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David Whitmer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« on: June 25, 2008, 01:13:30 PM »
This past Sunday I watched as my playing partner and brother made a hole-in-one. I am 35 years old, and incredibly that was the ninth ace I have witnessed in my lifetime, without ever having one myself. That's got to be some kind of record, doesn't it? Has anyone else witnessed that many holes-in-one without achieving the feat yourself?

I remember all nine very vividly...the last was at The Memorial 6 or 7 years ago, when Hal Sutton made one on #12. Every one of them has been exciting, though I can only imagine how it feels to get one.

Another question I have: this Sunday, we were looking into the sun, so we THOUGHT it may have gone in, but were not sure, and did not receive confirmation until we got to the green. Is it better to see a ball go in from the tee, or anticipate it may have gone in, and let the build-up increase until you get to the hole and see it resting at the bottom?

John_Conley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2008, 01:16:00 PM »
I have not witnessed 9 but I've made one.  Perhaps you need to focus more on your own game and worry less about others!

Tyler Kearns

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2008, 01:19:55 PM »
I have won, but have never witnessed any others. As neat as it would be to see 9 aces, I prefer my scenario.

Tom Huckaby

Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2008, 01:33:07 PM »
I have witnessed six.

I have made one.

The former were exciting, the latter was life-changing.

TH

Carl Nichols

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2008, 01:38:24 PM »
I've witnessed 5, made 1.  Mine was during a member-guest; if I had made it the day before on the same hole I would've won a Mercedes, but on that particular day and hole, I won a two-night trip to a lame resort I had never heard of.  Never bothered to go. 

Craig Van Egmond

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2008, 01:42:58 PM »

None witnessed, one made.  Life's good.  ;D

tlavin

Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2008, 01:46:18 PM »
I've made three and a half and I witnessed Jeff Rude from Golfweek sink one at Beverly (#3) last year.  Two came at Olympia North (#'s13 and 16), one at Flossmoor (#7) on my birthday in a club event and I threw one in the hole last summer at the Dunes (#6) after my first shot went in the woods.  I was able to see all of them disappear, but it's amazing how hard it is to believe that it actually was happening, so you tend to convince yourself that it may have run off the green or something.  As great as the holes-in-one were, probably the best shot I ever sunk was a 222 yard eagle out of the rough on the 16th hole at Beverly.  That struck me as even more improbable than any of the aces.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2008, 01:49:23 PM by Terry Lavin »

Mike_Cirba

Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2008, 01:51:30 PM »
I've made three, and witnessed two others.

Tom Huckaby

Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2008, 01:52:08 PM »
I have never seen one.

Screw you Huck.

And I'm convinced that all the ones I see on TV are doctored video, just like the Apollo landing was really done in a TV studio in Burbank.

Well, remember, in your world the one I made doesn't count.

Par three course.

You owe me for this.  I could have left this as is.

 ;D

Daryl David

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #9 on: June 25, 2008, 01:57:44 PM »
I have been lucky enough to witness both my parents making aces.  It was a thrill to see my mom's only one a sunny Christmas day and my dad's sixth a few days later.

My only other was perhaps the most exciting.  It could be the poster child for John Kirk's theory of time.  It occured on number 17 at Rustic.  Pin back left and the green so firm that the tee shot had to be landed short right with a little cut if you wanted to get close.  My buddy's shot landed perfectly short, hopped a few times and then began what seemed to be a full minute of tracking toward the pin.  So much better than a slam dunk.  Waiting for that shot to stop rolling and see it disappear was priceless.

Tom Huckaby

Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #10 on: June 25, 2008, 02:04:39 PM »
I've jugged balls on practice facilities too.  Of course it doesn't count.  I had forgotten the shady nature of this "ace"....

I know I shall never convince you.  Let's just leave it at that you do owe me.... and my thrill is lessened not one iota by your lunacy.

