sorry. I will tell myself at the end of the article.
We can argue the merits of the “official” requirements hole in a (that we have done), but I don’t care what the circumstances are. If you hit the ball out of a spike box and it goes into the freak hole, it’s a freak hole-in-one. After a mulligan? This counts. Hit your first OB? This counts. Play a handful of holes after work? This counts. Everything this side of miniature golf matters.
What you put on your scorecard is up to you and your conscience. If I don’t pay money to watch you play, I’ll mind my own business, thank you very much.
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program…
For every hole-in-one, there’s a hole-in-one story to go with it. Get out 130 yards on an approach shot and get a few smiles and praise, but that’s about it. Do the same off the tee on a par-3 and you’ll have a story to tell for the rest of your life.
Like most stories, they often grow wilder with retelling.
“So you’re saying there’s a chance…”
Every 18-hole golf course has four, sometimes five, par-3 holes, so, in theory, there’s a chance every time you tee it up. For the average golfer, those odds are 12,000 to one. If you’re a low single-digit handicapper, your odds are better at around 5,000 to one.
However, if you’re playing with someone who has a hole-in-one, don’t bet your rental money on getting one yourself. The odds of this happening are about 17 million to one.
Still, we golfers remain Lloyd’s Christmas-level optimists.
For Joe Lahiff, a communications executive with Verizon, his 12,000th putt came at the Palmer Course at Saddlebrook, outside Tampa, Fla.
“It was March 10, 2018,” says Joe. “I hadn’t even moved with a club since last October. I was with a bunch of about 20 duffers and my good luck happened on the second hole, a 168-yard par-3 with tall marsh grass between me and the pin.”
Hole in One golfers have this annoying habit of remembering everything in vivid detail.
“I used a 7-wood to get there because I knew I could hit it straighter than any iron. The shot felt good, but I couldn’t see it land because of the marsh grass. One of my partners said it might have gone inside. I said I hoped not because a round of drinks for 20 guys would cost a lot of money.
“I was looking all over the back of the green for the ball, thinking I was going to hit it. One of my partners checked the hole. Voila!”
It’s been six years since that fateful day and Joe still brings it up every time we play.
“I won a strange tie”
We have met Rod Fritz on these pages before. For Rod, breaking 100 is breaking news, but he has a hole-in-one on his golf resume.
“It was 1991 and I was playing in a tournament with my agent and two friends at Scituate Country Club,” says Rod. “It’s a nine-hole course, so we played it twice. It was a 151 yard par-3 and I hit my 7-iron. I thought it was over the green because it disappeared after landing.
“My friend yelled, ‘NO, IT’S IN THE HOLE!!’ I laughed and said he needed glasses.”
As soon as the foursome reached the green, Rod’s friend ran to the hole, ran back to the cart, picked Rod up and carried him back to the hole, yelling, “HOLE IN ONE! HOLE IN ONE!”
“One more thing,” says Rod. “A lot of tournaments have prizes for a hole in one, like a car or a trip or something special.
“I won a terrible tie.”
Somehow, that makes the story even better.
Witness of greatness
For every golfer who nails a hole in one, three others can witness it. They have stories too.
“Nov. 19, 2016, was a cold, gray day at the 27-hole Granite Links in Milton, Mass.,” says Jon Hall, a television news reporter and nature storyteller from Boston. “I was playing the sixth hole at Milton Nine with two friends.
“I was playing 164 yards that day and a friend and I both hit 6-irons and we were both a little short. My friend Joe, a Boston dentist and big game hunter, announced that you always need an extra club on the Milton Nine, and he was right.
“He hit a beautiful 5-iron that landed just past the pin on a sloping green. As he bent down to pick up his tee, I watched the ball roll back toward the cup. I yelled, ‘Joe! Look up, look up!’ He did, just in time to see his second career hole-in-one.”
Mike Clendenin, a retired PR executive from New York, has witnessed both.
“The first was at Cherry Creek Links in Riverhead, New York, while hanging out with strangers I didn’t know. The second was with some Con Edison associates in Westchester. I invited him with the boys and got a free meal and drink on the 19thth hole. I felt like the guy playing the slots and watching the person next to me hit the million dollar jackpot.”
