[Kalen Braley]

There is a element of luck to it I think.

The closet I've come to making an ace is the 1st year I started playing.  I hit a 5 wood on a 150 yard hole that ended up two feet from the pin.  I've never been closer than that ever since.

[Rick Shefchik]

THis is the bitter voice of an aceless golfer, so keep in mind.

8 iron?  Jeez Brad you must have played a really up tee or you are HUGELY LONG.  I've played the hole in question, and it was a freakin' 3wood for me... 230 over the water.

It's a memorable hole from that distance only because it's so damn tough.  It would be pretty commonplace from normal human 8 iron distance.  That being said, it is a pretty shallow green and I recall some contour.

Sorry to detract from the issue at hand though - way to go Brad!

BY the way, I've witnessed many aces - at least 6-8 - and of course never have had one myself.  Play with me if you want to get one.  I was in the group with Bill McBride.... still say that's the best golf shot I've ever seen.

TH

Huck,

Sometimes drastic situations call for drastic measures. Come to Stillwater, Minn., someday to play my home course, Stillwater Country Club, and chances are good you'll leave with an ace under your belt.

The 13th hole at Stillwater CC is a 175-yard dropshot with a punchbowl green that's really more like a funnel. I don't think a week goes by without somebody acing it.

I joined the club this spring, and in my first round, playing with three longtime club members, we got to the 13th tee and I said, "You guys must have all seen an ace here." They just laughed; two of them said they had an ace on that hole, and the other said he had two.

You've been playing the wrong courses.

[Ken Moum]

There is a element of luck to it I think.

I know it's mostly luck.

I got two of them 10 days apart, 36 years ago. My only two--both six irons.

And I am known as a crummy iron player.

I also holed a six iron off my drive for deuce in a scramble once, and a 23* fairway wood from 210 for deuce on the same hole.

Then nothing for about 10 or so years until I holed a nine iron for 2 on the second at my current home course.

But, unlike Brad, I've seen at least three aces besides my two.

The best one was in a club league match where my teammate's opponent holed one, so my teammate stood up and said, "Looks like I have to hole it for a half."

Then he proceeded to hit the flagstick on the fly--failed to hold the green, however..

[Tom Huckaby]

Rick:

Very gracious and of course I'd love to give it a try, but I've come so close to making an ace, missing in so many different maddening ways, that I have to believe I'd be the one to play that hole and have it lodge against the stick and then get blown out by a bolt of lightning before I can retrieve it and make it official.  So best I stay away.

I am serious in that I truly and firmly believe I will never get an ace in my golfing life.  It really is not meant to be.  This realization is rather liberating.  But I'm still bitter.

 

[Andy Troeger]

I've had two hole in ones, but never witnessed one while playing. I have witnessed one while watching a high school tournament.

[Bob_Huntley]

I liked making my holes in one during match play - it allows me to say about any opponents chip shot "Yours is good for for a birdie two".

My only hole in one in 50 years of golf was during a GCA event in 2005 - on the 16th hole after I had already lost a match 8 & 7!  

Or was it 9 & 7?  

Apparently that took the pressure off, as I think I was around par for the remaining 7 holes, with the ace helping.

+++

Doesn't that hole look, in aerial view at least, a lot like #4 at Baltusrol?

 


Bill,

Was that the 131 yard hole that you aced with your driver?


Bob

[Geoffrey Childs]

Congratulations Brad - well done.

I too have never had an ace except for an 80 yard pitch to a temp green with a 6 inch hole in winter  

[Mike Erdmann]

Nicely done Brad!  

[Ron Farris]

Nice Job Brad!

[Patrick_Mucci]

Brad,

That's a nice feather in your cap.

What were your thoughts on the shot a nano-second after you hit it ?

P.S.  That's a tough hole.

[Jim Colton]

Congrats on the ace, Brad.  After being convinced I'd be the 80 year old guy who played golf his whole life and never got a hole-in-one, I got the monkey off my back 2 years ago.  Now that the flood gates are open, I hope to make at least 3 or 4 more.

