Golf Canada Hole-In-One Report – June 23, 2023

My playing partners were Eric Sundgaard, Leo Jansen and Cal Sawicki. The hole was playing about 120 yards with a slight breeze towards the tee box. I used a 9 iron, and we heard the ball strike the pin but unfortunately, the sun was in our eyes, and we were unable to see what happened to the ball until we got on the green. This is my first hole-in-one in about 49 years of playing golf. It was a great feeling to find the ball in the hole!

It was 140 yards. I used a 6 hybrid. It was my second hole-in-one!

I was playing a Father’s Day game with three friends, including fellow Golf Canada member Jim Sturrock. Hole #16 at Gatineau GC is 150 yards, and I used an 8 iron for a front pin position. The ball landed just on the green and tracked right into the hole!

The hole-in-one occurred on Father’s Day, June 18th, 2023, on the third hole of McCleery Golf Course in Vancouver. The hole was 166 yards from the tee box to a forward flag that day. As it was an early morning round, I decided on a TaylorMade 4 hybrid. I was playing with seven other golfers that day making up two foursomes. In my group was Tony Tang, Peter Lee and Dick Eng. All these golfers are in a Sunday golf group collectively known as ‘The Golfaholics’. Very recently eight of the members of the Golfaholics (including myself) had returned from a golf trip to St. Andrews in Scotland where we played all the well-known courses that the town has to offer.

Sunday June 18th, 2023, was a very special day that I’ll never forget. It was Father’s Day. Traditionally, my two older brothers Murray Michael and I, would take my dad out for a round of golf every Father’s Day. My eldest brother Murray was a passionate, avid golfer. Tragically he passed away in 2015. My older brother Michael and I have continued the tradition of golfing with our father every season on Father’s Day.

This season we played at Watson’s Glen and teed off at 11:20am. We had a perfect sunny day with minimal wind. I was playing from the blue tees and would be the first of our group to tee off every hole. From the blues, the score card said 155 yards. The flag was red and it was near the front of the green. I pulled out my favourite iron, my pitching wedge. I had a brief conversation in my head with my brother Murray. I asked him to help me do something memorable for dad and the group here. I hit a perfect swing and the ball flew high and right at the pin. The ball landed roughly four yards before the pin. One bounce and it rolled directly in the cup! Our fourth golfer Peter (Michael’s best friend) screamed that’s a hole-in-one! Michael and my dad were near the carts at the time and came running over screaming and jumping for joy. The course’s marshal happened to roll up on us as the commotion was taking place. He asked what was going on and we were mid-celebrating yelling hole-in-one! He drove his cart up to the green to confirm. As he approached the hole he looked down and gave us the big thumbs up.

I was playing with Granite members – Andrew Popert, Joanne Hart and Ian Morton. The yardage was 110 and I used an 8 iron.The 7th hole has a steep incline from front to back. I decided to take an extra club and lob the ball over the flag and use the slope to bring it back towards the hole. The plan worked as the ball landed about four feet past the pin. Gravity took over and after 20 seconds or so, the ball rolled into the hole. We weren’t sure at first and thought it might have rolled off the front edge of the green, which is visually blocked by a marshy area. We were pretty excited to see the result, a hole-in-one!

It was my very first hole-in-one in over 30 years that I have played golf. I am 83 now. The hole-in-one was on the par 3 5th hole at Glen Eagles which is 110 yards. I used a 9 iron and it went in.

My playing partners were Gary Harney, Dan Steeves and Ralph Geimer.

It was pretty exciting for sure! My buddy Dane Giesbrecht was golfing with me! I was playing the gold tees, and it was 152 yards. I used a pitching wedge.

This was my third hole-in-one which occurred on June 9, 2023, at the 13th hole of Brampton Golf Club. It was 141 yards, and I used an 8 iron. It was truly a special day as it was my first round at Brampton for 2023 and I was playing with my wife Susan Allen and my good friends, Bill Chapman and Christiane Deschenes.

On hole #13, which is 178 yards, I used my 4 hybrid to get a hole-in-one!

I was playing at Lambton GCC as part of our Quad Club Interclub matches. This involved Mississauga GCC, Islington GC, Lambton GCC and Toronto GC. There is a member from each club in each foursome. Each person plays a six hole match against each of the other three players. We were just starting our second set of matches when we arrived at the fifth hole at Lambton. It was a 108-yard par 3. I used my 6 iron. We watched it fade toward the hole and talked it into the hole, watching it roll towards the hole and then disappear! The other ladies in the group had never seen a hole-in-one before, so everyone was very excited. Of course, when we arrived back at the clubhouse and the bar was declared open, all of the other Interclub players were also excited!

