I was playing The Fort, a Pete Dye design, in Lawrence, Indiana with three of my neighbors Alex Putnam, Brad Brees and Matt Albano. It was an overcast Saturday morning with spotty showers. This was my first time to play this season but was inspired after having just returned from spending 10 days at Pinehurst watching both the men's and women's US Open Championships and by my 8 year old daughter's newfound passion for golf which culminated in her starting lessons the previous day.
My first two holes out of the gate were ugly - a triple followed by a double, both reasonably easy par 4s - as I shook off the rust of an extensive 9 months since my last round of golf. I rebounded with a par on a par 3 and a bogey on the #1 handicap par 4 fourth. As we approached the short par 3 fifth hole, with tiered tees overlooking a deep ravine before an elevated green on the car side, I remarked to my cart partner Alex, that I might rather play the Championship tees on this hole since I could hit a full shot and from a higher plateau rather than having to use a three-quarter swing and having to hit from below the green at the more forward tees. Nonetheless, we hit from the more forward tee. Playing ready golf, I led off and selected my trusty Rusty Phil Rodgers Cobra sand wedge and pulled out a brand new Titleist ProV1. The pin placement was middle right on the green. A course ranger pulled up the cart path just above the green and waited for us to hit before driving on. I found a broken tee and teed up my ProV1, lined up and took a practice swing. Since the pin was fairly close to the center, I placed my ai right at the flag. When I hit the ball, it was on a good path and trajectory, straight at the pin. I thought it would be a decent shot and I might have a chance for birdie. When the ball hit the green, it was about 6 in he's to the right of the hole and about 18 inches short. I watched the ball bounce past the hole and I feared it might roll to the back of the green. I bent down to pick up my tee and heard my friends erupt, "It just went in!" At first I thought they were joking but as I looked up, the ball had disappeared into the cup. The ball had actually backed up into the hole. That is something I am rarely able to do and never an do with any ball but a ProV1. I was overjoyed and immediately thought of my dad, the proud owner of 7 holes in one and all using Titleists, but his first not coming until after age 50. This was truly a thrill of a lifetime. Everyone one in my group said it was such a pretty shot, not some hole-in-one by luck because it bounced in off of a tree or sprinkler head. Now my daughter can't wait to get her first hole-in-one and I'm sure it will also be with a Titleist. A family tradition.