"Almost" Hole in Ones -- Are you happy or frustrated? Tell your stories

[bk52]

I guess when one has a near miss, it is easier to understand that the difference between a great shot and an ace is 100% luck. The great shot is 2 inches away and the ace manages to go in.

 

At this point, a near miss leaves me happy for a tap in birdie. I hae been lucky 4 times, it is someone else's turn.

Edited March 17, 2024 by bk52

[Socrates]

I've had some close calls, but nothing beats what would have been my first HIO.  3rd hole on a cool fall morning, about 160 yds.  Ball was on line and hit the green and rolling to the hole.  Hits the flag and doesn't go in and finishes about a foot away.  We can believe it.  Get to the hole and someone had damaged the flag and the fiberglass had shattered and ballooned so that it filled almost the entire cup.  No way the ball could go in.  

 

Almost a good thing as I was i playing with a group of guys (about 25 people) who all really knew how to drink.  Fortunately, I've had 3 HIO's since but it's been about 28 yrs since my last one.

Edited March 18, 2024 by Socrates

[Kacy]

20 years of golf. + handicap (currently).

3 lip outs that I could see. 3rd one was three weeks ago. 

[bobfoster]

I've had four holes in ones (just sheer chance - 50+ years of golf, but really, every HIO is half skill and half luck).

 

But I still feel ya. Remember one incident (even now, years later). Long par 3 (180ish). Absolutely flushed my iron, one of those rare times when the ball did exactly what I visualized. Right on line. Bounced once, hit the flagstick, took a weird bounce and wound up in the water next to the green. Due to the course, had to drop in a really inconvenient case. Duffed the drop (because my head was not exactly focused). Long story short, what was an absolutely perfect long iron turned into a triple. 

 

Sometimes the Golf Gods get in a bad mood, and just curse us. 

[Shankyouverymuch]

56 years old with no hole in one (yet).  Closest I have come had to be 30+ years ago.  After work golf league at the local muni.  Hit a six iron that landed on the green, took two small bounces, rolled up and hit the pin and ended up an inch outside the cup. No reason why it should not have gone in. Was happy with the bird at the time but now this many years later look back and it hurts worse that it did not fall.  I feel like I have been inside two feet probably 20+ times.  Hit the pin on one bounce last year and was two feet away at an outing.  At least I got a hat out of it for closest to the pin right haha?

[slocalifglfr]

Last year. Poppy Hills. 17th hole. Ball stopped one inch behind (yes, behind) the hole. 

 

A few years ago at Dairy Creek my ball mark was about six inches from the hole. My brother up next...hole-in-one.

[Socrates]

3 hours ago, Shankyouverymuch said:

56 years old with no hole in one (yet).  Closest I have come had to be 30+ years ago.  After work golf league at the local muni.  Hit a six iron that landed on the green, took two small bounces, rolled up and hit the pin and ended up an inch outside the cup. No reason why it should not have gone in. Was happy with the bird at the time but now this many years later look back and it hurts worse that it did not fall.  I feel like I have been inside two feet probably 20+ times.  Hit the pin on one bounce last year and was two feet away at an outing.  At least I got a hat out of it for closest to the pin right haha?

One of my last closest to a 1 was about 10 years ago.  Playing in a bit of a fog, it was PW to the green.  I knew it was online, but that was about it.  Got to the hole and the hole and ball appeared out of the fog and it was about 2" from the hole - dead on line.  Dew marks had the ball go right to the hole so it had to have hit the flag and come back but never saw it.  A disappointing 2 and that's about as close as I've been since.  Still holding at 3 and who knows if #4 will ever happen?

[MountainKing]

As nice as it is to get a par on the books, it's the hole in 3's is what annoy me - got 6 on the books at this point. 

[BWillis]

Dorchester hole 13 par 3 playing 135 and 100ft straight down. Had a hard rain the day prior hit 60*, plugged 2” infront of the hole 

[Roejye]

Closest I've had to an official HIO, I'm very happy about. It was the last round before getting fit for new irons. I hit a nice 6 iron and watch it sail off towards the hole. "That actually is heading right at the hole" I think to myself. It actually hit the flag on the fly and ended up like 5 feet away. I sunk the birdie putt. 

 

The closest I ever got would've been a nice par, so not a HIO, but I'm very frustrated about. A little background information first. My home course has you go up a hill for 2, play 3 on top of the hill, then 4 goes back down the hill, 5 in the valley, then back up the hill, and 6 is a long par 3 back down the hill. Oftentimes, when my dad and I get the last official tee time and there's no one ahead of us, we'll hit our drives on 4, then go and hit down on 6 so we don't have to go up the hill again. On this day, there's nobody in front of us, but there is a guy on a cart finishing up one.

