HOW HARD IS IT TO GET A HOLE-IN-ONE? IT TOOK ME 53 YEARS AND WAS TOTALLY WORTH THE WAIT

There are 2 Holy Grails in the major recreational sports that millions of Americans participate: the 300 game for bowlers and the Hole-In-One for golfers.  That's the dream, but it is an elusive one that many never reach.

For an average bowler, the odds of recording a perfect game are 11,500 to 1, per the United States Bowling Congress.  The odds of carding a Hole-in-One are remarkably similar, 12,500 to 1 for the everyday golfer.  Way better than winning Powerball, but still not all that great.

I vividly remember the first time I set foot on a golf course.  It was the summer before 8th grade started at St. Catherine's in Oak Lawn.  My classmate's mom, Mrs. O'breicht, was a golfer and she took us out to Rolling Hills, the 9 hole course at Silver Lake in Orland Park.  I had a set of wood shafted irons, a driver and a putter that I borrowed from the next door neighbor.  I seem to recall that we took 2 spins around the par 29 layout that day, and a 63 and 51 are the scores that are forever emblazoned in my memory.  And I was totally hooked.

My friends and I played as much as we could in the summers during high school.  Beside Silver Lake, Hickory Hills on 95th Street, Evergreen on Western Avenue just east of Little Company of Mary Hospital, and Westgate Valley on Ridgeland Avenue were favorites.  I even remember taking the CTA bus from 103rd & Pulaski, clubs in tow, to Marquette Park and hitting drives off the rubber mats back in the day at the Chicago Park District course.

The golf love continued through the college years in Peoria at Bradley, with rounds at nearby Newman Golf Course squeezed in between classes, study and (of course) parties.  The first time I scored 90 was at Newman (too bad I never got much better than that).  We expanded our summer golf out west to Cog Hill and Big Run, and to the far south suburb courses down by the Indiana state line like Lincoln Oaks, Tuckaway and Glenwoodie, good layouts that fit a college student budget.  

After school and the start of real-life work careers, we all continued to be regulars at the local courses on weekends.  I'll never forget late nights out with my friends on Saturdays at Reilly's Daughter, grabbing 2 hours sleep, and driving out to Lemont to occasionally fill in the foursome of our family friend Bud Qualter, who for years had the 2nd tee time on Sunday mornings at Cog Hill.  Those "old" guys always walked and played fast, and I really learned the definition of keeping pace and playing ready golf from them.

When Forest Preserve National (George Dunne today) opened in the '80's, I would often be the guy sleeping in the car, lined up along Central Avenue with other golf fanatics, waiting for the gates to open to grab the valued tee time for that day at the new big thing in Windy City golf.  A standard tee time early on Saturday mornings at Broken Arrow in Lockport was the easiest way to guarantee a weekend round in the 90's for my friends and I who were trying to juggle the desire to golf with the demands of work and family.

I played in a golf league for over 25 years on Tuesday afternoons at Gleneagles, a few minutes from my house in Lemont, and after the old 36-hole site was sold and transitioned into another vast suburban housing complex, we moved down the street to Cog Hill.  I remember holing out for an eagle on the 3rd hole on Glenagles Red, a 7 wood from 170 yards out that would have to suffice as my Hole-In-One proxy.

Over the years I've played almost every course in the Windy City, from near the Wisconsin border, down to Joliet and Kankakee and west towards DeKalb. If I had to guess, I'd say I averaged 40 rounds per season over the last 53 years, so if we use four par 3's per round, that would be 160 par 3's annually, or 8,480 missed chances to write that beautiful "1" on the scorecard.  

I've had some close calls for sure.  I remember the time on the 4th hole at Old Oak where I hit a line drive 4 wood that never got more than 10 feet off the ground but rolled just inches past the cup.  Or the time at the Silver Lake North course where my pitching wedge on the short 4th hole curled tantalizing around the flag.  Earlier this year I lasered a 5 iron on the 5th hole at Countryside Prairie at the pin but just an inch or two to the left, stopping a foot past the cup.

Which brings me to July 3rd, a beautiful, sunny, summer day at Glenview Park Golf Club.  Nothing was happening with my round that led me to believe that something special would occur this day.  I was playing at the edge of mediocrity for a 20 handicap golfer, slogging through the first 8 holes at 5 over bogeys (which sounds better than 13 over par).  The 9th is 174 yards from the Silver/Black tees, with a pond guarding the left side of the hole.

The pin was near the front of the green with the rangefinder shooting 145 yards.  I originally grabbed a 6 iron, but the green is slightly uphill and there was a bit of a breeze in our face, so I went back to the bag for the 5 iron.  The ball came off my new Sub 70 iron with the click that I knew I hit it flush and the ball was tracking to the hole.  I saw it bounce once just short of the green, then a 2nd hop and I heard the "ping" of ball hitting the flag stick, but I didn't actually see where it stopped.

The negative thoughts in my brain immediately took over and I figured the ball ricocheted left into one of the nearby bunkers.  Not for a second did I think there was any chance it was sitting at the bottom of the cup.  But my playing partners thought otherwise and scrambled up to the hole, looked down and flashed big smiles and the thumbs up that I indeed had just carded my first Hole-In-One.  

So how did I feel in that moment?  To borrow from Pink Floyd, I was numb, but comfortably numb.  I had a hard time processing what I had actually done, and then the numbness slowly transitioned to excitement and then happiness that I was one of the lucky golfers who got to experience this magical moment, made even more special to be shared with good friends who I've golfed with for many, many years.

The rest of the round was a blur, as I basked in the glory of achieving the improbable, life-long dream.  I stopped in the pro shop afterward to share my accomplishment and was given a red Glenview Park flag and a sleeve of Titleist golf balls with the words "Congratulations on Your Hole-In-One".  Soon the flag, the ball used (a yellow Top Flite XL) and the scorecard will be preserved in a shadow box and placed so I'll never forget what I did that day.  I've joined a special club which only 20% of golfers ever qualify.  Now it's time to work on that 300 game.