Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group => Topic started by: Ran Morrissett on July 08, 2015, 09:42:39 PM
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I refer to my hole-in-one on the infamous 16th at Cabot Cliffs this past weekend. Since the major networks have - mysteriously - yet to run with the story, I feel compelled to give this all too brief version of the historic event.
(http://golfclubatlas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CabotCliffs_16_CHT.jpg)
Mission: Possible
Before teeing off Saturday afternoon, Ben Cowan-Dewar pulled me aside with a concerned look and implored, "I really need your help. I promised my children that someone would make a hole-in-one on Cliffs during its opening week and so far nothing. The big guns like the two-time Masters champ and JPN have failed. I need you to come through big-time, okay?"
Knowing that the Cliffs features six par 3s and seeing that the wind was down, I selflessly agreed to help out my mate. Roll the clock forward a few hours and we arrive at the sixteenth tee some 110 feet above the Gulf of St. Lawrence. To that point, I had not lived up to my promise even though there had been flashes of brilliance: I had hit one of the five par 3 greens in regulation. :-[
Scanning the scene from the elevated tee I winced, noticing that the hole was located in the most treacherous back left location, inaccessible to mortals. My heart sank. Would Santa not make a delivery this year?!
Terrified yet determined, I bore down, trying to steel my nerves and fragile swing, which commenced in the usual manner with elbows and knees simultaneously thrusting in four different directions. Later, I reflected that my motion must have resembled that of another great athlete at his peak: Secretariat bolting out of the gate at Belmont.
At the top of the swing, DREAD! I suddenly realized that the set of irons that I keep at Cabot are 3 degrees more upright than those I have played for the past nine months at home. Quick thinking and superior reflexes allowed me to compensate by flattening my left wrist to achieve the desired contact and trajectory. History (the new name for my Miura 7 iron) collided with Destiny (the new name for my Callaway ball) and BOOM! Flames appeared as the ball took off toward the stratosphere. Eventually, like Felix Baumgartner, it re-entered as a red orb and plunged toward the green, specifically the flag.
A sea breeze suddenly gusted to at least 2 mph and might well have been swirling for all I know. Had the proper allowances been made?! As the orb descended, it appeared dead on line but we saw NOTHING because the diabolically located hole was behind a knob with only the top half of the flagstick visible.
After Tom Doak and Ben slapped their shots onto the green we walked around the cliff-line to inspect the results. Only two balls were on the putting surface. What had occurred - had I, in fact, failed Ben's children?!
Ben approached the hole, looked in, and said, "I don't believe it, it's in." As a master of emotional chicanery, he was surely kidding. As I walked toward the back edge, he emoted, "I am serious!" Still not believing, I went over and peeked into the hole. Sure enough, the Golfing Gods had rendered a most fair and just verdict!
Either our excellent caddie Tom Ryan - or perhaps me - quickly posed the question, 'Is this shot better than both Nicklaus's 1 iron at Pebble and his approach to sixteen at Augusta in '86 - or just one of them?' I humbly opined both BECAUSE the sixteenth at Cliffs is so superior to the other two holes. Who knows how history will ultimately consider these three heroic deeds?
(http://golfclubatlas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/a1.jpg)
Coore and Crenshaw's best was no match for the Ran in black. Me, surrounded by my admirers.
After a bit Ben said to Tom "All this hard work and this happens to the world's biggest horse's ass." I think that was a reference to Secretariat but I never got clarification from Ben. Laudations were quickly delivered from all corners of the golfing world. Ever a keen student of the game, and unaware that my own equipment somehow poorly fits me, Tom D. asked the next morning, "Was that the only good iron you hit all day?"
Given what a pretty spot the green enjoys, I truly hope that Ben and Mike don't erect a 20 foot (or perhaps 30 foot would be better?) statue on the green where the heroic deed was done.
(http://golfclubatlas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/a2.jpg)
Look at the relief itched on Ben's face now that the promise to his family has been fulfilled. Tom Doak is smiling,
in realization that he will be drinking for free all night.
