Golf Canada Hole-In-One Report – August 18, 2023

My second hole-in-one but 32 years apart. The first one was down in Lethbridge at Paradise Canyon on hole #2 in 1991!

For this one, I was playing with my buddies Oggie (Jeff Ogden) and Zman (Alvin Szott). I hit a pitching wedge 136 yards and it hit the left side hill and rolled to the right just like a putt into the hole! I still haven’t got my voice back from screaming in excitement!

Yes, it was an amazing moment for me. I have been a weekend hacker for many years and this season upon retiring I began to commit to playing more frequently and improving.

I play weekly on Wednesdays with a core group of guys at Lakeview. The ace actually happened on Wednesday the eighth. It was Micheal Oleary, Lucky Bajwa and me.

I was playing in a club run match play event against James MacDonald. Jay Rosehill was also playing with us. It was a 132-yard shot and I used a 50-degree gap wedge. This is my second hole-in-one.

My first ace at Ledgeview Golf Course on hole #17 at 131 yards. The course was in tournament conditions as we sponsored the PGA of Canada Seniors Championships and got to play the course after the last group teed off. I didn’t see the ball go in, but the group in front of us gave us the live play-by-play of the ball landing and spinning back into the hole. Surreal to get congratulated by former PGA Tour and current Champion Tour players and was given the 17th hole flag with autographs.

My playing partners were JP Drapeau, Mike Gaudet and Rob Hancock. The hole was about 185 yards, and I used a 5 iron. It’s a blind green and you can only see the top of the flag from the tee box. I thought that I had left the ball short. There were two balls at the front of the green when we walked up, and I assumed one was mine. Mike walked around green looking for a ball. Finally, he said, “better look in the cup” and there it was. I thought it was his and was shocked to learn it was mine.

Great day! It was 173 yards.

It was 85 yards, and I did not see it go in. My two friends started jumping up and down with joy!

It was 147 yards and I used a 3 wood. I was playing with Carla Duncan and Heather Tansem.

I got my hole-in-one on Saturday August 12, 2023, on hole #16 at Highlands Golf Club in Edmonton using a 4-hybrid from 182 yards. I was playing with my wife Clare Denman (with me in photo) and our friends Darrell and Jacquie Holowaychuk.

I hit an 8 iron from 159 yards and played a little downhill. What was amazing for me is I was playing with my two sons Luke and Ben who are very avid golfers and play on the MJT Tour regularly as well as another junior member from our club. Dad was a hero for a few moments as I think the boys were even more excited than me.

I was golfing with two older gentlemen. had 120 yards to a white middle pin with a little wind left to right. I pulled out my 50-degree wedge when I made the hole-in-one.

In the first round of a three-day golf trip with 24 guys, I made a hole-in-one at Wooden Sticks in Uxbridge on the second hole which is a par 4.

The hole measured 284 from the yardage tile of the white tees and using my driver, I hit a drive that took off on a direct line with the flagstick which was on the left side of the green. The ball just cleared the top of the bunker and my group never saw it again. We drove up and saw no ball on the green or at the back rough. I cautiously walked to the hole and didn’t see it at first but took another step closer and it was tucked on the near side at the bottom of the cup. It was witnessed by Greg Lewis, Neil Slater and Rob Park.

It was my first hole-in-one and probably on one of the more unlikely holes at the course.

I was playing with Darcy Sigfuson in our annual Men’s club match play tournament. I was three down after 10. Hole #11 is 165 yards slightly down hill and it was playing down wind. My opponent had just hit it over the green, so I choked down on a 9 iron and swung easy. I just wanted to make sure it was on the green and below the hole for an easy birdie putt. I hit it pure landing about five yards on, ball rolled out and dropped.

This flipped the match for me as I won the 12th with a birdie, won the 13th and 14th giving me a one up lead in the match which I was able to hang onto closing it out on hole #18.

It was 163 yards, I hit a 7 iron and I was playing with a kid named Dylan who’s a member at Whitevale.

It was the third hole at Equinelle Golf Club, my home course, on the first day of our Club Championship. I used a 6 iron for the blue pin approximately 170 yards into a slight breeze. My fellow golfers were Justin Calow and Steven Eardley.

I hit a 48-degree wedge from 134 yards which landed right of the pin bounced a couple feet and spun back right into the cup.

On Sunday, August 6, 2023, I was golfing at my home club, Whistle Bear Golf Club, with my husband Gino Mastronardi, and good friends; Tina Cain Holland and Andrew Camman, who are also members. Hole #8 is a par 3 which has a pond on the left side and part of the front. It is also protected by bunkers in the front and back. The pin location on this day was front middle right, but it was also playing into quite a wind. This is quite typical at our golf course. Playing from the forward red tees, the distance today was 87 yards. I know that the carry onto the green is 70 yards. I fly my ball quite high with my irons, so based on the information I had, wind, flag, carry, I selected my 8 iron. We could only see the shot and the line. We could not see the finish into the hole. My playing companions were quite sure that it went into the hole. It was confirmed once my friend Tina ran up and looked into the hole. It was a fun experience and great to share with my husband and great friends. The only hard part was finishing the round before celebrating with more friends on the patio after. It was a good day!

