I've played golf competitively since I was 9 years old; I'm now 17. I have played all over the state of Kentucky on some amazing courses. I practice constantly on my home course and know our tee boxes, fairways, and greens tremendously well. I just always figured my first hole in one would come at my home course? But I was wrong! My father takes care of my registrations for my tournaments and when he said I think you should play at Persimmon Ridge in Louisville for a Hurricane tournament, I thought this was a good idea. He generally knows what tournaments I should play in to benefit my game and my opportunity for post high school play; i.e., scholarships. The angle for this particular tournament satisfied both of these with the added bonus of I would be playing the course later in the year during my final high school golf season. This particular Hurricane event was considered a "Major" championship and therefore I could use a caddie, which was my dad. After my first hole, I knew I had my work cut out on this course. After a pretty good drive on the first tee, I pulled my second shot just right of the green leaving very little room to land my third shot for what should have been an up and down for par. Now Persimmon Ridge can be 7,000 plus yards with a 147 slope rating, but my tournament was playing approximately 6,850 which took the slope rating down to 145. The green I had hoped to get my up and down on for an otherwise good start to my opening round turned into a nasty double very quickly. Never-the-less I recovered and went on to finish at one over par after making a few birdies and 1 bogey on the front 9. I started the back 9 with a par and then a birdie, but hole thirteen offered up another double but I wasn't dismayed because I was playing good golf otherwise. Hole 14 was a down hill, 167 yard par 3 with 2 bunkers guarding the front left and right areas of the green. The green had a ridge in the middle of it that I knew I could use to my advantage if I could get it dialed in and spin the ball back toward the pin. I also knew If I hit it short, there would be very little release and therefore could go directly at the stick. I chose the later especially since I had been hitting my irons solid most of the day and I do tend to hit straight. I placed my Titleist ProV1 #4; the same one I played with all day, down atop a broken tee I had found on the tee box. I went through my routine with my Titleist 6 iron and addressed the ball. I swung the choked down club with normal effort and off the ball went. My playing group, a just graduated senior and another junior-soon-to-be-senior along with our father caddies all stood atop the elevated tee box to see my ball hit just in front of the flag stick and disappear. One of the father's said I think the ball went into the cup but due to the late afternoon sun, none of us was really sure. A parent that was with our group but walking ahead yelled the ball went in the cup, Alex just made a hole-in-one! The whole group erupted in joy, high fives, and fist bumps with my dad giving me a friendly shoulder punch and a hug. We hurriedly walked to the green and along the way my father was videoing the approach and narrating the experience. It was just one of the most amazing shots I've ever had and one I will always remember. The remainder of the days round was filled with one more bogey and one birdie to finish at even par for the day. I went on to finish the tournament at 3 over/147 two day total and 2nd place overall. As tradition goes for hole-in-ones, I bought everyone in my group celebratory Arnold Palmer's and lemonade's to commend my first, but not not my last, hole-in-one!