This hole-in-one proudly joins my others at places like the 9th at Pinehurst No. 2 and Mid-Ocean’s 13th. Great architects do indeed produce holes that allow talent to shine through is not an inaccurate conclusion!
My playing companions, the glorious setting, the daunting hole and the fulfillment for Ben's children make it extra special, if not downright momentous and folklore-ish.
And now you have the rest of the story...
8)
Best,
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Tremendous recounting.
And congratulations.
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Ran..what can I say that you have not already said...oh wait...Congratulations!!! works well me thinks.
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If I'm not mistaken, oh most Excellent Three Degrees Upright, others and many others have scored an ace at Pebble and Augusta and Pinehurst and Mid Ocean and at many other courses known and long ago forgotten. But of all those many golfers over so many decades, who of them is alive today that can say with any credence, "But I was the FIRST"? Dear highly Esteemed Ill-Suited Iron, you can now, and for your decades of happy golfing life hereafter, always say to those who talk of aces and in reverent tones about the 16th at the Cliffs -- "Ah, laddie, but I was the FIRST"! Congratulations, your Ran-ness of Golfing Lore!!
Peter
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Ran,
Unfortunately, both the USGA and the R&A have confirmed that your hole in one is null and void as the cups/holes at Cabot are not in conformance with the regulation 4.25 inches in diameter, but rather 4.5 inches in diameter.
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Ran: The only thing better would have been your using your hickories. Congratulations!
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What a tale! Perhaps the powers behind the proposed "Mother Canada" monument (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/placement-of-mother-canada-statue-has-cape-bretoners-on-war-footing/article17382958/)should reconsider their location!
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Welcome to the Holiday Hole in One Club!!! Congrats.
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Congratulations and many more!
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Ran -
Congratulations. It's always fun and a pleasant surprise when one goes in.
DT
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After posing for the photo above, Ran standing over his tee shot at the 17th when I asked, "Wait. What did you do with the ball?" An unsentimental sort, he was preparing to hit it over the cliff and hope it reached the other side.
We managed to convince him to switch to a beautiful yellow ball and he promptly drove the 17th green with it. The fact that he did not mention this will serve as a clue as to how many putts he needed on the 17th green.
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The "Ran In Black". Love it. Congrats!
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Terrific!
Surely the 7 iron should be displayed prominently in the club house.
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The greatest tale of its kind.
Norton is on the line for his next anthology. Please be brief.
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Perfect.
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Perfect.
Ran,
Pinch you arm and remember that this will be with you and every waking moment of your life. Congratulations and best wishes. One day you will look back and ask how on earth did I hit a ball over one hundred yards, trust me it will happen.
Bob
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Whilst Congratulations might well be in order, such a singular shot provides little if any real recompense for your historically futile attempts to produce multiple shots that provide victory!! 8)
May the legend live on!!
Cheers......
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Ran,
What a marvellous account! Joy all around!
Shades of Shivas, Murphy and MacIver playing Lucifer's Rug …. but even better as you snare a hole-in-one!
"It was a hole in all respects suited to test the powers of "true gravity""
As others have carolled this is an indelible moment and you can tell your grandchildren "The picture of it is still painted brightly in my memory"
Congrats! Colin
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Brilliant Ran! Stealing the show...
Was the match already over? How many shots did you have to give Tom? From what I've seen that 10 hcp is a little suspect ;)
Nothing better than losing the match on 16 and then having one of the best shots of your life on one of the most beautiful holes be the only thing any of you will ever remember even if it cost you double.
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That is a fantastic story. Congrats!
The best part is that the happy expression in the picture is a universal one. I have a series of pictures with the exact same "hole-in-one face" from my career moment.
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Congratulations ... the telling of this event might be even better than the shot!
Ian
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8)
Congrats , always well done when one finds the mark!
