I was playing golf this past Sunday and not playing all that well but not poorly either. Basically bogey golf. Frustated, I attempted to hit driver on the par 5 15th hole to get a little extra yardage to try and eagle the hole. Unfortunately I pull it out of bounds. Teeing it up again, I then hit the 2-hybrid club I should have hit in the first place, and cut the corner putting myself in position to reach the green in 2. However, I would now be reaching it in 4 since I hit it OB. About 240 yd out, I groove the 2-hybrid and put it right on the green for a most unusual par attempt. About 10 foot out I miss the putt for par.
The next hole is a long par 3 about 210 yds from the hole. I choose a 3-iron and aim for the middle of the green and hope for a little draw as the hole is in the front left of the green. I hit it pretty good and high. I yell, "Go!" As the wind was in my face and the yardage is about the limit of that club. As the ball started to decend it had the slight draw I was playing for. It landed right in the front of the green. The guys I'm playing with can't really see that far to know how close it was and with the sun in our face, I can't really see either. I just know its close.
They ask, "Is it on?"
I said, "Oh yea, its close."
I'm pretty excited as I've been shut out all day of skins and junk, this is the 16th hole and we're playing for a double greenie on this hole. I'm thinking I got a gimmie birdie plus double greenie. This is my chance to get back in it.
My playing partner says to me, "You know that could be in."
I respond, "Its close but I think it broke just short of the hole." Then added, "I'll drop you off and drive up to take a look."
As I drive up closer, I am not seeing a ball near the hole. The closer I get its becoming clear there is nothing on the green. Could I be wrong? Could it be nowhere near the hole? I'm looking around the green, short of the green, in the rough to the side of the green, in the bunker...and nothing. Everyone else is by their ball seemingly just waiting to know what happened to mine.
I stop the cart and get out. I walk closer and closer to the hole. I'm thinking about all the possibilties of where it could be besides the hole like a detective eleminating suspects one by one. So I check the hole. Its in the hole. Its in the freakin' hole!!!!
I raise my arms in celebration as if only to signal everyone else its in. Then I hunch over clinching my fists in celebration for myself. I finally did it. I've been trying to make a hole-in-one ever since I've playing pretty competitive golf. Seeing the ball in the hole seems surreal even now as I think about it. Its not was how I imagined it. I wasn't able to see it go in from the tee and hootin' and hollerin' all over the place with my playing partners maybe even riding the bull, Happy Gilmore style. But it was in and being my first ever hole-in-one, it was pretty special. Besides, I'm not the hootin' and hollerin' type. I'll throw in a fist pump and yell "Yes!" every now and then but nothing extremely demonstrative.
I can't believe it really. I've never even holed anything out from longer than 100 yds and the first time I do, I hole it out from 210 out. I was beginning to think I would never get a hole in one and now I cannot forget that shot. It landed about 7-8 feet short of the hole and you can just imagine how it rolled breaking right to left right into the hole.
Its really hard to describe the feeling really. Its just an eagle on the scorecard. I've had several eagles before. All putted in. And none felt like this. The hole-in-one is the perfect shot. The one shot we all strive for...to make the ball in the hole in one shot! And when you finally do it, it feels more special than any other shot you've made in your life. Even though all its only an eagle that you've done before. Its perfection.
The excitement of the hole-in-one and the adrenaline that comes with it lasted well after the hole and i didn't calm down until after the round was over. I still had 2 left to play. So what do I do after that hole? Well I birdie of course :) The next hole? I just went eagle-birdie-birdie about a month before on 15-16-17. Can I go eagle (hole-in-one)-birdie-birdie on 16-17-18 this time? Well I stick it pin high about 15 feet on the last hole. But no, I just missed it left.
After leaving the club, I had the biggest grin you'd ever seen all the way home. And I celebrated the only way I know how....by having a double-bacon cheeseburger.
Perfection....ahhh, perfection.
