Each week we write to Golf Canada members who record a hole-in-one, congratulating them and asking if they’d tell us how it happened. These are their stories (edited for length and clarity).
Have you recently accomplished the feat of a hole-in-one? Tell us about it! Share your story, picture / video and course information with us at holeinone@golfcanada.ca.
Patrick Skuce, The Pulpit Club, Hole #7
Hi,
Thanks for the email.
It came as a bit of a shock, especially considering how poorly I was playing on Sunday!
Both of my sons have been lucky to get a hole-in-one at the Pulpit and Paintbrush respectively, so the pressure
I was playing with my son, Charlie Skuce, Ben Cabrajic and his guest, Chris Vajdic. We teed up from the blue tees and the pin was at the front of the green 109 yrds away. The wind was in our face. I went first with my pitching wedge.I have been using a single plane swing this year and must have been channeling Moe Norman! I hit it straight at the pin. It landed about three inches in front of the hole and rolled straight in. The guys went nuts behind me. I could not believe I had finally done it. I have a video and a pic of me retrieving the ball (Titleist Pro V1).
Cheers and thanks again,
Patrick Skuce
Sukhraj Gill, Mayfair Lakes Golf, Hole #15
Hey,
This was my first ever hole-in-one.
The yardage was 172, although it was playing 189. 6 iron was the club (Taylormade- P770) and ball was Taylormade Tp5X.
I was Playing with my buddy Hector Aguilar, he took the video. We were in a match play even with www.worldameteurrace.com.
Regards,
Raj Gill
Brad Bushey, Belleview Golf Club, Hole #11
My hole-in-one was at Belleview Golf South in Woodslee, Ontario. It was on hole #11. Yardage was 191 and I used a M2 TaylorMade 5 wood. My good friends, Merrick McCall and Bruce Cascadden, were my witnesses that day. I did not see it go in the hole. I thought it was long of the green. Merrick watched it all the way and witnessed it go in the hole. I didn’t believe him at first; you know how friends are they like to kid around, so until I saw it in the hole, I didn’t believe him. Then we had a few drinks to celebrate.
Brad Bushey
Cory Gilmore, Scarboro Golf & Country Club, Hole #2
Hi there. Thanks for your note. I am still quite excited about my Sunday hole-in-one! It was on hole #2 at Scarboro. I was playing the red tees. It was about a 140-yard shot to a back blue pin. I used my 7 wood which landed on the green and left of the pin. The ball started rolling right (as it always does on that hole given the slope) right into the hole! Since it was a late season shotgun, many members heard us hollering and celebrated with us after.
I was with my daughter, Laura Gilmore, and our friend, Lori Barrett. What a great day! So special to share it with my daughter. She and I have had so much fun golfing as mother and daughter here and all over Canada.
Cory Gilmore
Dave Holowaty, Doon Valley Golf Course, Hole 2
Thanks. I was playing with my usual Sunday group: my brother, Paul, and my friends, Frank Dingethal and Paula Renon. The hole was playing to 132 yards, and I used a 9 iron. It hit the green about 15 feet from the pin and trickled in perfectly. It was my fourth career hole-in-one but the first at Doon; the other three were at Rockway golf course.
David Josephson, Victoria Golf Club, Hole #14
Hi,
Thank you for your email. My hole-in-one on Thanksgiving Monday was pretty cool! Funny enough my sister gave birth to her first child on the same day. I spoke to my mom, who loves golf, and she said, “I don’t know what’s more exciting the baby or your hole-in-one!” She was joking of course.
I was playing with my friends, Steven and Michael. Michael was going to pull out at hole #10 but stuck it out with us a few more since it was so beautiful out. Hole #14 has an elevated tee box, and the pin was placed center left of the green and it was marked as 186 yards. There was a bit of cross wind, and I played a 5 iron which turned out to be the right club. We all knew it was a really nice shot but lost it as it landed on the green due to shadows. When I walked up to the green, I couldn’t see the ball so I thought it may have skipped off the back or into the bunker that surrounds the left side of the hole. Being there was no ball in sight I walked up to the hole and found my ball sitting in the cup. ? There was a divot six feet from the pin, so I think it landed and one hopped in. What an amazing feeling that was walking up and seeing my ball in the hole and to drain it on hole #14 which is not an easy hole makes the story and accomplishment that much better.
Thanks again for reaching out.
Regards,
David Josephson
Donna Martens, Woodside Golf Course, Hole #12
Hi,
Woodside is our home course of which we are members. I am 68 years old and was playing from the silver tees. I used a pitching wedge to an elevated green that was 73 yards and was happy to see it going straight to the hole. It dropped and rolled in much to my amazement! I was playing with my husband, Tony, and two other men that we were paired with. It was one of the other men who yelled that it was in! It was definitely my golf highlight!
Thank you.
Donna
Jake Arsenault, Eagles Glenn Golf Course, Hole #4
Hey there,
Thanks!
I was playing with Greg Ellis, Ashley Praught and Jeff Carragher. It was a front pin with a distance of 145 yards along with a strong head wind. Hit a 9 iron.
Cheers,
Jake
Jay Laird, TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, Hole #4
It was one lucky shot with my pitching wedge. The hole was #4 on the North Course at TPC at Osprey Valley. The yardage was 86! Still in disbelief!
Ken Marks, Black Bear Ridge, Hole #13
36 members of the Bogey Club Group that have two team tournaments a year and have been playing since 1954 were at Black Bear Ridge in Belleville.
