I’ve never even seen a hole-in-one let alone make one so after a month has gone by here is our hole-in-one blog.
A casual Sunday round of golf on Mother's Day with a group of close friends, who all had dinner plans, turned into a viral debate over the "hole-in-one" rule. The best part about it was I was wearing Single Fin shorts and rocking our new bucket hat, hence the name.
The round wasn't going well at all. By the turn, I had practically given up and decided to enjoy the last 9 holes with some of my best friends instead of worrying about my performance or how many balls I would lose (I bought 2 sleeves at the pro shop and had only 2 left after the front 9).
By the time we reached the 12th hole, a 163-yard uphill par 3, the group was looking for a spark. After waiting on slow play and with all but one of us hitting our shots out of bounds on the 11th hole, it was time to turn things around. My buddy Luke steps up to the tee, a true scratch golfer with accolades and trophies to his name, and confidently proclaims that he's going to pin seek. And, in typical Luke fashion, he does just that. From the moment the ball is struck, it's in line with the hole, a truly magical sight for any golfer. Will it go in? It has a chance. These are the thoughts racing through your head when this happens. Unfortunately, it doesn't go in the hole, or else this blog would have a different title.
Now it's my turn. Feeding off of Luke's shot and to keep everyone entertained, I proclaim, "1-800-Go Hole-in-One, this is Cole," and then swing with my 8-iron. Just like Luke's previous shot, the ball from the moment of contact is headed directly at the pin. The contact felt good, the ball flight looks good, and as soon as the ball is about to land, it goes over the false front of the green and CLANK, the pin shakes. "No Way!" we all say as we look at each other. "Did that go in? That went in?" Anxiously waiting and trying to contain our excitement, two others tee off. Meanwhile, my mind is in shambles. I've seen cases where balls fly off the green and fall outside of the cup when the flag is hit. Did this really go in? I wasn't completely convinced.
On the drive up to the green, I have some doubts but remain optimistic. As soon as we reach the top of the hill and I don't see a ball near the hole, I know it must be a hole-in-one. I start jumping up and down. There's no way this just happened. We rush to the hole and can't believe our eyes. The hole is effectively destroyed, and the plastic liner is preventing the ball from falling into the cup. The ball hit a quarter inch in front of the hole, dunked in, and is leaning up against the flag, with the hole's plastic liner barely holding it up. We celebrate, do our best to fix the hole, and continue our now-energized round of golf.
Still in complete shock, I went to my phone, texting all my group chats, calling my dad, and texting my girlfriend about what had just happened. I sent a message to a group chat consisting of mostly all golfers, sharing a picture of my hole-in-one and mentioning remembering a weird rule about the definition of a holed golf ball. If you remember, during COVID, in an effort to stop the spread of germs, golf courses used pool noodles, PVC pipes, etc., to prevent the ball from going all the way into the hole. We debated as we all looked up the rule and realized there might be a grey area to the official rule. This debate lasted a few holes.
The rule in question:
Rule 13.2c - USGA
Ball Resting Against Flagstick in Hole
If a player’s ball comes to rest against the flagstick left in the hole:
If any part of the ball is in the hole below the surface of the putting green, the ball is treated as holed even if the entire ball is not below the surface.
If no part of the ball is in the hole below the surface of the putting green:
The ball is not holed and must be played as it lies.
If the flagstick is removed and the ball moves (whether it falls into the hole or moves away from the hole), there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced on the lip of the hole (see Rule 14.2).
Unbeknownst to me, my friend posted the photo I had sent on Reddit Golf. And by the time the round was over, it was the #2 trending post on r/golf, right behind Jason Day winning the AT&T Byron Nelson. I didn't think much about it but had a blast reading through the 500+ comments that night and the next day. I will share my favorites here and online. A few days passed, and I thought that was the end of it, but I was wrong. The following weekend, while scrolling through Instagram, I saw that ForePlayPod of Barstool Sports had posted the photo of my hole-in-one and called for a debate on the rule in the comments among their million followers.
There really is no debate about my hole-in-one. In my opinion, the ball is resting on the flagstick and under the surface of the green, even though it isn't in the bottom of the cup. The funny thing is that the plastic liner of the cup, which prevented my ball from being holed, is illegal in tournament play. We can debate if this is a hole-in-one all day but I know we can all agree on our mutual hatred for plastic cup, or any cup liners for that matter.
After having a top post on Reddit Golf and a post on Fore Play Golf, who knows who and how many people have seen my hole-in-one? It's fun to be the anonymous man behind it all. At the very least, it has been a great conversation starter. Everyone who plays golf seems to follow Fore Play Golf, hell, Tiger Woods has probably seen my hole-in-one, and that's pretty cool. The worst part about the whole thing is that we should have probably watermarked the photo with a Single Fin Golf Logo. But that's why I love our brand—because we aren't smart enough to do that.
If you have had the luck to have a hole-in-one great, but if not, maybe you need a Hole-in-One bucket hat!
Cheers
-Single Fin Golf
