“Golf Stats!”

On April 16th at approximately 10:00 in the morning, I had the joyous pleasure of joining an elite group of golfers.

I hit my very first “Hole-In-One!”

Yes, you read that right – I hit a fricken hole-in-one! The odds of getting a hole-in-one are exceedingly low, which is precisely why they’re such an exciting occurrence.

The chances of making a hole-in-one as a recreational golfer (which I most certainly am) are incredibly low! In fact the likelihood is estimated to be 12,500 to 1.

This means I had a 0.01% chance of scoring a hole-in-one!

Here are some more fun facts about making a Hole-In-One:

• Over 90% of all golfers will never make one in their lifetime.
• There has been at least one recorded instance where someone achieved 63 hole-in-ones throughout their life.
• On average, 150,000 holes-in-ones occur every year.
• 17% of yearly hole-in-ones are made by female players.
• 45.3 is the average age when a player makes their first hole-in-one.

And….I can tell you from first hand experience that the rarity of making a hole-in-one is thrilling to witness, and even more thrilling to actually perform! 

I honestly believe I am still floating on cloud nine and it’s been over a week already. (Come on – can you really blame me!?!)

My hole-in-one occurred while playing a friendly round with Marc at Alsatian Golf Club in Castroville, Texas. When we started off our round, it was misty and very gloomy – in fact, I wasn’t all that thrilled to be playing.

We were paired with two young Air Force members, Cody and Kevin. It was Kevin’s birthday and they had decided to celebrate it by playing a round of golf.

That makes sense to me.

At the first tee, I had a great drive right down the middle….a.k.a. Old Lady Golf – right up the middle. I ended up with a par on hole #1. But hole #2 is where the challenge picks up with a crowned island green, par 4. The tee shot on this hole forces me to attempt a lay up behind the fairway lake, leaving me with a 100-yard approach over the water and into the wind. (Always into the wind!). On this day, I finished the hole with a bogey (1 over) – which for me on this, the toughest hole on the course, was good. I bogeyed hole #3, parred hole #4 and bogeyed hole #5.

I felt I had a pretty good game going as I approached hole #6. Little did I know how good it was getting ready to become.

Hole #6 is a 114 yard par three from the forward tees. It has a very large water hazard surrounding the green. It was on this hole that I joined the hole-in-one club. Yup, I aced #6 using a 7-iron from 114 yards.

I walked up to the tee, and took a quick look over the water hazard. You see, normally water is my nemesis in golf. Most times I feel like just tossing my golf ball into the water, taking a stroke and moving on. But this past spring I have been working with my golf coach (Marc) and his input has really helped me stop thinking water is in play. So, I took a quick warm-up swing, set up, took a big breath and swung away. Then I just watched my ball sore upward, perfectly over the water hazard and onto the green. At first I was just excited that I made it over the water. But then I noticed how close my ball landed to the hole, and it was still rolling toward the hole. My gallery started screaming: “Get in the hole….GET IN THE HOLE!”

And before I could even really appreciate the good feel of my swing, my ball rolled into the hole. Just like that!

Well, I am sure you can imagine the hooping and hollering I did. I jumped up and down, turned to look for Marc and ran into his open arms. Together we cheered and yelled and laughed. Kevin and Cody cheered too. In fact, the foursomes on the two holes behind us, heard our cheering. We were that loud.

I don’t really remember much of the rest of the round to tell you the truth.

But I did finish with an 83, which for me, is another BIG achievement. And the icing on the cake? Marc had his best score of golf ever played too!

All-in-all, it was one heck of a good golf day!

Fairways and Greens – We are 18 Holes and Counting!

Written By Kathy Festa