TH

Tony_Chapman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #11 on: June 25, 2008, 02:12:41 PM »
I'll throw my ace out there for verification. I was playing a regulation course in a "golf marathon" as a fundraiser. We were playing three balls at a time on the par-3s. On the 11th hole at my home course, I hit three balls in succession to 8-feet, 4-feet and in the hole. I scored six on the hole for the three balls. If that doesn't count, I don't have one.

I've witnessed five, three of them are my dads and on two of those three it was just him and I playing alone. Good memories.

Jim_Kennedy

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #12 on: June 25, 2008, 02:28:35 PM »

I have witnessed six.
I have made one
- Huck]

Just the reverse for me.
I like Hogan's take: an ace is luck, sticking it to two feet is talent.  ;D
"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

Steve Wilson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #13 on: June 25, 2008, 02:38:53 PM »
I have witnessed seven aces.  But to be an absolute stickler for the truth I only saw two go in the hole as the bottom of the flagstick was shielded on four occasions.  The seventh I didn't see go in because it was struck directly at the sun in late evening.  My friend who struck the shot and I searched short, long, left and right, before I walked over and looked in the hole.  The ball had gone in on the fly and had scalloped out a portion of the cup about the size and shape of the top of a thumbnail.  When I announced the ball was in the hole, my friend, unable to believe he had actually done it, threatened me with grievous bodily harm because "That's just not something you joke about."   Once he saw the ball in the hole he mellowed out and as it was the ninth hole we adjourned to the clubhouse where he eagerly bought a round for everyone present.  

Another ace I heard hit the flagstick on the second bounce.
 
And once,  while waiting my turn to putt on a green adjacent to the tee of a short par three, I saw a total stranger make an ace and then whoop, holler, and gyrate in a manner that threatened his life.

Finally, my first hole in one came on a blustery November day at a discount version of a volcano hole that was playing into a copse of trees by the Ohio River.  I announced that I was going to try and play a knockdown shot with my 9 iron to keep the ball under the considerable wind.  Instead of a knockdown shot, I bladed it and the ball, never more than ten feet in the air struck the mound at the front of the green and then scurried through the leaves and dead centered the pin with a clank.  One of my playing partners said, "I think it's in the hole."  Another said, "Or in the river where it belongs."    
    
Some days you play golf, some days you find things.

I'm not really registered, but I couldn't find a symbol for certifiable.

"Every good drive by a high handicapper will be punished..."  Garland Bailey at the BUDA in sharing with me what the better player should always remember.

Phil McDade

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #14 on: June 25, 2008, 02:42:44 PM »
I've jugged balls on practice facilities too.  Of course it doesn't count.  I had forgotten the shady nature of this "ace"....

I know I shall never convince you.  Let's just leave it at that you do owe me.... and my thrill is lessened not one iota by your lunacy.

TH

Ah, such fond memories....

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,32677.0.html

Tom Huckaby

Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #15 on: June 25, 2008, 03:02:33 PM »
You are evil, Phil.

And it remains mind-boggling to me that my simple sharing of excitement with friends led to 4 pages of arguments.  Sigh... envy does remain a very ugly trait.

 ;D

Lou_Duran

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #16 on: June 25, 2008, 03:09:43 PM »
3 of my own, at least 6 made by others I was playing with, including Bill McBride's at the KPIV.  Another one that a good friend says I witnessed (and I am identified in the local newspaper and the card as as witness) that I just can't remember.  There are three or four others at least that I have vague recollections of seeing going in the hole made by players in front or behind me.  I've seen aces made off tree branches and hard ground, but never one in on a fly.

The last of my own got me in trouble as I had turned out an invitation from a group of friends to play out of town and declined due to a schedule conflict.  A last minute call from another friend and a change of plans made it possible to play locally after all; the ball somehow found the bottom of the hole (#6 at Great Southwest), the pro reports it to the local paper, one in my first group of friends sees it and lets the others know that I dissed them.  I still get crap about it couple of years later.   

Phil McDade

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #17 on: June 25, 2008, 03:45:54 PM »
For the record, none and none. The closest came when I was golfing with my best buddy at our neighborhood nine-hole muni (par 36!), and he stuck it to within six inches playing at a par 3 playing about 145 yds.

