I got the opportunity to play my first round at Pelican Hill - Ocean South in Newport Beach for my birthday with some friends. I was using a custom marking Titleist Pro V1x I got for Christmas that had my initials, and the ball number was the year I was born. It was a perfect sunny day, the course was beautiful, and the par 3 7th was about 155 yards with a water-carry from the white tees. I took an 8-iron in and saw my ball was heading the right direction, but honestly I thought I was going to come up a little short and roll off the front right of the green and end up wet. The ocean sun made it such that no one in the four-some could see my ball when it actually landed, but our forecaddy, Kirk, who was waiting near the green spotting balls threw up his hands and yelled "Happy Birthday!". A just assumed he meant I was closest to pin, but he yelled "You made it in!". I couldn't believe it, I forgot about the golf cart and just started sprinting towards the pin 8-iron still in hand. I wanted to get to the pin before the forecaddy to make sure he wasn't trying to give me a birthday present and knock it in with his foot wedge : ). I got there before Kirk and he pointed out my ball-mark about one inch from the hole where he said it one-hopped into the flag stick and dunked. I pulled the ball out, high-fives all around, and Kirk took the attached picture. I just picked up the game a little less than a year ago and the other guys had never seen a hole-in-one before in 30 years of golfing so the excitement was high. It all felt too good to be true: on my actual birthday, first year hacking away, first time playing the course, using a custom marked Titleist Pro V1x I almost didn't play because I was afraid of losing them! At Pelican when you get an ace you get to keep a pin flag to commemorate the occasion. Between the flag, the ball (which I promptly hid away and stopped hitting!), and the score card Kirk signed for me I have quite the souvenir package. Needless to say the drinks were on me! I couldn't have asked for a more memorable birthday!