I’d heard people talk about them, watched a guy get one, but never had one of my own… I was a VIRGIN!

Heck, even my mum had experienced it twice. 

A Hole In One that is…

But it all changed at 7.03am on Easter Sunday on my first hole of the day… nothing like a hole in one to start your round.

It was a fairly cool morning, probably around 13 degrees celcius and at the time our group teed off it was still a little dark.

I was playing in a group of 3, and none of us really had much of a warm up (as usual) before we teed off.

I was last to tee off and being a little cool, a bit stiff and taking into account the possibility of a mishit for my first shot of the day, I took one club (maybe even two) more than what I would have, if we’d been playing the hole last in our round.

We could see the green and make out where the flag was, but it was a little tough to judge how far on the green it was.  We figured it was toward the front of the green.

The hole is a pretty straightforward par 3… long green, front and back bunkers on the left hand side, bunker around middle on the right hand side and a bit of a pond for anything short of the green on the right hand side.

Anyway, knowing most of the trouble from a mishit was short right, I pulled out my Mizuno MP-57 5 iron. 

Typically this is way more than enough club, but as there was not much trouble behind the flag, I was willing to gamble on hitting it flush and sending it up the back of the green.

Hole In One Club And Ball - Mizuno MP-57, Srixon Z-URC

I teed up my Srixon Z-URC Ball (fantastic golf ball, by the way) and aimed in the direction of the flag…

Just as well I took more club than normal, because as it turned out my contact wasn’t flush… I caught it a little thin and sent it on its way.

We could track it for about 80 metres, then lost it in flight.

I knew I caught it a little thin, but thought it was fairly straight.

 ”If you’re going to duff it, duff it straight” - Arnold Victorsen

Kym thought it went fairly straight as well.

His son Matt (club trainee pro), thought it drifted a little right and into the pond on the right (lateral hazard).

As we got up to the green, I couldn’t see my ball. 

I had a look at the bunker on the right hand side, and it wasn’t in there, and becaue Matt was fairly certain it went into the pond, I had a quick look around the edges and ended up taking a drop near the point Matt thought it went in (don’t always trust younger eyes).

“None of us even considered looking in the hole!”

After I dropped, I made a nice little pitch shot that rolled up close to the hole… I was in good position to salvage a bogey.

I can’t remember if I had time to get up and mark my ball or not, before Matt went up to take the flag out.

As he was about to pull the flag out, he said there was a ball in there, and asked if I was playing a Srixon.

And I was

My First Hole In One

I always jokingly said that if I ever got a hole in one, I’d do a nude lap of the green (lucky for my playing partners I didn’t).

But to tell you the truth, I was kind of happy but not overly excited…

We never saw it go in the hole, so I missed out on that excitement.

And because I’d taken that drop from the lateral hazard I had that sinking feeling that there would be some rule in golf that would rob me.

Matt put me at ease pretty quickly, by saying that once a ball is holed out, the hole is over.

And since my first shot was holed out, anything after that was irrelevant.

So, no nude lap (wouldn’t have been a pretty sight anyway) and no huge dance party on the green.

Just a little raise of the arms.

Hole In One on Easter Sunday, made my chocolate eggs taste that much better when I got home.

Probably the best part is ringing your mates and telling them all about it… especially if they’re still Virgins

Cheers

Sean Cassidy “Real Men Swing Fast”

ps - if you’ve had one or more yourself, I’m a good listener, tell me all about it.

 pps- it’s taken longer than I planned but I’ll soon be releasing a free training program to help you add 5 to 10mph to your swing speed, keep an eye out for it (sign up for my email alerts or add me to your rss feed reader so you know as soon as it’s ready).

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