During many years of playing golf, I watched three of my playing buddies get their ‘hole-in-one’ but only one was a real shot ….. the rest were pure ‘flukes’. One even hit the rail of the bridge over the water hole, skidded onto the green and down the hole … nobody asks you how you did this …. you just did!
Then, it was my turn. Picture this …. this par 3 is a real classic. Not a long hole, but the raised green has steep banks on both sides, so anything left or right will leave a very difficult chip shot up to the green with very high scores not unusual! There’s a deep bunker at the front of the green and a flat bunker at the back. From the tee, you see the green through an avenue of trees. This is the 12th hole at Durban Country Club, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa …. also known as the Prince of Wales hole because the Prince (King Edward VIII) who played here in 1924 needed 17 strokes to complete the hole!
On this particular morning, I had worked into the early hours to get a business proposal completed, so I was feeling rather fragile. My only strategy was to just clear the front bunker and get onto the green …. I had no energy to walk up and down the sides of the green …. so I took a much longer club than usual, kept my head down and followed through. I didn’t even bother to see where my ball was going as I picked up my peg … but my partner was watching …. silently!
She then calmly told me I had a hole-in-one …. in your dreams, partner …. no chance, if that ball had cleared the front bunker, it was definitely in the back bunker.
I didn’t even walk up to the cup, I went straight to the back bunker …. guess what …. no ball. Only then did I decide to go and check the cup …. and there is was …. not even a nice new ball, just my old shabby one smiling at me!
What a feeling of accomplishment …. it took me 27 years to do this!
If you’ve had a hole-in-one, how about telling us about it by leaving a comment below. How did it happen? Was it a genuine shot or just a fluke? How did you feel afterwards?
