Although the circumstances may differ, there’s one thing each ace has in common: No matter how much time has passed, the lucky players all say it’s one of the highlights of their lives.
Caught on film
Zach Bertke ended up with a hole-in-one on a school day as an eighth-grader about 15 years ago and learned an important life principle in the process.
His mother, Bellbrook High School teacher Chris Bertke, allowed her son to skip classes to fulfill a birthday request of playing golf with his grandfather. But she told the truth when she called the school to say why he’d be absent.
“What are you doing?” he protested. “Couldn’t you just tell them I’m sick? Now it will be an unexcused absence and I won’t be able to make up my work.”
Chris responded, “You wanted me to lie?”
She was glad she didn’t, since a film crew was shooting an advertisement for condos near Beavercreek Golf Club that day and asked if they could get footage of the two golfers as they teed off on a par-3. Zach promptly aced the 148-yard hole.
The video was passed along to the news, which meant his mom might have had some explaining to do if she had reported him sick.
“To this day, I tell that story to my students all the time,” said the wife of former University of Dayton basketball player Al Bertke. “It was a tough call, and who would ever have thought there’d be a camera crew on the hole where they were? What are the chances of that?”
Golf ball mix-up
Although his best nine-hole score is a modest 45, University of Dayton grad student Alex Horn aced the 171-yard 17th hole at Heatherwoode this summer.
But there was some confusion on the green because the Centerville native and another golfer were both playing Top-Flites, although with different logos.
“The guy said, ‘Oh my God, I had a hole-in-one,’ ” Horn said. “But it was my ball. I knew his was in the back of the green. He was high-fiving, and I said, ‘Hey, I think that’s mine.’ ”
The group knew for sure the ball belonged to Horn when it was pulled from the cup, revealing a distinctive green logo.
“It’s a crazy feeling,” Horn said. “I didn’t see it go in because the sun was in our eyes. I was kind of in shock. It didn’t hit me until they told me congratulations.”
Father’s Day drama
Brian Esten of Centerville was playing on Father’s Day in Medina, Ohio, with his dad, Larry. And after the elder Esten landed a shot 10 feet from the hole on a par-3, Brian hit a laser beam toward the flag.
As the ball was in flight, Larry feigned disgust and said, “Even on Father’s Day, you have to out-do me.”
The ball landed in the cup on a fly, taking out a chunk of turf off the edge of the hole. They took a picture with a cell phone of the ball resting at the bottom.
“It was pretty funny,” said Brian, a Dayton Firefighters Credit Union employee who shot 81 that day. “I was so amped after making it that I proceeded to hook one off the tee. I’m so good that I followed a hole-in-one with a triple bogey. I was just trying not to shake on the tee box.”
Weathering the cold
Don Dawsey almost pulled out of a fundraising scramble at Wright-Patterson’s Twin Base Golf Course on a damp, windy, frigid day in April six years ago. The temperature the night before was 41 degrees.
But he was one of 138 golfers who persevered — and he’s glad he did.
Bundled in winter clothes, the Beavercreek resident hit a 3-wood into a gale on the 168-yard No. 8 for a hole-in-one to win a 2004 Buick LaCrosse. As the ball plopped in, two women volunteers, serving as officials at the green, went berserk.
“The poor ladies who were working it ... they were freezing, too,” Dawsey said. “All of a sudden their hands went up like they were signaling a touchdown. She jumps up and down, saying, ‘It went in the hole!’ They ran all the way down to the tee box and said, ‘It’s in the hole, it’s in the hole.’
“They were so happy because I think they thought they could quit for the day.”
Dawsey’s wife still drives the car.
“All the stars lined up,” the 24-handicapper said. “I’ve had one good shot in 20 years. But that’s what a hole-in-one is all about.”
Lost balls work
Whenever Doug Pilgrim stumbles across a golf ball in the woods or weeds, don’t expect him to pass it up — ever.
The Kettering resident has registered two holes-in-one, both of them with golf balls he found earlier in his rounds.
