I was caddying in a group of four women Tuesday and the one who was on my right shoulder (I carry two bags) came within two inches of an ace, the second near hole-in-one I’ve seen this year. In fact, the other one was even closer to the hole.
The shot Tuesday reminded me of the only 1 I’ve ever seen in my time as a caddy.
It came a few years ago while I was carrying for my friend Kyle in the Meriden (Conn.) City Championship at Hunter Golf Course. He had played the back nine first and I met him as he was heading to no. 1. I was working on a golf course grounds crew at the time and couldn’t get there any sooner.
He was having a very good round and parred no.1 with me toting his clubs.
The second hole at Hunter is a slightly uphill par-3 that, if I remember correctly, was playing about 165 yards. It was drizzling and we were into the wind.
The second the ball left Kyle’s club, everyone in the group knew it was going to be a great shot. The ball landed, bounced once and we didn’t see it again. Because of the elevation, we had no idea where the ball was in relation to the hole.
One of the fellow competitors, a stocky guy name of John, watched the shot find green, turned to us and said—with all the emotion of a McDonald’s counter person seven hours into their day—”it went in.”
“What do you mean it went in?” I asked.
“It went in,” he said.
“How do you know?” I queried.
“Because this is the seventh hole-in-one I’ve seen,” he replied, almost bored with the conversation.
“Seven? How many are yours?”
“One,” John said, “and the other six came from six different people.”
John, the ace expert, was right, Kyle did in fact ace the hole, the first of his career.
To this day, it’s the only one I’ve seen in my role as a caddy. I have, however, seen one other 1. It came at Hunter on the sixth hole. I was playing in a group of four as part of a pre-wedding celebration. The groom knocked it in from about 140 and this time we all saw it go in. The weird part, it was Kyle who hit the shot. He has two aces in his career and I was there for both.