Organizer of the tournament and a member at Midland Golf Club, Ken Marks, hit an 8 iron from 137 yards on a damp and windy day to log his first ever hole-in-one on hole #13. The group almost had a second ace on hole #15 when one of his playing partners, Terry Dolson, left it on the edge of the hole.
Kim Scoles, Pitt Meadows Golf Club, Hole #16
Hi,
Thanks for the recognition. Yes, it was an exciting moment.
The hole was playing 150 yards. I used my 7 iron. The ball hit just in front of the pin and hopped in. My playing partners (Rob Ross, Steve Russell and Stan Reid) and myself weren’t sure if it had gone in but, not seeing the ball anywhere on the green, we knew it went in. This was my third hole-in-one. My last one was about 30 years ago. Thank goodness our club has hole-in-one insurance as this happened during our regular Wednesday men’s day.
Cheers.
Michael Spear, Riverbend Golf Community, Hole #5
Hi,
This was my first hole-in-one ever at age 69, so an item on my bucket list is now accomplished!
The distance from the white tees was 123 yards that day in May. My teammates were Bob Israel and Bob Perry. They took my picture and witnessed the event with much glee. I used a 7 iron and aimed directly at the flag. The ball landed just left and trickled in!
With best regards,
Mike
Paul Attard, Trafalgar Golf & Country Club, Hole #17
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out.
This round of golf was special in that our foursome consisting of my brother, David Attard, and friends, Trevor Wall and Mike Tomkin, was playing one of our final rounds at Trafalgar, as the course is closing its doors forever on October 30th.
The ace came on the 17th hole in which I was third to play. Mike and I were two down in the match and Trevor hit a good shot 10 feet short of the pin. My brother hit a self-proclaimed beauty that scared the pin and landed about eight feet past the pin. I was next to play. The hole was playing 165 yards and I hit a 5 iron. It landed a couple feet short and went in the hole. It was a little surreal! But we did go on to lose the mach.
I have played the game for 40 years, and until 11 days prior, I never had a hole-in-one. 11 days prior, I aced the 17th hole at Cranberry Golf Course in a four-man scramble.
So very surreal. Who knows, this may be the last ever ace at Trafalgar Golf Club? So, the foursome of my brother David, Trevor & Mike used this to celebrate!
What a day!
Thanks for letting me share my story!
Paul Attard
Philip Griffiths, The Toronto Hunt, Hole #3
Hello,
Thank you for your email. I was surprised to say the least. I played with Dr. Sandy Lowden and Mr. Ian Hey. I used a 4-hybrid club, and the pin was at the front/middle right of the green. The yardage was probably about 130, so it was as easy as it could get.
Thank you very much!
Philip Griffith
Scott Redpath, Aberdeen Glen Golf Club, Hole #8
It was 146 yards to the pin, 140 to the front bunker and for me this was a 7 iron. The ball landed at 145 yards and just left but with my natural fade it spun slightly right and forward. This was my first season back playing in 25 years and the final round before the course closes for the long winter.
Steve Anderson, The Nairn Golf Club, Hole #11
Thanks for reaching out. I’d be happy to share the story.
I was on a golf trip with seven others, mostly others from my home club at the Kelowna Golf and Country Club. Narin was our last game of aseven7 game tour of Scotland. As you can see in the photo, it was a rainy day. Our only really rainy of the tour fortunately. The 11th at Nairn was playing 150 yards and I used a 9 iron. The hole was behind a bunker, so we didn’t see it go in. Our group had a fore caddie. When we reached the green, he and I assumed I had gone long into some tall grass and began looking for my ball there. After a couple of minutes, the fore caddie checked the hole. When I looked back at him, he was staring at me with a smile. He said in all his years as a caddie, he’d never had a client make a hole-in-one before. I think he was more excited than me. My playing partners that day were Steve Easton, Craig Gronsdahl and Keith Recsky. The flag was a gift from the Nairn Golf Club as a memento of the occasion.
Just as an aside, that was the third hole-in-one I had in the previous six months. I had one in Indian Ridge in Palm Desert in December and then another in February at Tatum Ranch in Cave Creek, Arizona. The Nairn ace was my sixth in total.
Regards.
Wendy Fretz, West Haven Golf & Country Club, Hole #3
Greetings to you,
You are absolutely correct that this is a story to share for the rest of my life. It would have been awesome to have some drone footage from above, but the picture will be fixed in my mind forever.
The irony of it is that I can’t really say that I was aiming at the pin (the back of green up a slope on a 100-yard hole but away from the large bunker on the left/front side of the green). It has caught my ball an inordinate number of times this past season!
I used my usual club on the hole (unless a very front pin placement), an 8 iron. I was playing with my friend, Harla. The weather was so miserable, cool and windy with rain predicted that we went out to the course last minute with the thought process that we might get a few holes in but were not optimistic. That’s why we weren’t armed with our usual equipment like a phone or even snacks. The course was very quiet, so we actually were able to make good time. Oh, and by the way I was using an old found ball from who knows when because in the fall I don’t play with any of my treasured balls. All I can say is it helped to keep my expectations low. I can’t say that I won’t be expecting a miracle again whenever I step up to that tee box in the future. As a matter of fact, the next time I played that hole, you guessed it, I went into that left/front bunker!
Thank you for the graphic.
Wendy Fretz