A hole-in-one is a pretty rare thing, but not getting a hole-in-one on this particular shot is somehow more out of the ordinary. Sometimes you see a golf post that revolves around something unlikely and think: “That’s not that crazy.” This is not one of those times.

Never had a HIO before today. Now I still haven’t.
byu/Mostly_Air ingolf

“160 yard Par 3. On it the whole way,” reads the post. “Clattered the pin, surely went in the hole, then jumped out and rolled 6 feet to the right.

“Now when I’m 80 and my grandkids ask me if I’ve ever had a hole in one, I’ll finally be able to say ‘No… but damn did I have a pretty sweet birdie once.’ (and yes I repaired the rim I mangled. Apologies to our fine greenskeepers!)”

Just look at that divot. This is a real once-in-a-lifetime miss by an unlucky dude and the commenters certainly agree.

“Should have pulled the flagstick before you hit,” one unhelpful individual added.

When asked how he repaired the mangled hole, the original poster stated that it was a “Close call but it all stayed in one piece. Laid it back together and knit it masterfully back together with the divot tool.” He ended up nailing the six-footer for birdie, however, so it wasn’t a total loss.

The post This is it, this is the most brutal hole-in-one miss in golf history appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Picture this: You step up to a par 3 at a local charity tournament. A brand-new Mercedes-Benz gleams in the sunlight. Hit a hole-in-one by hook, crook or kick off the cart path, and it’s all yours. That’s the deal. So you line up your shot. You take a couple practice swings, a waggle or six and pull the trigger. It feels pure. It sounds pure. It reaches its apex and holds against the wind, fading back towards the hole. You shout some nonsense like “be right!” There’s a faint “thunk” and a hop and then it vanishes. In the immortal words of Bob Barker: YOU JUST WON A NEW CAR!!!

Or so you thought.

This is what happened to Linda Chen at the Fins on the Fairway charity golf tournament earlier this year. Only Chen never got the Mercedes she was promised when she aced the Isleworth Golf & Country Club’s 11th hole back in May and now she’s suing several groups involved with the tournament in hopes to recoup the vehicle or its advertised value of $90,000.

According to Fox News, Chen filed her lawsuit alleging breach of contract on August 23, but it doesn’t appear to be an open-and-shut case. The array of defendants, including the tournament, Mercedes-Benz of South Orlando and the prize’s insurer, Ace Hole in One, didn’t simply fail to provide the vehicle to Chen, they denied her the prize on the grounds that she didn’t disclose her status as a former professional golfer. Chen played professionally between 1994 and 1995 and has been registered as amateur with the USGA for 15 years. Organisers, however, say Chen failed to disclose her stint as a professional player — and allegedly even signed an affidavit swearing she wasn’t a former pro — which would have rendered her ineligible for the prize.

“If you look at Linda Chen’s LinkedIn page, she makes no mention of her amateur status. She made no mention of it AHEAD of the tournament,” Tournament Golf Event owner Timothy Galvin told Fox News. “There were other professional golfers in the event who informed the tournament of their status.”

Chen, meanwhile, claims Galvin was dismissive to her when she tried to claim her prize, telling her she was “never” going to be able to claim the prize before abruptly walking away from her.

Unfortunately Chen’s dream hole-in-one has turned into a nightmare. And while the legitimacy of her suit will be determined by a civil court, if the prize rules did state former professionals were ineligible to enter, she may be up a creek without a paddle. That’s a bad place to be … especially in gator country.

The post Golfer wins Mercedes-Benz with hole-in-one, sues tournament organizers after they refuse to give her the car appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

We don’t know any details other than the protagonists names in the story are Greg and Elizabeth. And we don’t have any other context of what happened after, but we do have a hilarious sequence of text messages thanks to our friends at Zire Golf.

Check it out as Greg texts a photo of him doing the classic hole-in-one pose, and Elizabeth replying with a question about … noodles? Yep, ramen noodles.

 

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A post shared by ZIRE GOLF (@ziregolf)

Wow, that’s something else right there. You hate to see it, indeed. Talk about raining on someone’s parade. And if Greg really did toss out those ramen noodles, he was in for a tough night when he returned home.

Let’s point out a couple other things, though. On one hand, Greg seemed like he was being a great husband/dad by keeping Elizabeth up to date on the status of his round. And to be fair to Elizabeth, the girls could have been driving her crazy while dad was out having a grand old time on the golf course. Also, he didn’t specifically say: “HONEY, I MADE A HOLE-IN-ONE!” So maybe she didn’t get a good look at the photo.

In any event, it makes for an all-time exchange. And we hope Greg still got to celebrate. But again, we hope even more for his sake that he didn’t throw away the ramen.