That was actually my fourth hole-in-one. Interestingly, three of the shots occurred in match play. Last year, I had one on the third playoff hole of a two-ball match. Needless to say, we won the match!

I got a hole-in-one on June 11th. It was at Vespra Hills Golf Club in Springwater. I was playing with three of my regulars, David Grimshaw, Rob Gordon and Mitch Eisen. The 7th hole of the Still Valley nine was set up with the flag in the middle and 117 yards. I hit a pitching wedge which landed a few feet in front of the pin and rolled straight in. I ended up shooting 74 that day.

In 2015, I played in a charity tournament for Junior Diabetes at the Shelburne Golf Club hosted by David Markle. It was the Monday after the Canadian Open that year and Nick Taylor was one of the professionals playing. I had bid on a Sandersons Farm Flag that Nick had signed. After the meal, he was gracious enough to join me in a photo. I have been a fan and have followed him ever since. The reason I will never forget this hole in one is because Nick Taylor and David Markle won the Canadian Open on the same day as my hole-in-one.

I was playing with my three friends, Scott Dolanz, Jenny Hu and Stan Young. The distance was 148 yards, red flag over the water with a strong left to right wind. Scott hit first and could see the wind take his ball all the way from a good line towards the flag and into the bunker on the right of the green. My 9 iron is my 160-yard club but with that strong wind, I chose that over my normal pitching wedge. It hit the left side of the green, same as Scott, then the wind took it, but it bounced on the green and in. Amazing moment!

I’m so excited and was even more excited when it first happened! I yelled and screamed and jumped up and down!

A group of us ladies have been going to Mabel Lake for a few years now and this was my second year. I missed last year because I got married, another exciting milestone! I was golfing with four of my friends – Clara Koehn, Lori Henderson and Carla Tetreau. We were doing our last nine holes for the week, and I was determined to get my ball on the sixth green. I took my time to line up my shot using my 3 wood and let go a nice looping shot. We watched the ball land on the green then it started rolling. Then we couldn’t see it anymore! Then I started yelling! I think the other ladies did too.

I played with Alex Chaiban, Jack Kilrea and Matisse Touchard. It was 157 yards, and I used a pitching wedge.

It was my third round of the year on hole #6 at Cottonwood Golf and Country Club. It was 148 yards, and I was using an 8 iron. I couldn’t see it go in because the flag was off to the left side of the green hidden by a small hill after the sand trap. But when we walked up and didn’t see it, we knew it must have gone in the hole. Very exciting!

I checked the yardage with my rangefinder and found out that it was 110 yards, and luckily, I had a club just for that distance. At first, I was planning to club up in case I hit it poorly because even if I clubbed up it would still be on the green. But the front of the green looked a bit dry so I knew if I hit it a little short it would roll up there. I ended up deciding to hit my 110-yard club, but I aimed a little right of the pin because I had been missing it a bit to the left that day. I hit the shot, but it went straight where I was aiming. Then I just bent down to pick my tee up because I knew it was going to be on the green. But when I was picking my tee up, the other people in my group said, ‘get in the hole!’ and I looked at my ball. It was rolling and then I saw it fall into the hole! At first, I was so shocked, I couldn’t believe it. A lot of people that were watching were clapping, congratulating me and giving me high fives. When I got to the green my dad took pictures of me, and I didn’t use that ball for the rest of the round.

This was my second hole-in-one. The first came in 2000, so it’s been a while. This was hole #14 at Fort William Country Club, which is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year, so that makes it extra special. Hole #14 is right at the base of a mountain, and it was a beautiful day, but the wind was gusting. The hole was 123 yards, and I had a 7 iron in my hand, but at the last second, I switched to my 6 iron, due to the wind. I was with my regular foursome, which included Kim Paterson, Gay Becotte and Laurie Ryan-Cooper.

The 8^th hole at Lookout Point on June 10, 2023, was around 145 yards, 45 feet uphill to a blind green. It played into a stiff wind, and I used a 7 wood. I was playing with Gino “Bubba” Paolone, Carl Inacio and Bob Podio. When I hit the tee shot, I thought it was a little right, but the others thought it would be close to going in. Upon getting to the green I did not see the ball and went to the back of the green to see if the ball had gone into the rough over the green as that is what often happens often on this hole. Bob Podio went and investigated the hole and sure enough the ball had gone in. It was my sixth hole-in-one at Lookout Point and eighth overall. The other two were at the Cornwall Golf Club. What was even more special is that I now have aced all the par 3’s at Lookout Point.