Today I hit my first hole in one. I’ve been close a couple of times but never REALLY close.

While playing island pointe golf club in Kodak, Tennessee I managed to finally join the club. Hole 5 is a 174 yard par 3 of the French Broad river. The green is on a small peninsula/island that juts out in the middle of the river.

We had a small crosswind that was very slightly hurting. The pin was tucked behind a small knoll in front/left of center of the green. I decided to try and play a draw with my 620MB 8 iron with hopes of helping the ball get close to the pin. After hitting it, the ball started exactly on the line I had hoped and was slightly drawing towards the flag.

Due to the sun/reflections off the water I could not see the ball as well as my playing partners off to the side. The ball landed about 6 feet right and a 6 feet deep of the flag took one small hop and rolled into the cup.

I wasn’t as sure as my group it had went in. They said the ball disappeared but I just assumed the small knoll in front of the green was blocking just enough of the cup that it was there. We rode across the bridge to the hole and as I got close it was evident my ball was either in the hole or we were not seeing what we thought when the ball was rolling.

To my surprise my Pro V1 was in the bottom of the cup! No better feeling in golf yet. I hit the exact shot I wanted and was lucky that the ball got close and then even more lucky that it resulted in the ace. I was fortunate enough to have 3 friends with me and be in a beautiful setting when it happened.