To steal the idea from the first birdie thread, tell us the story of an ace if you have one or your closest heartbreak when you thought you did!
I’m still chasing my first, and stories of people getting that mythical hole in one keep me going
Bladed a 7 iron 150 yards at age fifteen… I thought I hit a tree, my dad said it was in the cup… we had only planned on playing nine but had to finish 18…
I’ve had a couple close calls since, but nothing super memorable.
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I’ve had a few that have stopped as close as one revolution short of going in, or within 6-12 inches.
A few years ago I was practicing on the course by myself. On a 200-yard par 3, I hit a second shot. Nothing exceptional in terms of the ball flight, but it rolled in the hole. I laughed and shrugged my shoulders because it didn’t count.
Still waiting on my real ace!
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Been within a foot or so, but I consider the closest I’ve ever been to an ace to be two minutes of time, not distance.
I was out playing an early morning round, just me and the grounds crew. I was waiting on a 170yd par 3, saw the worker leave so got ready to hit. It was a bit foggy, so I couldn’t see the flag, I just fired at the center of the green and hit a decent shot. Got up there to see I was about 15 feet away, so I was happy. Then I got to the ball and saw it was sitting exactly in the middle of the fresh hole plug the worker had just changed, so had I been ahead of him instead of behind him, the same shot would have been an ace.
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Still waiting for my first but a funny story…
A few years back, I was playing in an RAF regional qualifier. We had 140 players, and you could elect to put £2 in the 2’s pot so anyone at the end of day would get a portion on this pot.
It was a 36 hole qualifier (AM/PM) and I was playing with two guys, one Scottish (stereotype) who was too tight to pay in.
Anyway, on the 4th hole of day, he plays an up hill par 3 and hits the flag flush, as we walk up, we see two balls but not a third…further investigation highlighted his ball and dropped in.
You’d think queue mass celebrations!! Oh no…queue disaster, as not only had he not paid into the pot, he was also too tight to pay for insurance which would cover an competition hole in one.
Safe to say, such was the distraction of the impending bar bill, his next 32 holes were a tortuous disaster from a guy who normally plays off 7.
Knowing the guy, it was a pleasurable days golf and that point was the sweetest pint!!
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My closest was on a pretty short hole, plays about 130 uphill. One of those swings where you hit the ball so pure you think you might have missed it. Look up to see this beautiful baby draw, moving right to the hole. Hits about 3 feet away, rolls up to the hole, hits the pin and settles 2 feet away.
I’m totally over it, it’s fine.
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No ace for me yet…
My favorite story though is playing with a buddy of mine who is a 27+ handicapper. Love him but he is a total mess and is really mostly interested in walking around outside for a few hours and trying to drink about 18 beers.
We get to an uphill 150 yd par 3. He pulls a 5 iron and foreheads it. The thing never gets more than 6 ft off the ground. Hits the top of the flagstick dead on going about 50 miles per hour.
We are down hill so can’t see where it landed. Walk up and it’s in the cup.
This guy plays 2x per year and is terrible. Don’t stop believing!!
His standard greeting when I see him now is “You made a hole in one yet nick papageorgio or what?”
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Still hoping for one (one reason I try to avoid playing alone)
I’ve come close a few times and all have been on not great shots with good bounces.
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I’ve only been playing for four years, so to this point I don’t think I’ve paid my dues yet to earn an ace. However, during a round with my golf coach we were playing the number two on Eldorado Course at Boulder Creek (27 hole course, 3 different 9’s) it was 133 yards to the pin and I got PW clean, launched beautifully right at the flag, my golf coach said “you’re buying drinks” ball hit and rolled by the flag by about 3 feet. My ball mark was about 1ft past the hole. It was winter so the top of the grass on the green was soft but the bottom was frozen, he said had that been last week it would’ve stopped and spun into the hole. Oh well, I’ll still wait.
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Had another friend make an awesome par 3. First ball in the drink. Reload. Second ball lands 10 - 15 yards up a bank. Pauses for a heartbeat… starts tumbling down the hill… gets on the green… catches a slope… trickles 20 ft and goes down
It was similar to 16 at Augusta where the ball just kept moving and trickling… felt like it took minutes
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These stories reminded me of my brother in law… not a golfer but will join my dad and I when the family is in Palm Springs…
We are playing a quick nine, dad and I both hit decent shots to the middle of the green. Probably a 20 yard green left to right, hills left, pin right…
Brother in law hits a hybrid into the hill, it hops right and starts running… we probably watched it run for 10 seconds… finishes in the cup.
Cue celebration.
Go back to my grandmas house, and she happens to have a painting of the hole on her wall… he eventually ended up with it, but I don’t think it’s hanging in their house anymore.