[Sally Livingston]

Congrats Brad! Never give up in this game!

[Evan Fleisher]

Well, I think that makes it just about everyone on the site with an ace, no?

 

NO!!!!!!!!!!  

Still "aceless" here in Cleveland.

But getting back on topic...WAY TO GO, DR. K!!!

[Don Dinkmeyer]

Congratulations, Brad!  

[Brad Klein]

I was pretty excited as I watched the thing the whole way --actually exactly how I planned the shot -- a little draw coming up short and rolling up, except I hadn't planned on the ending.

Then I thought, oh shit, Caves Valley, this is going to cost a fortune. But I was a guest and they don't accept outside money. Actually, it was a blast, and I was kind of hacking around until then but managed to play the last few holes (we had started on the back) a little better.

[Jerry Kluger]

Brad: Congrats - A great place for a celebration.

[Adam Clayman]

Well Done!

Brad, Just to confirm a theory, can you tell us if there was any mention of a hole in one by anyone in your group prior to teeing it up, while on that hole? Any thought of an ace, in your mind, prior to the strike while on that teeing ground?

[Brad Klein]

Nope. Not a word about anything. I hit off first, before anyone said a thing.

[PThomas]

I was pretty excited as I watched the thing the whole way --actually exactly how I planned the shot -- a little draw coming up short and rolling up, except I hadn't planned on the ending.

Then I thought, oh shit, Caves Valley, this is going to cost a fortune. But I was a guest and they don't accept outside money. Actually, it was a blast, and I was kind of hacking around until then but managed to play the last few holes (we had started on the back) a little better.

I'll take care of any guilt you are feeling Brad over NOT having to buy drinks by taking a gin and tonic...

[Bill_McBride]

I liked making my holes in one during match play - it allows me to say about any opponents chip shot "Yours is good for for a birdie two".

My only hole in one in 50 years of golf was during a GCA event in 2005 - on the 16th hole after I had already lost a match 8 & 7!  

Or was it 9 & 7?  

Apparently that took the pressure off, as I think I was around par for the remaining 7 holes, with the ace helping.

+++

Doesn't that hole look, in aerial view at least, a lot like #4 at Baltusrol?

 


Bill,

Was that the 131 yard hole that you aced with your driver?


Bob

You are the jabmeister!

See Huckaby's post #22 above for the rest of the story.

When you aren't sure you can carry 210 yards, you have to resort to desperate measures!    "A man has to know his limitations."

[Bill_McBride]

I'd say many aces are indeed dumb luck, but that makes me sound even more bitter.  So they're all great shots.

McBride's truly was a great golf shot, absolutely zero luck.  225 or so over water... outside of Bill's carry range.  So what does he do?  Carves it AROUND the water... perfect left to right, as the land allowed... it was on line all the way and basically died in the hole.  I swear it was like a 225 yard breaking putt.

Many thanks to my press agent, Mr. Huckaby.  

[Mike Dasher]

In response to Jeff Brauer's requests for individuals remodeling holes they have aced, I'm currently involved in the elimination of my only ace, the ninth at Dubsdread (Orlando) as it's removal is part of a major facelift.  My ace was the sixth I've witnessed, including two on the same hole (15th @Dubs) on the same day, different players a half a decade earlier.

[Gordon Oneil]

Then I thought, oh shit, Caves Valley, this is going to cost a fortune. But I was a guest and they don't accept outside money. Actually, it was a blast, and I was kind of hacking around until then but managed to play the last few holes (we had started on the back) a little better.

Yeah, those "1's" sure don't add up to much on the scorecard...

What a great hole to "Break On Through To The Other Side."  I don't know what tees you were playing, but from the back (something between 200-215; I think there's a tee somewhere way back there around 240 but it's absolutely insane and they don't even play it in the Chesapeake Cup) the green looks 100 yards wide but in most places only about 15 paces deep.

You'd better pick the correct club...and it sounds like you did just that Brad.  Congratulations.

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