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Here are the most common responses to the biggest sporting event of the year:
1. Goodness gracious, given that it happened on America's Independence Day, I am ashamed of John Wayne for not having the foresight to include you in this 12 out of 10 rendition from 1970 of God Bless America:
http://biggeekdad.com/2014/09/john-wayne-1970/#.VCHJXVfNNJ8.email
2. Is it true that your putt for eagle at the drivable 17th hole came up short and that therefore your hopes of finishing eagle-eagle-double eagle went unrealized? Sadly yes, that's true BUT there is always this autumn.
3. Why do people like your middle brother (1 handicap) and Pat Mucci even try and compete against you? Good question!
4. How do you think Ben feels 1) having made a birdie and 2) still losing the hole? Once I finished doing somersaults, I showed nothing but compassion for his feeble efforts.
5. When you go to Dismal this August, IF you don't get a hole-in-one, does that mean that Coore & Crenshaw build better par 3s than the other two architects? I don't think it will come to that!
6. Who will play you in the movie? I am thinking The Rock but Woody Allen is the only person who has expressed interest so far.
7. Is it true that Donald Trump attended one of your classes on self-promotion? That's confidential!
Best,
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This is awesome. Like a die hard Red Sox fan after '04, you can live the rest of your life knowing you reached the pinnacle.
Congrats!
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Here are the most common responses to the biggest sporting event of the year:
1. Goodness gracious, given that it happened on America's Independence Day, I am ashamed of John Wayne for not having the foresight to include you in this 12 out of 10 rendition from 1970 of God Bless America:
http://biggeekdad.com/2014/09/john-wayne-1970/#.VCHJXVfNNJ8.email (http://biggeekdad.com/2014/09/john-wayne-1970/#.VCHJXVfNNJ8.email)
2. Is it true that your putt for eagle at the drivable 17th hole came up short and that therefore your hopes of finishing eagle-eagle-double eagle went unrealized? Sadly yes, that's true BUT there is always this autumn.
3. Why do people like your middle brother (1 handicap) and Pat Mucci even try and compete against you? Good question!
4. How do you think Ben feels 1) having made a birdie and 2) still losing the hole? Once I finished doing somersaults, I showed nothing but compassion for his feeble efforts.
5. When you go to Dismal this August, IF you don't get a hole-in-one, does that mean that Coore & Crenshaw build better par 3s than the other two architects? I don't think it will come to that!
Best,
Ran, perhaps when you get an Albatross and Ace in back to back rounds including one at the ICONIC 9th at Yale then perhaps you can top Tuco Ramirez. No wait a second, you've never beaten Tuco anywhere, a few halves sure but no wins over the last decade..
Oh and get a haircut! Is that a 1960's style Beatles mop on your noggin?
I look forward to thrashing you this fall in any match play..
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An ace,by an American, on the 4th of July, in a country that licks the queen's boots? That's no mere hole in one, that's a blow struck for little-r republicans everywhere. Huzzah huzzah!
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Was the match already over? How many shots did you have to give Tom? From what I've seen that 10 hcp is a little suspect ;)
There were no shots given or received. I was 4 up at the turn; Ran's wins on 15, 16 and 17 [when I didn't get it to the fairway in two tries after witnessing history] brought it back to even. He then went for the 18th in two, and missed over the side of the green and down the cliff, costing him the match. [That's a pretty harsh feature of that hole.]
The next morning at Cabot Links it was more straightforward. I don't even know which hole I won on, we had stopped keeping track well before then. I think Ran and Ben had celebrated a little too much the night before.
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With all due respect to your own golfing abilities Ran, I see this achievement as a reward from the Golfing Gods for having established a web site devoted to the architecture of this great game. A well deserved reward.
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That is awesome !!! I have a drink in your honor tonight - ok, maybe 2.
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If this weren't your site and if my posting privileges weren't at your mercy I'd chastise you roundly for such shameless self-promotion, but keeping those two subordinate clauses in mind, Congratulations on your epic achievement and there are no words to describe your modest and restrained account of the same.
