I'm 60 years old and have been playing golf for nearly 50 years without ever having a hole-in-one. The highlight of my golf game before the hole-in-one had been winning the club championship at Meadows Farm Golf Course in Locust Grove, Virginia in 1999.

Four years ago I moved to Quinton, Virginia and joined the Brookwoods Golf Club. The Men's Association has a monthly tournament and I was playing in the July event with three friends, Fred Meredith, Jim Peck and Dave Young. I had not been playing particularly well that day. As in most tournaments prizes were awarded for closest to the pin on all the par threes and none of us had come close on any of the previous par threes when we got to the 13th hole, our fourth par three. The pin was in the front left corner of the green, 142 yards from the elevated tee. There is a small pond in front of the green with trees lining the left hand bank. One tree over hangs the pond about 50 yards from the front left side of the green. The pin placement was a real sucker pin with the safe shot being a slight draw started at the middle of the green. I was the last to hit my tee shot and none of the others had again gotten close to the pin. Normally I would have played to the center of the green but decided this time to take dead aim at the pin. I hit a high soft seven iron that started just left of the pin. When the ball hit its apex it dropped a little to the right and it looked like it was going to be close. When the ball hit the green it was dead in line with the pin but I didn't see it go in. I turned and asked my playing partners if it had gone in but nobody could tell. As we approached the green from the tee box and started around the right side of the pond we could see the divot where the ball had landed right in front of the pin about four inches short of the cup and then we knew it was in the hole.

One interesting side note. The Association has a hole-in-one pot that we all contribute a dollar to every time we play on the weekends. Anyone making a hole-in-one during weekend play wins the pot...except during tournaments. A hole-in-one during tournament play is only awarded all the closest-to-the-pin money for that tournament, usually $100. On the day I made my hole-in-one there was more than $1500 in the pot but all I could receive was the $100. During the social after the tournament one of my friends took great pleasure in giving me a hard time about making my hole-in-one on the wrong day. He kept saying if I had waited till the next day, a Sunday, I would have won the $1500 pot. But it didn't matter to me because I had finally made a hole-in-one and I kept reminding him that he had never made one. Well as we all know sometimes there is no justice in the game of golf. The very next day that friend made his first hole-in-one and won the pot!