On Mother's Day, I assumed the activity at my favorite course in Arizona (WeKoPa in Fountain Hills) would be light and I was right. The starter indicated I could go out solo if I wanted and that there was a twosome 3 start times behind me so I ventured out, expecting to savor the weather and beautiful Saguaro course. After playing the first 5 holes, I caught up to a foursome ahead of me (who had another foursome ahead of them) - since playing through wouldn't have helped, I waited for the twosome to catch up to me and join me to make a threesome.

That proved to be a smart move because my moment was about to happen on the 11th hole, par 3. With a 183-yard distance, I hit my favorite AP-1 iron (7) perfectly but there was a ridge on front of green blocking some of the flag. When my shot landed, it hit the left edge, rolled toward the flag and disappeared. The other two fellows who joined me each asked if the ball went in and were beginning to high-five me, predicting boldly that it was a hole-in-one. I was a little numb to the possibility, preferring to believe that the ball was just hiding behind the ridge that we couldn't see from the tee box. Yet, when we pulled up to the green, the ball was nowhere to be found until I looked into the cup.

What made the experience so perfect was that it occurred on my favorite course and, while the two players I joined up with were complete strangers, each was in their 60's and had never witnessed or garnered a hole-in-one. Had I continued to play solo for the round, I would have had no one to validate the event.