The weather was a perfect Okanagan morning, sunny, clear, calm and +24 degrees celsius. I was playing with my buddies Roy Millar, Shawn Flett and Carl Lawrence. Hole #4 is a 155 yard elevated tee about 150 feet above the hole. The pin was at the back of the green past a ridge. I had the honors and Roy said, “if we land on the right side at the top of the ridge the ball should roll right into the cup.” Roy has a rangefinder and with slope correction the distance was 144 yards.
I teed up a Titleist one ball and with my 35 year old Ping Persimmon 5 wood, (I also have driver, 3, and 7 Persimmons), hit a high easy shot that hit the top of the ridge, bounced once and rolled about 35 feet into the hole, amazing feeling. It’s my first hole-in-one in 60 years of golfing. I have hit the pin at the Brandon Golf and Country Club with a brand new Mercury Cougar as a prize. Another time I rolled right around the hole at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf course with a price of a trip for four to St. Andrews Golf Club in Scotland. My only other near hole-in-one was leaving the ball on the lip at Kelowna Springs Golf course with a $20,000 cash prize. This day was not during a tournament but I will treasure the moment for life and the folks at Black Mountain Golf Course were great.
