The hole-in-one; a feat that when accomplished sticks with you as a badge of honor your entire life. It’s the goal of every golfer from pros to weekend hackers. Smacking a golf ball more than 100 yards and getting it to fall into a hole that’s just 4.25-inches wide is a feat not seen on a regular basis—until this summer.
Ralph Lotspeich is the professional out at Mirror Lake Golf Course. He’s hit three hole-in-ones during his competitive college days but still has yet to sink one at the course he’s worked at for 15 years. However, that wasn’t the case for seven others this summer, as a record number of golfers recorded an ace.
“It’s simply amazing. I can’t remember the exact odds, but I have no idea what’s going on,” said Ralph. “We haven’t had this many in the last five or six years combined.”
Six of the seven aces were from club members, with an additional hole-in-one coming from a player who was just passing through town. While an impressive feat for any course at any season, the story actually gets better.
Fifteen-year-old Wyatt Lacolucci was out playing with his father and father’s friend Scott when he drained his first-ever ace on the par 3 No. 8. While still smiling from his accomplishment on the previous hole, the group teed off on No. 9, a par 4, and Scott drained his tee shot in the bottom of the cup. Back-to-back aces by two people in the same group, a feat simply unheard of.
As for the ceremonial buying of drinks for the clubhouse, this pair was lucky enough to be playing during a low time, so it didn’t set them back too much. Another member hit one on league night, but thankfully plenty of members had thrown in some cash for ‘hole-in-one’ insurance, so the tab could have been much worse.
As far as sinking your own hole-in-one, Ralph can only offer one piece of advice: “Give yourself the most chances you can, play every day, that’s about it.”