And as has been pointed out, no matter what comes after you were the first and they can't take that away from you. I know because I scored my high school's first touchdown (the first three actually but that's another stor(ies). I remember it well. It was a sultry August evening and though we were being soundly thrashed, the off tackle was called...
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great story ... brought a smile to my face on the 57th straight day of rain in Illinois.
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What Don Hyslop said.... ;D
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An ace,by an American, on the 4th of July, in a country that licks the queen's boots? That's no mere hole in one, that's a blow struck for little-r republicans everywhere. Huzzah huzzah!
First of all, we officially stopped licking the Queen's boots (capital "Q", please) in 1982, with the Constitution Act that ammended the British North America Act and established the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Second, this is Golf Club Atlas: you needn't use the small "r" republican, as there is nary a soul around who would object to the capital "R". Finally, from the Golfers' Greeting Cards Special Edition: "Like love itself, a prohibitively expensive sea-side links course knows no borders". (As you know, this joins the most popular card in the collection: "Minimalism means never having to say you're sorry".)
Peter
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Magical! A tremendous accomplishment and an epic tale to go with it. Congratulations!
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A sea breeze suddenly gusted to at least 2 mph and might well have been swirling for all I know.
Funniest line of them all. Didn't know you had it in you, sir!
Congrats.
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[/Why are we discussing this??? Because its a miracle. The first ace on 16. I've recorded this in its proper form.
1. Born to a virgin - Miracles of Jesus (http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/virgin-birth-jesus.htm)
2. Changing water into wine - Miracles of Jesus (http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/m1.htm)
3. Healing of the royal official's son - Miracles of Jesu (http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/m2.htm)s
4. Healing of the Capernaum demoniac - Miracles of Jesus (http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/m3.htm)
5. Healing of Peter's mother-in-law - Miracles of Jesus (http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/m4.htm)
6. Healing the sick during the evening - Miracles of Jesus (http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/jesus-miracles-healing-hands.htm)
7. Catching a large number of fish - Miracles of Jesus (http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/m5.htm)
8. Healing a leper - Miracles of Jesus (http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/m6.htm)
9. Rans hole in 1 at Cabot Cliffs - Miracles of Ran
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Congrats Ran, I love golf karma! PS It's a good thing this didn't happen on that other holiday April 1 as we wouldn't believe you...
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There is nothing more boring than hearing a man recount how he played a golf hole.
Bogey
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It's a good thing this didn't happen on that other holiday April 1
As the Scots caddies are fond of saying, "that would be too great of a coincidence."
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Here are the most common responses to the biggest sporting event of the year:
1. Goodness gracious, given that it happened on America's Independence Day, I am ashamed of John Wayne for not having the foresight to include you in this 12 out of 10 rendition from 1970 of God Bless America:
http://biggeekdad.com/2014/09/john-wayne-1970/#.VCHJXVfNNJ8.email
2. Is it true that your putt for eagle at the drivable 17th hole came up short and that therefore your hopes of finishing eagle-eagle-double eagle went unrealized? Sadly yes, that's true BUT there is always this autumn.
3. Why do people like your middle brother (1 handicap) and Pat Mucci even try and compete against you? Good question!
Because it's incredibly rewarding, emotionally and financially. ;D
4. How do you think Ben feels 1) having made a birdie and 2) still losing the hole? Once I finished doing somersaults, I showed nothing but compassion for his feeble efforts.
5. When you go to Dismal this August, IF you don't get a hole-in-one, does that mean that Coore & Crenshaw build better par 3s than the other two architects? I don't think it will come to that!
6. Who will play you in the movie? I am thinking The Rock but Woody Allen is the only person who has expressed interest so far.
7. Is it true that Donald Trump attended one of your classes on self-promotion? That's confidential!
Best,
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Here are the most common responses to the biggest sporting event of the year:
6. Who will play you in the movie? I am thinking The Rock but Woody Allen is the only person who has expressed interest so far.
Haven't we already been over this! ;D
(http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr7/rednorman/GCA/ran%20kingsman_zpswk8hw11o.jpg)
(http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr7/rednorman/GCA/ran%20kingsman%202_zps1ecif8lj.jpg)
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...good grief...