“On the second (ace), I found a ball on my second hole of that round,” he said. “I put one in the woods. I didn’t find that one, but I found another ball. I said, ‘Hell, that’s a decent ball.’ I used it on the hole-in-one and put it away.”
Both aces came at Homestead in Tipp City. His playing partners were the same each day: Reggie Whitby of Vandalia and Hugh Witten of Tipp City.
“There’s a lot of luck involved, but you’ve still got to hit the ball decent,” said Pilgrim, who normally shoots in the 90s.
Moment shared
Ed Smith has found the biggest high of all in carding a hole-in-one is getting to share it with others.
“It was really thrilling, but I almost enjoyed the reaction of people more than me being happy about it,” he said. “They’ll say, ‘I’ve been playing for years and never have had one.’ ”
The Kettering resident was included in their ranks for quite awhile. He began playing golf as a teenager and was starting to believe time was running out on him since he turned 62 in May.
Later that month, though, he ripped a 5-iron into the cup on the 180-yard 17th at Sugar Valley CC during league play. Afterward, he spent nearly $300 buying drinks for fellow members. The Dayton attorney was relieved the tab wasn’t bigger.
“One guy told me he once plopped down $700 for drinks,” he said. “Most were pretty nice where they weren’t buying the most highfalutin’ drink they could think of.”
He added sheepishly, “I’m not sure my wife realized I had to do that.”
Acing a par-4
John Kramer is 4-handicap golfer, has a double-eagle at Kings Island Golf Course and owns 12 club championships, but he’s never had a hole-in-one on a par-3.
He has managed to card a “1” on a par-4, though.
On the 265-yard fourth hole at the Eaton Country Club, Kramer, who will be 60 this year, drove the ball onto the green and into the cup. The best part about it was that his 86-year-old father was behind the green watching the unlikely shot go in.
When the ball nosedived out of sight, the elder Kramer, an avid golfer himself, grabbed the pin and waved it toward the tee in celebration.
“He had cataract surgery a few days before and couldn’t play,” Kramer said. “He was driving around in a golf cart, watching the rest of the guys play in the Tuesday evening league.
“That made the hole-in-one a little secondary to seeing the joy he had. You couldn’t set that up.”
Kramer wasn’t too clear-headed on his next shot.
“I hit the same hole-in-one ball on the next hole and almost pulled it over the fence,” he said. “I pulled it out (of play) after that.”
Cherished feat
Memories of a hole-in-one may last a lifetime, but Mike Gentile says they’re difficult to savor during a round.
He should know. After 27 years of being blanked, he’s recorded two this year about 35 days apart at Sugar Valley CC.
“The moment comes and goes quickly,” he said. “Others must finish the hole and all must move along to the next challenging tee shot. There is little time to soak up what just took place.”
Gentile had to fork out about $200 in drinks after his last ace, but the Centerville resident didn’t mind the extra hit.
His attitude?
“Just be happy to get one. All the money wouldn’t mean anything. The hole-in-one means everything,” he said.
Not older, but better
Robert Souders has noticed his game suffering a bit as he’s aged.
“I used to be a lot better than I am,” the 73-year-old Centerville resident said. “Unfortunately, as you get older, your muscles aren’t as snappy as they once were.”
Souders, though, seems to be doing just fine. He’s had three holes-in-one — all in the last 12 years.
One was at a nine-hole course in Franklin, the other two were in Fort Myers, Fla., where he owns a condo. All of them came while playing with family, which made them special.
His advice for the ace-less among us?
“I’d just say, ‘Keep your head down. Don’t look up until you hit the ball. Then look up and you might be surprised,’ ” he said.
No bar tab
David McGowen was all too aware of the tradition of having to buy drinks after making a hole-in-one, which is why he tried to slink away after registering one in his golf league two years ago.
“My mind immediately began doing mathematical mental gymnastics,” he said.
