The Rarest of Birds......

[Tim Martin]

I have seen my brother make one, at Sullivan CC in Missouri, but I have not had one myself.


But I'm still up 2-0 on him on aces.

So you have that going for you. Which is nice!

[Pete Lavallee]

My buddy Sam was working with me as a student aide. He had given up golf while in the Navy but decided to get back into it. I loaned him my set of Lynx Predetor woods which had a 2 wood. He holed his second shot at Chila Vistas par 5 18th hole with it, so I got that going for me!

[Matthew Rose]

I have seen my brother make one, at Sullivan CC in Missouri, but I have not had one myself.


But I'm still up 2-0 on him on aces.

So you have that going for you. Which is nice!

Considering that he's a scratch and played semi-pro events at one time and I'm a mid-70s shooter, it is rare that I have anything on him golf wise. But that's one and it drives him nuts.


And it's funny because he's always been a really good iron player. I'm more of a plodding par machine so it's kind of against the script.

[Kalen Braley]

Funny thread for a high capper like myself. 


I've only had 1 eagle, and I was over the moon about that! 

[Lyndell Young]

I made my Albatross on a beautiful fall day At Erin Hills 14 a couple of yrs back. My wife an I were enjoying a trip around Lake Michigan playing some fantastic courses. Erin Hills was our last round of the trip,I was paired with two guys from Chicago really good players so it was nice day of golf.My caddie suggested the prudent play was to hit 160 yd layup to the left, I said i didn't come to lay up so he offered the yardage to the pin.I was playing the 505 yardage not the 613 as in the open. I pulled my trusty 5 wood and hit it exactly where the caddie said.My ball rolled up the contour and back towards the pin ,my caddie was watching through his range finder and said thats close.When we arrived at the green no ball on the putting surface.My competitor checked the ball that was down the false front and it was his.Caddie yelled out I'm not getting the putter out might jinx you ,so he looked in the cup and wow! On that hole ,where the US Open would be played  so cool ! It was exciting to watch this Years US Open play the 14th.What a Day that was for me . Capped it off with an ace at Old Mac with my son in this years GCA event at Bandon.

[Ed Tilley]

I had a hole in one on the par 4 18th on the green course at Frilford Heath - from the very back tees being 298 yards. It was 1989 and I was playing in a school 4BBB match. We'd already won and one of the guys we were playing had a new graphite driver, which was pretty rare back then. I asked if I could hit it on the 18th - first shot I'd ever hit with a metal wood and only one I ever hit with that club. Still remember the shock as I walked past the hole thinking my ball was over the back and saw my "Seve Ballesteros" ball looking up at me!

[Doug Siebert]

I saw one of my dad's friends make one many years ago with a 5W or 7W from around 200 yards. As he was a bogey golfer that makes him definitely a "rare bird" indeed to pick up an albatross! Probably the only one I'll ever witness in person.

As for myself, I once caught a bit of lip on a 5 iron second to a par 5, and hit the pin while rolling a little too hard with a driver on a 328 yard par 4, ending up in the fringe 18 feet left. The real problem is that I've NEVER holed out from further than about 60 or 70 yards except for one time from 175 on a par 4, but even then was for birdie after chipping out from the trees. On the other hand, I've had four holes in one, go figure! So I'm thinking my best odds are acing a par 4, but every year I'm a little bit shorter than the last so the number of par 4s within reach is shrinking so I better do it soon...

[Mark McKeever]

I have one to my credit when I lived down in Houston in 2009.  Airmailed my second shot on the par 5 11th at Southwyck GC.


MM

[Pat Burke]

I had a hole in one on the par 4 18th on the green course at Frilford Heath - from the very back tees being 298 yards. It was 1989 and I was playing in a school 4BBB match. We'd already won and one of the guys we were playing had a new graphite driver, which was pretty rare back then. I asked if I could hit it on the 18th - first shot I'd ever hit with a metal wood and only one I ever hit with that club. Still remember the shock as I walked past the hole thinking my ball was over the back and saw my "Seve Ballesteros" ball looking up at me!

Very cool.  I'm heading to Frilford Heath for first stage of Euro Q School with a student....ill tell him 18 is a hole to get

[Jud_T]

I've seen an albatross by a buddy of mine at the Klondyke at Lahinch, no less.  In other words, the rarest of birds- the mythical blind Albatross!

[Alex Miller]

Had my one and only at Ballyneal 2 years ago. 5 iron from 205 on the 16th hole.


Just missed the bowl of achievement but I hit a nice towering draw from the fairway, knew it was a solid shot from the beginning but had no expectations. Landed on the green and curled left toward the pin and disappeared (pin was on the left side of the green basically on the slope between tiers). Caddie gave the confirmation and I proceeded to freak out and run around with all the adrenaline.



Played a partners match with David Mihm who holed out for a 3 from 40 yards - so we combined for a par! Nice way to close out the match, wouldn't you say Jim Colton?