The very next week, same hole, playing with the same guy, I stuck it to within six inches.

We both made our birdie putts, thank goodness, or neither one of us would've let the other forget it.

This reminds me a bit of an article the Washington journalist Al Hunt once wrote for the Wall St. Journal, lamenting that as a lifelong baseball fan, and frequent attendee at big league games, he'd never come close -- not even remotely close -- to catching a ball.

I don't attend games all that much, but have one in my basement that I grabbed at a Cleveland Indians game, and have had two that went off my hands (one, a foul ball from Eddie Murray, and another a home run at Wrigley by Sammy Sosa).

Phil McDade

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #18 on: June 25, 2008, 03:50:19 PM »
You are evil, Phil.

And it remains mind-boggling to me that my simple sharing of excitement with friends led to 4 pages of arguments.  Sigh... envy does remain a very ugly trait.

 ;D

Tom:

The key question for Dave, it seems, is -- would he count one at the Reverse Jans?

He has:

a) argued the original Jans is a tough little course, much harder than people give it credit for; and

b) argued the Reverse Jans is a much harder -- and better -- course than the frontwards Jans.

Being the good lawyer he is, he probably won't answer a hypothetical........


John Foley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #19 on: June 25, 2008, 03:51:42 PM »
I've seen 8 - when I saw the last two years ago I counted them up and was amazed.

My two :)
Two from playing partners
One from a group in front of us
One from a group as stood in an adject fairway
Nick Price at '89 US Open @ Oak Hill
Constanino Rocca at '95 Ryder Cup @ Oak Hill

 
« Last Edit: June 25, 2008, 03:57:38 PM by john_foley »
Integrity in the moment of choice

Tom Huckaby

Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #20 on: June 25, 2008, 03:55:26 PM »
Phil:

You're giving him way too much credit.  This is all about envy, not purism or anything close to it.  The day he makes one on anything remotely close to any definition of a golf course, he'll change his tune quicker than Liberace on a piano.

TH

Jay Flemma

Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #21 on: June 25, 2008, 03:56:09 PM »
I saw three...one was eddie peck's famous "first ace ever recorded at ballyneal" on the fifth hole before the course hosted their grand opening.

Then I got a baylor bear's (wes williams) holeinone during the 2007 hootie intercollegiate.

And yesterday at Pound Ridge a guy Hank got the first hole in one ever recorded on the golf course at number 11.

My turn next! ::)

Doug Wright

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #22 on: June 25, 2008, 03:57:16 PM »
I've seen two, most recently on May 4. Fortunately, they both were mine... [emoticon omitted in deference to Dan Kelly]
Twitter: @Deneuchre

Joel Zuckerman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #23 on: June 25, 2008, 03:57:50 PM »
I've made a pair, and seen three or four, although nothing as remotely memorable or entertaining as my brother-in-law, who generally couldn't hit snow if he slipped off an igloo.

I took him to venerable Salem CC on Boston's north shore.  He managed to dunk a 3-wood from 200 yards on the 14th, then finished the round with four straight 7s.  Afterward I told him, "I don't know which is more humiliating--a 108, or 107 for 17 holes."

John Sheehan

Re: Witnessing a Hole-in-One
« Reply #24 on: June 25, 2008, 04:29:54 PM »
I'm not even close to 9. I've witnessed 3 - all by playng partners and I have had 1 1/3, I guess you could say. 

The "one-third" came at Stevinson Ranch where I did my best Tin Cup impersonation.  I mishit the first one, splash.  I reteed and hit the same 8-iron short, splash.  I stubbornly reteed and hit the same damn 8-iron for my third (fifth stroke) ball into the cup for a most intersting double bogey 5. 

I do, however, have a much better record on shots holed from the fairway.  My favorites being what I refer to as "the bookends" from an identical distance with the same club, a 3-iron.  The first came in January to start the year and second in December to end the year.  Nice symmetry.