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I have one. Probably 6-7 that stayed on the lip or within a couple inches.
Mine came when I was 17. My dad and I were in San Antonio to watch Iowa play in the Alamo Bowl. I had carved out a day and a half to spend with the pro at La Cantera - a guy by the name of Bryan Gathright (amazing teacher). Before that day I had always had a pretty wicked slice, so he reworked my swing to be hitting a nice controllable draw, which has remained the base of my swing since.
After our first morning of lessons I went out and played 18 with my dad. On hole #3 of the Resort Course, I hit the purest 5 iron 17 year old me had ever hit. Ball hit about 7 feet short, one hopped, and released into the cup. I wasn’t much for outward celebration back then, so I just sort of dropped my club and covered my mouth, then sprinted to the hole to make sure it was in. It was. My dad and I hugged and celebrated a little. I called my buddies back home on my dad’s giant old cell phone (this was 2001). I’m so glad I got to share that with my dad. I’ll never forget it. Then I got to witness his first about a year and a half later.
Funny story, two holes later I left an albatross on the lip from about 240 out. What a round that would have been.
I did get my albatross a few years ago at a course in Sioux Falls, SD. 273 out on a par 5 with an absolutely nuked 3 wood. That was fun.
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That painting would probably have the highest place of honor in my house, take down the TV and just stare at it every night.
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My first one is the best story. We had just gotten back from our honeymoon and I was teeing it up with buddies for the first time since the wedding. On the 2nd hole of the day, I knocked a 5 iron in from 175 and couldn’t wait to get home to share the news with my bride.
Laughingly, she said, “Well, you probably wouldn’t have gotten it if we hadn’t gotten married, so I’m taking credit.”
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The women in our lives get all the credit, don’t they? I suppose, at least in my case, she deserves it for putting up with me.
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I’ve had a handful of really close calls, but still searching for my first hole in one. The closest was probably at least 15 years ago with my first ever set of irons that I built myself. 6th hole par 3 ~ 190yds I pulled a Maltby Golfworks 4 iron and striped a high draw at a left hand pin. I saw it land just short of the hole and then nothing, but heard yelling from the 7th tee box. Walking up to the hole I can’t see a ball anywhere. I’m close now and there is no ball I can see. I get on the green and can see my ball mark < 2ft in front of the pin, but no ball. I’m now looking around thinking that I either shot off the back or bounced off the flagstick. Then I realize the ball is right behind the pin, partly hanging over the hole. It had to have released right at the hole and I’m guessing it banged the flagstick. I still wonder if I had jumped up and down would the ball have fallen in?
I find out later from the group that was on 7 that the ball actually slowly trickled around the hole and hung on the back. The guys that saw it say it basically defied physics staying out of the hole…as an engineer I know the ball did not actually defy physics…it was just one of the many times that the golf gods gave me the finger lol.
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Have played for over 30 years and still looking for the 1st. I have had a handful within a foot or so… the closet being about 2". I have witnessed 7 or 8 I think so it’s just a matter of time, right? At least that’s what I’m telling myself. Just want 1 before I leave this earth!
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My 1 ace was in a college practice round on a 207 par 3 downwind. Hit a 7 iron 20 ft short, and got a great bounce, took the contour of the green right to left and trickled in.
I played in a scramble last year in a 20 mph cross wind. Hit the same 7 iron (this time around 175), started it 15 yds left of the pin and the wind pushed it over and checked 4 ft in front and it rolled over the edge of the cup and ended 6 inches directly behind the hole. That close to a new Camaro!
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My brother’s ace was very similar. He had just been baptized the night before. We go out to play our little 9 hole par 3 course. First hole is around 170, and he hit the lowest worm burner, never got 5 ft off the ground. landed 40 yds in front of the green and coming in hot. May have left a dent in the pin but the ball fell in. Later that afternoon we went fishing and he caught a 10 lb bass, the biggest of his life.
I had also been baptized the night before but asked my dad if he’d do it again because mine didn’t take.
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I had my first in 1984. Over Memorial Day weekend, three months before my impending marriage, I was playing with my soon-to-be father-in-law at his home club, Cumberland Country Club in western Maryland. The 10th is about 150 yard downhill hole, I hit an 8-iron pretty much online, it took 2 or 3 bounces and went right in the hole. I was told that my eyes were like dinner plates when I turned around to the other 3 guys. I remember hitting a decent drive on the next hole, but not a single thing about the remainder of the round. I know my FiL picked up any drinks tab, it was his home club, but I really don’t remember any celebration.
It took more than 30 years to get my next one, but I’m up to a total of three so far.
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