There were 12 teams with four golfers each in the league at the Shelby Oaks course near Sidney, and drinks could cost $4 a pop.
The Jackson Center resident, who’s a 4-handicapper, said he’d have “a tough time explaining to my wife how hitting a hole-in-one was a ‘good’ thing. (But) just as I was contemplating how to make a quiet escape to the parking lot after the round, one of my teammates chirped, ‘You cheapskate, it figures you’d get a hole-in-one on a day the beer’s free.’ ”
Since the ace come on the final round of the season, league fees covered the suds.
“Suddenly feeling quite relieved,” McGowen said, “I shouted, ‘I just got a hole-in-one.’ ”
Old club works
George Bauer had a hole-in-one prior to his 17th birthday that he had to keep a secret.
The 67-year-old Huber Heights resident lived near a golf course in Belleville, N.J., at the time and routinely jumped the fence to play a few holes with the only club he had, a wooden-shafted Mashie Niblick, which was used in the 1800s.
He had another hole-in-one, though — 47 years later — that he could share with the world, acing No. 12 at Sebastian Hills in Jamestown with his regular foursome.
Although he’s long since put away that Mashie, one thing hasn’t changed: He still plays with the 10-finger baseball grip he learned as a boy.
Jack says congrats
To build publicity as he was starting his PGA Tour event in Dublin, Ohio, golf legend Jack Nicklaus allowed sports writers to play Muirfield Village.
Dick Netzley, the director of game operations during basketball season at the University of Dayton, was once the Troy Daily News sports editor and took advantage of that perk. During a round in 1978, he aced No. 4, the first hole-in-one ever recorded on the prestigious layout. He used a Nicklaus model 4-wood on the shot.
Netzley sums up his feat at the renowned course by saying: “It’d be like hitting one out at Wrigley.”
Netzley, who shot 116 that day, was ushered in to meet Nicklaus after the round.
“He’s sitting in the bar area and asks, ‘Do you play much golf?’ I said, ‘No, not really.’ I think that broke his heart. He congratulated me and signed my yardage book.”
It says, “Nice going on the ace — Jack Nicklaus.”
Going for the green
Springboro resident Warren Miller had just graduated from the University of Albany in 1986 when he aced a 271-yard par-4 at Durand Eastman golf course in upstate New York.
The smart play on the dogleg is an iron off the tee and a wedge to the green, but Miller, wearing high-top tennis shoes and wielding wooden clubs, ripped a drive over a grove of trees toward where he assumed the green was sitting.
Asked if he worried about dinging someone putting out, he said, “No, you just don’t think it ever would go straight. I hit the ball far but not very straight.”
On that hole, though, he uncorked one without his customary slice.
“When we approached, there were four people on the green excitedly asking, ‘Who hit the Top-Flite?’ ” Miller said. “Embarrassed, I asked if I hit anyone. They replied, ‘No, we were putting out and the ball hit, bounced once and then rolled right into the cup.’ ”
In Japan, the tradition for a hole-in-one is for the lucky golfer to buy presents for members of his group. In America, it’s drinks.
The good news for the nearly broke college grad was that the course was located in a dry county.
“I got off the hook,” Miller said.
Twins both have aces
Doug Wolf of Springboro plays on the Yoohoo Tour. But don’t confuse that with the Hooters Tour, the Nationwide Tour or any other legitimate breeding ground for future PGA Tour players.
Wolf, his identical twin brother Jeff, a cousin and a friend go on a golf outing to different parts of the country each year. They call it the Yoohoo Tour because they once accidentally left a bottle of the chocolate beverage on top of their car as they pulled away. It didn’t survive long.
“We don’t ever get too worked up over (the golf),” Doug said. “It’s just good camaraderie, a good time away.”
The Wolfs have trouble breaking 100, but both had holes-in-one just three months apart in 2000.
Doug’s came on the Yoohoo outing, and he called his wife at home to tell her the news. Not quite grasping the rarity of the feat, her reply was, “Don’t you get those all the time?”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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