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.
Chi Lik Shum, King’s Riding Golf Club, Hole #5
I got my first hole-in-one on the fifth hole of King’s Riding Golf Club! My friend Ian Gong and I were in a group with another couple we didn’t know. The yardage that day was about 120 and I used a 48 degree wedge.
Anthony Milles, Tarandowah Golfers Club, Hole #15
I was playing with friends, Mike Machan, Terry Mills, Mark Laskin and Gord Pike. The hole was playing 155 yards and I used an 8 iron.
Rory Matheson, Whistler Golf Club, Hole #14
My wife and I are pass-holders at Chateau Whistler Golf Club. A friend had given us a gift card to Whistler Golf Club and we decided to use it on the last weekend before they closed for the season. We played with a member and a visitor from the Okanagan. Hole #14 is 150 yards and it was playing into the wind so I hit an eight iron. It was a great way to end our Whistler golf season. There was an eleven year drought between my first hole-in-one in 2013 and this one.
Roger Picard, Castlegar Golf Club, Hole #8
I was golfing with my wife Mary. The yardage was 185 and I used my 5 iron.
Craig Manning, GlenDenning Golf Course, Hole #11
It was on the hole #11, par 3 at my club Glendenning Golf Course. I was playing with a friend, Craig B. and brother-in-law Willie S. I hit an approach wedge, the hole was playing 110 yards and downwind. This is my second ace on this hole!
Zach Pero, Greenhills Golf and Country Club, Hole #12
I made a hole-in-one at my home course, Greenhills Golf and Country Club in London, Ontario with Ryan Ford and John Schlieman. It happened on hole #12, front pin, tucked behind the front-left greenside bunker. Yardage was 158, playing about 170 into the wind (blustery day). I was having a great day in terms of iron play, but I knew I’d have to swing out of my shoes with my 8 iron to clear the bunker, so opted to set up about ten or so feet behind the blocks to take a bit off my 7 iron and avoid flying the green. Smooth swing with a high, tight draw. We knew it was a good shot, but couldn’t see the hole. As we walked up the hill onto the green we couldn’t see any balls on the green. One ended up in the front bunker and one on the back fringe. John pointed out a pitch mark about 18 inches in front of the hole, so I leaned in to take a quick peek, and there it was. My first ace. Not sure if it one-hopped or bounced and zipped back, but man, what an absolute rush.
Ray Frayne, Sturgeon Valley Golf & Country Club, Hole #5
It was a fun day – our annual Brass Monkey tournament to end the season. In Alberta the season is too short. I was playing with three great guys who made it special for me. Owen O’Connor (the Guinness flowed after), Craig Schofield and Brad Sykes. That day, hole #5 was playing about 145 yards uphill and a light breeze slightly in and across from the left. With the pin tucked just over a ridge angling down to the back of the green. I hit as pure an 8 iron as I have hit all year. It looked good all the way and when it pitched into the ridge and trickled over towards the pin we knew it was good. We couldn’t see the hole so we weren’t 100% sure. Hurrying up to the green there was no ball close or at the back. Craig was first to the hole and he showed a thumbs up causing us all to cheer. It was a great experience that I will treasure.
David Wortzman, Donalda Club, Hole #12
I was playing at Donalda Club with Chase McCarthy, Kevin Melhuish and Paul Sadownick, all of whom are better golfers than me. Hole #12 had a middle of the green pin that day and it was 192 yards from the blue tees. I hit a 5 wood that landed in front of the green and rolled up the apron, onto the green and kept going into the hole. It was a totally unexpected outcome but a lot of fun to watch, since it rolled for about four or five seconds. If I can do it, anyone can.
Bruce Anderson, Cultus Lake Golf Club, Hole #17
My regular playing partners Alex McLean and Derrick Moore and I were having our usual Wednesday game at Cultus Lake, a beautiful shorter course nestled in the Columbia Valley not far from the lake. It was a nice day to play, and we were each having our share of success. At #17, which was playing around the scorecard yardage of 120 yards, I was coming off two birdies in the previous three holes, but I never expected what happened here, a great strike with the 8 iron, a flight path on the line of the hole, a landing about six feet short and a ball that scurried straight in!
Celebrations all around for my fourth hole-in-one, and very timely given that Derrick (who just started playing golf a little over a year ago), had already nailed his first ace at Cultus in September (Alex has two there himself). As I said, it is a lovely shorter course, but you still need to hit the shots. My ace also helped with the overall score, obviously, and I posted 59, (on the par 61 tees). Another fantastic day in the golf paradise that is British Columbia.
Suzanne Stier, Rivershore Golf Links, Hole #2
I was golfing with my husband, son and grandson. I used a 7 iron. My ball landed on the green, rolled along and the disappeared. I looked at my husband and said, “I think I just got a hole-in-one,” and he thought no that it just rolled off the other side of the hump. We the got to the green where our grandson ran to find the ball, he got to the hole and yelled, “it’s in there, she got a hole-in-one.” I was so excited! I couldn’t believe it!