The post LOOK: Man makes hole-in-one, wife rains on his parade with most irrelevant response ever appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Aldrich Potgieter came up one shot short of Monday’s qualifying for this week’s John Deere Classic. But the newly turned pro from South Africa has a heck of a story to tell from his 18 holes at Pinnacle Country Club in Milan, Ill.

The 18-year-old former British Amateur champion shot a six-under 66 with a scorecard that included a 1-2-3-4-5 in a five-hole stretch on Pinnacle’s back nine. More astonishingly, the ace didn’t come on a par 3.

Rather, Potgieter holed his tee shot on the 345-yard par-4 17th, his eighth hole of the day. Using a driver on the dogleg right, cut the corner but wasn’t sure at first how the shot turned out.

“That was really exciting, and it was kind of a weird moment,” Potgieter said afterwards. “I didn’t see it go in, so I didn’t know. Kind of a blind tee shot, but … when I saw my caddie run out to the fairway and was pumping up his arms and going wild, I thought it was probably like a foot or two. And he said, no, it was in the hole. So, it wasn’t like the one you see on a par 3 and you go wild with the crowd. It was kind of a quiet moment to yourself where you’re like, ‘I still can’t believe that happened.’ ”

Unfortunately, there was no video of the rare albatross, only a post-round interview with Potgieter courtesy of the PGA Tour.

We still can't believe that happened either, Aldrich. pic.twitter.com/NFhJfKh4wY

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 3, 2023

After making the turn a six under, Potgieter couldn’t keep the momentum going, playing Pinnacle’s front side in even par. Reid Martin shot a 10-under 62 to earn medalist honours, while amateur Anders Larson, Yuto Katsuragawa and Kaito Onishi shots 65s to grab the four spots available to play at TPC Deere Run.

Potgieter played this year’s Masters and U.S. Open as an amateur thanks to his British Amateur win last summer, missing the cut in the former and finishing 64th in the latter. He then made his pro debut two weeks ago at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Compliance Solutions Championship, finishing 35th. He played last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, on a sponsor’s exemption, missing the cut at Detroit Golf Club.

Just how rare is a hole-in-one on a par 4? Well, consider it’s only been done once in a PGA Tour event. Andrew Magee has that honour, holing he tee shot on the par-4 17th hole at TPC Scottsdale during the 2001 Phoenix Open.

The post 18-year-old makes hole-in-one on par 4 (!) during John Deere Monday qualifier appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Just ask DP World Tour Pro Nicolai von Dellingshausen (say that five times fast), who was the victim of perhaps the single greatest heist since the Gardner Museum at the British Masters on Friday. If you think you have the stomach for it, watch on.

Wait…what? ?

As close to a hole-in-one as you'll ever get for Nicolai von Dellingshausen ?#BetfredBritishMasters pic.twitter.com/StNmVmYXSI

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 29, 2023

It’s very tough to tell exactly where ball originally strikes, but it kicks off the flagstick and deflects back to the lip of the cup where it spins one quarter rotation back toward the hole before suddenly stopping, teetering on the precipice of glory. Again, it’s hard to say for certain, but Dellingshausen’s ball may have even been stopped by its own ballmark, left when it originally struck the green. Words cannot describe the brutality.

We’ve seen plenty of tough breaks and nearlies over the years, but this might be the most sickening of them all. On the bright side, if this had dropped, Dellingshausen would have been buying drinks for the whole clubhouse. Instead, they all owe him one. Bottom’s up.

The post DP World Tour pro gets robbed of ace in the most sickening fashion you will ever see appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Rory McIlroy was understandably disappointed to not claim a fifth major championship on Sunday at the US Open. In the meantime, he’ll have to settle for accomplishing a career-first on Thursday at the Travelers Championship.

In a stat that will certainly stun golf fans everywhere — this golf writer included — the former World No. 1 had never made a hole-in-one on the PGA Tour. In 232 starts. Just an insane fact.

But that all changed with one 5-iron swing on the 214-yard, par-3 eighth hole at TPC River Highlands during the first round. Have a look:

ACE FOR RORY!@McIlroyRory holes it from 214 yards @TravelersChamp ? pic.twitter.com/bKUfts2RvU

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 22, 2023

What an absolute laser. Congrats, Rory. But again, it’s wild that he’d never made one on the PGA Tour before. Heck, less than a week ago he just missed one at LACC!

Anyway, McIlroy does have one career ace as a pro, which came at the 2015 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the DP World Tour. And now, on his 3,253rd par 3 of his PGA Tour career, he’s (finally) got another. What a crazy game.

“I’m not sentimental,” McIlroy said after. “I don’t care. I’d rather have trophies than golf balls.”

OK maybe so, but we’re guessing he’ll treat himself to a couple celebratory beverages on Thursday night.