[MClutterbuck]

1990. Playing in a threesome for a sandwich prize, two of us eagled and lost the hole to an albatross. I recall playing a Ping Eye 1-iron for my second shot narrowly missing the albatross. The hole was shortened 50 yards and turned into a tough par 4 the next year.

[Bob Montle]

Moral of this story is while extremely rare it's usually the very good players that have this happen. JB is like a low single figure hcp and Jon is a pro.

The average hack can't hit it that far that straight so the odds of that happening must be astronomical for anyone above say a 10 hcp, though I don't know the stats.

Then I may be the worst golfer to make one and my boss the second worst.
Mine was on a hard baked clay fairway 520 yd par 5.   My usual 210 yd drive rolled out to about 280.  Then my 5 wood landed about 50 yds short of the green and rolled on and into the cup.   My index is 18.2

My bosses came on a par 5 gently curving right with a OB cornfield on the right.
He hits a wicked slice and his drive hugged the corner but stayed in bounds.  He sliced his 4 wood about 50 yds into the cornfield but the ball hit some power-lines and dropped down.  Local rules (on scorecard) said ball hitting power-lines may be re-played with no penalty.  His second try cleared the cornfield, took a huge bounce off the cart path and rolled into the cup.

The moral is that you don't have to be good.  Just lucky!

I've actually had 6 eagles in the last 3 years but never a hole-in-one in 60 yrs of playing.

[Sean Leary]

I had one about 5 years go. 3 wood from  245.


Might have been the last good shot I hit.

[Tim Martin]

I had one about 5 years go. 3 wood from  245.


Might have been the last good shot I hit.

  -Congrats on a rare feat!!!!

[Sam Krume]

Not really an albatross but did see my playing partner walk off a par 4 with a birdie but that birdie was his provisional ball.....

[Kalen Braley]

Not really an albatross but did see my playing partner walk off a par 4 with a birdie but that birdie was his provisional ball.....

I'm assuming he never bothered looking for his original ball...

[Dave McCollum]

The only one I’ve seen was by a golf buddy.  They’re all just luck, but this one was the result of two perfectly hit shots:  big drive and high draw with like a 5 iron from 200.  Nice when that happens.  We saw it go in. When I got my only hole in one, I couldn’t see the green surface and spent a few minutes searching for my ball in the rough behind the green before finding it in the hole.  As I’ve said before, I didn’t really play golf at the time.  I was just showing a guy around about a week before we opened the course to the public.

[Ed Tilley]

I had a hole in one on the par 4 18th on the green course at Frilford Heath - from the very back tees being 298 yards. It was 1989 and I was playing in a school 4BBB match. We'd already won and one of the guys we were playing had a new graphite driver, which was pretty rare back then. I asked if I could hit it on the 18th - first shot I'd ever hit with a metal wood and only one I ever hit with that club. Still remember the shock as I walked past the hole thinking my ball was over the back and saw my "Seve Ballesteros" ball looking up at me!

Very cool.  I'm heading to Frilford Heath for first stage of Euro Q School with a student....ill tell him 18 is a hole to get

I've had every score from 1 to 8 on that hole (and possibly more). Sadly, the Q school will be played on the Red course. The 18th on that course is just over 300 yards so driveable - although you can put it in the car park so most pros play 7 iron, wedge

[Carl Nichols]

Is anyone else as amazed as I am at the number of double eagles identified in this thread? 

[Sam Krume]

Not really an albatross but did see my playing partner walk off a par 4 with a birdie but that birdie was his provisional ball.....

I'm assuming he never bothered looking for his original ball...

No...but I did!!!!!

[Kalen Braley]

Is anyone else as amazed as I am at the number of double eagles identified in this thread?

Carl,


I'm with you on this one.  Given how rare it is even for the pros, I though same!

[MClutterbuck]

Is anyone else as amazed as I am at the number of double eagles identified in this thread?

Carl,


I'm with you on this one.  Given how rare it is even for the pros, I though same!

I need to review further, but on my home course there seems to be a greater differential in the number of birdies between the best players and say a 10 handicapper than in the amount of eagles, percentage wise.


Do birdies follow good play more than eagles, where there is a greater element of luck?


Do albatrosses depend more on luck than good play relative to eagles?


Does that make it less surprising than a large group of amateurs on this board, plus all of our friends, get a relatively surprising amounf of albatrosses compared to a small bunch of pros?

[Adrian_Stiff]

I am amazed how many have had one but there are a lot of good golfers on this site. I am 100 ish eagles, 36 times I have holed from the tee or from the fairway as a full shot though nearly always full wedges.
18 holes in 1 only 4 proper ones rest are on the par 3 course
Albatrosses zero
I reckon 50% of pro's have had one, quite rare someone having two or more.


The simple reason why they are so rare for anyone above say 6 handicap is they cant hit it far enough to drive short par 4s or hit par 5 holes. UK par 5 holes are the easiest because 480 yarders are drive and short irons in the summer with run.