November 10, 2008

Five Aces in a Week?: "It's incomprehensible this kind of luck could happen, but it does happen ..."

posted by BoKnows to golf at 04:10 AM - 15 comments

I don't believe it.

posted by scully at 10:47 AM on November 10, 2008

Really short course...only 5664 yards.

Could be dumb luck, could be creative scoring, hard to tell, I'll take his word for it.

I know the hole-in-one that I shot years ago fell into the dumb luck category, didn't even land on the green!

posted by dviking at 11:21 AM on November 10, 2008

That reminds me of my hole-in-one, which I have to believe is going to happen soon.

posted by tahoemoj at 12:45 PM on November 10, 2008

Really short course...only 5664 yards.

I doubt that anyone chipping from 40 yards away 100 strokes a day would make five a week. This is really awesome.

I have two aces on my resume; one made as a junior, where I caught the lip of the front bunker on a flier and had it luckily roll in, and one gorgeous fade that did everything I saw in my head it would.

The best part about the second one was the celebratory eighth beer of the day we consumed short afterwards. I was too drunk to be served my free drink at the 19th hole for making it. Luckily, one of the sober club pros was with us, otherwise noone would've thought we were telling the truth.

posted by dfleming at 04:06 PM on November 10, 2008

I have been golfing for more than 20 years. My handicap is 6 and I have never had a hole in one,or has anyone I have golfed with.I can not believe this story.

posted by Doehead at 06:31 PM on November 10, 2008

"Man, I have no money for drinks after this round."

"Me neither."

"HEY! Let's go back and tell everyone you made a hole in one! The club will buy us all drinks."

"We've done that four times this week already."

"Well, they believed us the other four times."

"Oh, what the hell! Let's do it."

posted by Joey Michaels at 07:40 PM on November 10, 2008

I have been golfing for more than 20 years. My handicap is 6 and I have never had a hole in one,or has anyone I have golfed with.I can not believe this story.

Nearly every week, someone wins the Lotto in the face of odds close to 14 million to one. I never have, and neither has anyone I know, but I'm fairly sure I still believe it happens.

It is a pretty short course (card here) with only three holes longer than 364 yards off the yellow tees. If he's a long hitter, he's probably having a go at the green at most of those other 15 holes. It's still incredibly unlikely, but far from impossible.

At university, we would practice as a team three times a week during the winter on a nine-hole par-three course. Ten of us would play 54 holes a week each, with hole length varying from about 100 yards to almost 200, and it would be a very odd week if we didn't have at least one hole in one between us. The most we ever managed in a week was four.

posted by JJ at 07:28 AM on November 11, 2008

I have been golfing for more than 20 years. My handicap is 6 and I have never had a hole in one,or has anyone I have golfed with.I can not believe this story.

That must mean no one has ever made one. :-/

I've been golfing for about 30 years. I've never made one but come close a couple times. And each of those times was a bit of dumb luck. Partially dumb luck keeping it out of the hole, partially dumb luck getting it close to begin with.

I think by nature, holes-in-one require luck. If they were 100% skill, the pros would do it more often.

posted by cabuki at 12:10 PM on November 11, 2008

When I was in college, I was on the track team as a decathlete. I took part in a charity 4-man scramble tournament and on one of the par 3s they had a closest to the pin contest. I hit a lousy shot and as a joke, I said, "I could probably throw it closer than that." One of my team mates threw me a ball and said do it. 125 yard par 3 and I unleashed a textbook javelin throw (my favorite event) that landed just on the green and rolled to about 8 inches. I would have won the prize for closest to the hole if the organizers would have counted it.

posted by cabuki at 12:14 PM on November 11, 2008

Not I'm not sure which is the harder story to believe...5 hole in ones in a week, or someone throwing a golf ball 120 yards in the air. (allowing a few yards from the front of the green to the cup)

Anyway, I do know that the pros do hit hole in ones fairly often, we just don't hear about them. Nicklaus has at least 20, and I know that Tiger got his first when he was 6!

Gotta go practice my javelin throwing techniques, that might come in handy on my next round!

posted by dviking at 06:51 PM on November 11, 2008

I HAVE HIT A HOLE IN 1 ONCE. IT WAS AT A SHORT HOLE 256 YARDS, WITH THE TEE BOX ELIVATED. IT WAS GETTING DARK AND WE WERE ON THE LAST HOLE. I HIT THE BALL AND WENT DOWN TO SEARCH FOR IT. AFTER LOOKING FOR IT FOR ABOUT FIVE MINUTES I FINALLY JUST DROPPED IN THE AREA MY BROTHER SAID HE THOUGHT IT HIT. I 2 PUTTED TO GET WITHIN 6 FEET. I PUTTED FOR THE 3RD TIME AND THE BALL WENT IN AND OUT. LOOKED IN THE WHOLE AND THERE WAS MY 1ST BALL. SO, THAT IS DUMB LUCK. I BELIEVE THAT IF YOY PLAY A HOLE ALOT, THEN THE OPPORTUNITY IS THERE.

posted by RICHSWORDS27 at 09:36 AM on November 12, 2008

Whoa, who invited Jacob Silj? Capslock off please.

posted by dfleming at 03:27 PM on November 12, 2008

Whats the ruling on RICHSWORDS27, JJ? Once you drop, it's no longer an ace, right?

As far as the story, it says there are 15 friends and family that have witnessed the shots. That does make it a little more believable for me. If it was just his drinking buddy Butch, then I would call BS right away. Personally, if I were invited to play golf with a relative who has had 2-4 aces in a week, I would have recorded every shot and had proof of the 5th or whatever number he was on. If it's tru, then congrats, that's amazing. If it's not, then shame on you.

posted by BoKnows at 04:47 PM on November 12, 2008

Latest ruling in history, but if anyone's still checking, the hole in one stands. Rule 1-1 states that the game is played from the teeing ground to hole, so once your ball is in the hole, it doesn't matter what else you do. In the R&A decisions book, it's Decision 1-1/3: Player Discovers Original Ball in Hole After Searching Five Minutes and Then Continuing Play with Provisional Ball.

Q - At a par-3 hole, a player, believing his original ball may be lost, plays a provisional ball. He searches five minutes for the original ball and then plays the provisional ball onto the green. At that point, the original ball is found in the hole.

What is the ruling?

A - The player's score is 1. The play of the hole was completed when the player holed the original ball (Rule 1-1).

(In the USGA decisions book, it's decision 1-1/2)

posted by JJ at 01:10 PM on November 16, 2008

Thanks, JJ!

posted by BoKnows at 08:44 PM on November 16, 2008

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