The worst kind of hole in one
You also have I met my cousin Paul on these pages before. Along with being my arch rival on the golf course, he is also the proud owner of two holes-in-one.
Bastard of a mouse.
“The unique thing about them is that they were both in South Carolina on the 12thth hole of the respective courses and both occurred within two weeks of each other in 1997.
“The first was at the Country Club of South Carolina in Florence, where I was working on a temporary assignment. A work friend and I went out early to play. 12th it was 160 yards and I hit a 7-iron. I got the hole in one, but I couldn’t tell anyone or I’d get in trouble for getting fired.”
Paul’s second hole-in-one came two weeks later on the Heathland Course at Legends in Myrtle Beach.
“I hit an 8-iron that caught a side hill, got a nice bounce and rolled about 20 feet into the cup. I was playing with my very competitive twin brother, Peter, who enjoyed telling the very packed club that I had a hole in one and that the drinks were with me.
“He was hurt.”
Peter was always my favorite.
Holes in a facts and figures
Did you know there is one? National Hole-In-One Registry? If you want data, this is the place to go.
For example, more than 500 million rounds of golf are played each year in the US, with each course averaging about 25,000 to 30,000 rounds per year. With these numbers, each course reports, on average, 10 to 15 holes in one per year.
If you are 50 to 59 years old, you most likely have a hole in one. About 25 percent are made from that age group annually. The next most likely group is 40-49 year olds. Women make 16 percent of holes in one each year. Their average age is 55.
The average hole length for a hole-in-one is 147 yards and the most common club used is an 8-iron. Only seven percent were made with a pitching wedge and only four percent were made with a 4-iron.
If you have a hole in one during a round, don’t get greedy. The odds of making two in a round are 67 million to one. However, Greg Shaughnessy did just that on August 27, 2016. He achieved fifth and 10th hole that day at Rockville Link Golf Club in New York.
If you are lucky enough to make a hole in one, be sure to record it. Also, be sure to state the brand of ball and club you used. All OEMs have an acknowledgment policy. Srixon-Cleveland-XXIO, for example, will generate a certificate, a greeting card and a special hole tag in a bag.
Callaway will create a plaque, while PING and Bridgestone will send a certificate.
About that hole bar tab thing in a…
As happy as I was to hear that my bastard cousin had to spend over a few hundred dollars, is it really fair that you have to buy drinks for the entire bar if you make it?
Speaking as a hole-in-one virgin, I say absolutely. However, I reserve the right to change my mind when/if I ever get it.
Rod’s hole-in-one came at an inopportune time.
“I didn’t want everyone to know that I got the hole in one because I had just been fired. I gave my credit card to the bartender and told him if anyone wants a drink from the hole boy to put it on my tab. Fortunately, not many did. But it still cost me a hundred dollars.”
He got that tie, though.
A random golfer I paired up with last weekend told me that one of his three holes in one came at a large member-guest charity tournament. Ace also won the skins progressive challenge, earning him $5,000. It didn’t escape the ribbon tab nor the peer pressure that came from all the cash prize winners donating their prize money to charity.
“I just broke down,” he told me.
Closed but still hunting
Ben Hogan probably said it best about holes in one:
“If you hit it within two feet of the cup, it’s a great shot. If it gets in, it’s pure luck.”
I haven’t had any luck.
Oh, I’ve come closer, like within a foot, more than I can count. The most recent close call, and the impetus for this article, came three weeks ago on the par-3 14thth hole at Breakfast Hill in Greenland, NH The black tees were raised slightly and the hole was cut into the front of a back-to-front sloping green. The laser at 118 yards, which was a 48 degree sunken wedge. It looked good from the start, pulling ever so slightly towards the pin. My playing partner shouted the words every hole-in-one virgin wants to hear:
“That’s right for him!”
it was. The ball, a Bridgestone Tour B XS, landed two feet to the right of the pin and bounced two feet to the left. That was it!
No, it wasn’t.
He also threw about nine inches forward. As Maxwell Smart said, “I missed it that a lot.”
The sand may be sifting through my hourglass with holes in one, but the data offers some hope. After all, 15 percent of all holes in one are made by golfers over the age of 60.
So you say there is a chance…
Your turn…
We want to hear your hole in one story. If you’ve done one, almost done one, or witnessed one, share it below. Let’s have some fun with this.
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