The post Watch Rory McIlroy make the FIRST hole-in-one of his PGA Tour career appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

OK, so they weren’t quite your conventional aces because they came during a charity golf outing in which Colin Bobowski was playing the role of “celebrity hitter”, according to La Salle High School. That means Colin stayed on the sixth hole at Aston Oaks all day and hit a tee shot that groups could use. So he got a lot of cracks at the 145-yard par 3, but still, what a legendary feat — especially for a freshman.

 

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Absolutely remarkable. Unfortunately, there’s no video of any of the aces. And unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Colin won anything special for his heroic efforts like the 16-year-old who won a car worth $60K earlier this week. But on the bright side, he did make the local news. And mums and dads everywhere know you can’t put a price tag on that.

Cincinnati area H.S. golfer Colin Bobowski just knocked in *THREE* holes in one at the same golf outing.

@LS_LancerATH @NoLayingUp @TronCarterNLU

?@MarkVSlaughter?@OliviaRay pic.twitter.com/6JEtGamnj9

— Charlie Clifford (@char_cliff) June 8, 2023

“Once I got the third time, it was just like: ‘What is happening?’” Bobowski says in the NBC 5 Cincinnati clip. “I was questioning if everything was pushing towards, or if something was helping me. But it was definitely a lot of shock and happiness.”

Of course, for those keeping score in home, whether these count as official aces might lead to another heated hole-in-one debate. Regardless, this guy is going to be a big man kid on campus now.

The post High school golfer aces the same hole THREE times during one golf outing appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

It’s a well-known fact that Gareth Bale’s retirement from football in January meant he was going to be playing more golf. Well, more golf than all the golf he was already playing, something he was criticised for (wrongly, in our opinion, of course) during his career. But just a few months later, Bale can already claim another huge accomplishment on his golfing resume: a hole-in-one.

And not just any hole-in-one. Bale aced the famed third hole at Torrey Pines’ South Course. You know, that downhill beauty with the Pacific as a background that everyone pauses to snap a photo when they play. With that view, the course’s PGA Tour/US Open history, and the fact that Bale could actually see his golf ball roll into the cup, it would be tough to pick a better spot for this momentous occasion. But it gets even better!

Bale had a friend video his shot. And that friend also wound up providing some electric commentary when the ball went in, setting off a celebration from Bale as if he had just scored the winning goal for Wales in the World Cup. Check it out:

 

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A post shared by Gareth Bale (@garethbale11)

Great stuff, Gareth. And Ollie. “This is a video for the ages!” Indeed. At 33, Bale has a lot of golf ahead of him, but it will be tough to top that.

The post WATCH: Gareth Bale aces one of golf’s most famous par 3s, celebrates as if Wales won the World Cup appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

We use the word almost because it did occur. And it was recorded. Let’s get to the clip…

@drunkbytheturn

You cant make this type of stuff up, absolutely love to see it #golftiktok #golftok #golf

♬ Cupid – Twin Ver. (FIFTY FIFTY) – Sped Up Version – sped up 8282

“You cant make this type of stuff up,” reads the post from @drunkbytheturn. “Absolutely love to see it.”

Do you know the number of times someone has said: “An ace is coming,” and then promptly shanked it? At least a dozen times from this intrepid young writer, and there are certainly more examples.

The excitement is palpable, as evidenced by the back-and-forth hugging that goes on like a long tennis rally. We can’t even imagine the feeling. A hole-in-one is momentous on its own, but to have footage of a called shot a la Babe Ruth, that’s gold.

The one negative is that you know this guy is going to mention it at every golf outing, barbeque and guys trip for the rest of time, but you gotta give it to him. He accomplished the near-impossible.

The post Golfer follows up ‘Be quiet for my hole-in-one’ with actual hole-in-one appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Sounds like a sweet deal, right? Of course, there’s a catch. A big catch. You just have to make a hole-in-one to earn the $10,000 prize.

Such is the longstanding offer at the aptly called Lake Taupo Hole-In-One Challenge. It’s a range where golfers hit balls at an island green 111 yards (It’s just a wedge!) away. And where making an ace will earn you $10K. Check out this video documenting one person’s trip to the scenic spot:

 

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OK, so as you can see, it’s not cheap. You have to buy 50 balls to get the price down to $1 per ball. But again, just think of that 10 GRAND jackpot!

We also learned from the video that there are scuba divers constantly retrieving golf balls (Don’t try to hit them, please!) and that you get an extra ball every time you hit the floating green. And there have been 1,200 people to pull off the hole-in-one over 30 years. That’s 40 per year or about one per week.

In other words, you’ve got a shot! This isn’t some carnival game that’s rigged so contestants can’t win. Plus, the former prime minister there, John Key, recently made a real hole-in-one at a charity event with the cameras rolling. And Steven Alker is the current King of the seniors. New Zealand is just oozing with good golf vibes right now.

So if you ever happen to be in the area, you may as well give it a crack. At the very least, you’ll get some good wedge work in.

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