My wife and I were playing in a couples league at College Fields in Okemos, MI. We were playing with a man who's wife was ill and could not play. The club pro, Chris Hallead, who organizes the league and sometimes plays along, could not play that day. He decided to put me in charge, which I characterized as a mistake. As fate would have it, all of those pieces allowed the following to happen. For had anything been different that day, none of this would have happendd.

The old adage in golf, "thin to win", is typically used to describe a poor shot that turns out well. I had done that twice in the first 4 holes that day, but my wife and I were still -1 through. Standing on the 5th hole, with a 6 iron in my hand. [Side note: It is painful to broadcast my club selection. My 2nd hole-in-one came with a 5 iron from 190. OUCH.] Anyway, back to the story. I hit the 6 iron slightly thin, but it was on-line and in the air. While it was dead on-line, I had not hit the ball flush and the ridge between the fringe and the hole made what happened next seem unlikely. As a result, I was calling "get up" the whole ways. As I expected, the ball landed short, but not as short as I expected. It took a health bounce off the front edge, hit the pin just above the hole, and fell in! My wife, who had never seen a hole in one, looked stunned. She wasn't convinced yet that it was int, and neither was I. The front ridge covered the bottom of the pin, so we weren't sure until we got to the green. Once she realized that it was in, she was overcome with joy. Pretty cool to have that happen with her alongside.

Funny side story. As a amateur golfer who plays about 200 holes per year, I know that I am exceedingly lucky to have 3 holes-in one at age 51. The fellow playing without his wife that night, has 5! Combined, the two of us have 8, which I assume is fairly rare in a golf pairing. Perhaps more amazing is that College Fields staff told us that my hole-in-one was the third reported to them in last 24 hours.

LOVE THOSE PRO Vs!!