It was a beautiful afternoon, and the 17th was playing 141 yards. I hit a solid 9 iron that landed about three feet past and it backed right in! That was my foruth hole-in-one. I was playing with Al Grant, Peter Muirhead and Monty Fredrickson.

After only 30 years of trying my hand at this sport I finally drained my first ace at Pakenham Highlands Golf Course on Tuesday, August 8th. A wonderful course with three separate 9-hole tracks just outside of Ottawa, Ontario. We were playing from the gold tees. I used a 7 iron to land it short left and run it to the back. I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing it drop because of the contour of the green. The pin was at the back and when the ball disappeared, I thought it had rolled off into the rough behind the green. While I was still looking, one of the other players announced that there was a ball in the hole, and sure enough it was mine. What a hoot!

My playing partners that day were Ken Brown, John Callendar and Roger Lebeau (my usual Tuesday group). In addition, we got to share the excitement with a quick playing twosome that we waved through. It didn’t occur to me that I should save that ball and I proceeded to put it into the pond on the next hole.

It was 155 yards, 7 iron at Maple City. I’ve been a member there since 2007 and been golfing for 57 years. It was my first ever hole-in-one, witnessed by Richard Gilbert and Lorne Phillipow, both members at MCCC. I used a Vice Pro golf ball.

I was playing with three ladies in my Thursday Ladies golf group, on the first day of our club championship. When I came to hole #16, (approximately 100 yards with an elevated sloping green), I used my trusty 30-degree hybrid and the rest is history. Even though this is not my first hole-in-one, it’s still super exciting, especially at the tender age of 82!

It certainly was a lot of fun getting it! My wife is a member at Cranberry, and we were playing with another couple who are friends and neighbors. The 13th hole showed 113 yards on my watch, and I used a pitching wedge. The hole has a large waste bunker in front of it and I knew it was tracking well but didn’t see it actually bounce in the hole. My friend walked to the front bunker to see if it was there and I looked in the hole, and there it was! In my father’s lifetime, he had three, so I have some catching up to do!

It was 129 yards from the blue tees. I hit a pitching wedge and all of our group loved it in the air. I saw it go in and turned around and said, “Did that go in?” Everybody thought it did, but nobody would commit to saying it because of the shadows. I had to wait for everybody to hit. When we got up there, I walked faster than I ever have in my life and sure enough, it was in the hole!

I was playing with a good friend, Matt Godbout who is a member as well as Joe Romeo and Kevin Lu. Whistle Bear treated me great and was a perfect place to get my first ace.

I was golfing at Meadowbrook Golf & Country Club in Gormley, Ontario on Sunday, June 18^th, 2023; a special day in our family for lots of reasons. Not only was it my husband, Todd’s birthday, but it was also Father’s Day. Our group consisted of my husband and I, our three kids, Thomson (11), Eira (9) and Brooks (7), as well as my dad Rob. This was our 11^th annual Father’s Day golfing outing, as we established the first ever event back in 2012. Each year, we have modified the outing and the number of holes we manage to play to suit the group, which has included up to four generations in a few years of doing it.

This year it was particularly memorable. Tight for time following a hockey tournament but determined to continue our tradition, we teed off on the Meadowbrook par-3 course. On the very first hole of the day, an 83-yard par 3, six of us shot, leaving only my son Thomson to make his attempt. He teed up his Seattle Kraken logo ball and took a full swing with his 9 iron. We all watched as it landed on the green about 10 feet from the pin, then proceeded to roll decisively towards (and eventually into) the cup. We were all very excited to witness a big event on a very special day for our family.

Thomson’s first ace (aged 11 years and 15 days old) on his 11^th annual Father’s Day golf extravaganza.

Liz McDowell, on behalf of Thomson McDowell

I was playing in my Wednesday night “Boykie” group (South African for friendship) on August 9^th, 2023, at Meadowbrook Golf Club in Gormley, Ontario. It was hole #16 with a middle-left pin placement. The hole was playing 191 yards from the blue tee box, and I flushed a 5 iron into the left side of the green. The ball landed softly, rode the slope to the right and tracked directly into the hole. It was a surreal moment for sure as this was my first hole-in-one. After 50 years of playing golf, I thought for sure, my best days were behind me. My playing partners that day were Allen Leroy and Dave Reed. Drinks were enjoyed by many that evening on the clubhouse patio.