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Well Ran, first off, congratulations!
You join an exclusive club. I too am a member--at my father’s new golf course, now mine. I didn’t know the lies of my clubs, matter of fact, I didn’t know what a lie was, and they weren’t my clubs. I had no clubs so I borrowed some to give some academic golf nut a free tour of the new course because no golfer was available. I didn’t play and it was perhaps the second time I attempted to hit a ball on grass. When we didn’t see the ball on the blind green surface, although the ball seemed to be heading in that general direction, we didn’t look in the hole. Instead, we played the percentages and spent the next few minutes searching the underbrush behind the green. We gave up and only discovered the ball when Professor Golf holed out. I was laughing so much, I think I got a 13 on the next hole.
Having achieved that pinnacle, I quit the game for the next 25 years. Even after taking it up, it’s been close but no cigar.
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Good morning Gentlemen, (PP Please note the capital G!)
Never in the fields of golfing conflict have so many been entertained so heartily by so few!!
This hole-in-one must be the most lauded ace in golfing history ..... and so it should be. To do the deed and have a gaggle of one thousand golfers living vicariously through this feat must be a real treat!
What a lark and what an uplifting thread and with that I'm off tae the gowf!
Cheers Colin
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Eric,
That's pretty neat.
Ran,
Great hole to get a hole in one on, much better than just another member getting another hole in one on his home course.
Outstanding.
When will the plaque be installed or did you install it that night ?
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Congratulations on the feat and the narrative, Ran. Every hole-in-one is a minor miracle, but few have such articulate commentators to report them.
My one-and-only ace occurred in so unaccountably incredible circumstances that when I wanted to report on it, I demurred because it was too true to be believed. So, I took the writer's route and fictionalized the story, publishing all the germane facts in a short story that became the first in my series, Tales from the Caddy Yard. It's a Kindle story in the Amazon series, called "Impossible? Improbable? or Inevitable?"
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A sea breeze suddenly gusted to at least 2 mph and might well have been swirling for all I know.
Funniest line of them all. Didn't know you had it in you, sir!
Congrats.
What I want to know is whether he allowed for that breeze? For one of my holes in one there was what I've always referred to as the "merest zephyr" so I aimed six feet left on a 185 yard shot. Some people don't believe me but honest to god I did. Luckily every once in a while I actually hit it where I'm aiming!
Congrats on the ace, Ran. Having the "first hole in one ever" on that hole (and I guess that course?) is an achievement few of us will ever match!
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Congratulations ... the telling of this event might be even better than the shot!
Ian
I can attest to that.
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There's nothing like a hole in one to release the euphoria within the human spirit.
What a teriffic euphoric exultation delivered with the tongue well in cheek,
I was chuckling all the way through.
Even luckier, Ran got to share the euphoria with esteemed golf buddies - what better.
My euphoric event happened alone. The first person I saw, I walked up to and said.
"Excuse my interruption but I've got to tell someone - I just made an ace at the 5th"
His unimpressed reply,
"I made one there yesterday"
It still didn't dampen the euphoria for a good 24 hours.
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8) Ran,
Certainly congrats on the ace, its special anywhere accomplished and especially to a golfer's psyche. Did I miss it or was this your first also?
Your narrative certainly dispels the old quote "its now how, its how many!"
When I showed your accomplishment at Cabot to Ms Sheila, she questioned when are we going there? While a picture is worth 10k words, being there is much better.. oh, and when you head to Dismal in August, see if you can match her ace at #3 White, they give a nice plaque to memorialize. ;D
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Great looking golf hole. And, it must be conceded that it had to be a good shot in spite of of the questionable abilities of the man who struck it. Lastly, please don't remove the golf hole and re-construct a different #16 elsewhere on the course in order for you to own the original hole's only ace in history.
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Callaway Chrome or SP2 Ran?
Big congrats and hoped you celebrated with plenty of Crown Royal and Mooseheads!
;D