 

I snap hook my first shot onto the 2nd fairway, so I retee and hit a beautiful shot. I see it land and slowly roll past the cup and I can tell that it's very close, one of those ones you'll take a picture of to retell the story of. We go back and play 4 and 5. We get to 6 and there's no ball on the green, and we know that my shot didn't roll off. Turns out the guy on the cart that was playing well behind us, picked up the ball.

[Bonneville85308]

A few years ago I had a "hole in three." Teed up on a 140 yard par 3 over a pond. First stroke, put a weak swing on it and it came up short in the pond. Second stroke is a penalty. Re-tee from the same spot as there is no drop area, hitting three. Hit it perfectly this time, lands on the green, rolls 10 feet into the hole. Nice three. I put the ball on the display rack in my den marked "Hole in 3" with the details.

 

I've probably played in excess of 3,000 rounds in my life at this point and have never had a hole in one. Probably a dozen eagles though.

Edited March 24, 2024 by Bonneville85308

[Socrates]

22 hours ago, Bonneville85308 said:

A few years ago I had a "hole in three." Teed up on a 140 yard par 3 over a pond. First stroke, put a weak swing on it and it came up short in the pond. Second stroke is a penalty. Re-tee from the same spot as there is no drop area, hitting three. Hit it perfectly this time, lands on the green, rolls 10 feet into the hole. Nice three. I put the ball on the display rack in my den marked "Hole in 3" with the details.

 

I've probably played in excess of 3,000 rounds in my life at this point and have never had a hole in one. Probably a dozen eagles though.

You never know when it will happen.  A long time ago, I was working in the shop late in October and an old man (80+) came in from the cold.  He got his first HOI ever and there was no one to see it or verify it.  He was happy and sad all at the same time.

[Davewn]

I've been playing for over 50 years now and a still don't have a hole in one...yet.  A couple of close calls come to mind:

 

About 25 or 30 years ago on a slightly downhill 140 yarder I smoothed an 8 iron that never left the stick- heard the clank of the flag stick and all I had to show for it was a 15 foot birdie putt and the mangled lip of the cup at about the 1:00 postion.  Thought I had jarred it, damn.  Ended up missing the putt... disappointing par, for sure.  

 

Second one, about 15 years or so ago I was playing in bachelor party scramble with a Maltby driver I had literally just built and had never hit before.  My kids were young and I played maybe 5 times a year back then.  One of our groups ahead was finishing putting out on a short 300ish par 4 when I teed off and smoked my drive (I really had no idea how far this thing would go and am not a really long hitter.)  All the guys looked up from their putt and back at the tee as my ball crawled up on the green to 15" or so from the cup.  I was mortified I hadn't yelled fore but there were nothing but high fives from them when we caught up with them on the next tee.   A hole in one for an albatross would have been very cool but the kick in eagle was awesome and my scramble teammates were stoked.

 

Hopefully someday I'll get one- I had one slow roll the hole and take a look a couple of weeks back and another close call back in February

Edited April 3, 2024 by Davewn

[SnowbirdTom]

Just one of many close but no cigar shots.  7 iron on a 155 yard par 3 in 2021. The ball mark?  Behind the pin.
 

Edited April 4, 2024 by SnowbirdTom

[Golfbit2X]

Played Harbor Links 9-hole Executive course earlier this week and had a minor thrill with my FOURTH almost HIO.

 

Hole #1 was a downhill 152 yarder and I hit my 7-Hybrid flush. 

 

The ball flight was a bit right and drew left tracking towards the pin and landed about 10 feet short and rolled across the hole. 

 

The ball brushed the left lip and veered slightly to the right and ended 12 feet past.

 

I missed the Birdie putt but made a consolation Par. 

 

Double bogeyed the second with a 3-putt and then a nine on the third hole, 254 yards away trying to smash it to the green. Hooked it twice to the OB for a deflating 9.

 

Bogeyed the fourth with another 3-putt but parred the fifth with a sawed-off off 7-Hybrid.

 

I had to walk off the course as I had an errand to run but I'm curious if I had to play another 9 holes if I made the HIO on the first to be considered as an official HIO.

 

Edited April 15, 2024 by Golfbit2X

[caeye0710]

I'm happy with the birdie until the next hole. 

 

They said at the Masters that Scottie Scheffler birdies 48% of the holes following a bogey. 

 

I double bogey 48% of the holes following a birdie. 

 

ABFU (If you know, you know).

 

[nosedive32]

140 Yard Par 3 downhill that plays around 125 slope adjusted. Hole 2 at Terrapin Hills CC in Fort Payne, AL.

 

Early in the morning. Dew is still present. Soft bentgrass greens.

 

The year was somewhere i2016-18ish.

 

I am playing a set of Apex / Apex Pro 2016 models. The set that came as a combo set (8-AW in the Pro but with standard Apex lofts) with PX 5.5s.

 

The pin is in the front half of the green. There is a slope that feeds back to it behind it.

 

I hit PW. Dead laser beam right over the flag. Pitch mark was 3 feet behind the hole. The ball stopped spinning back about 4 inches shy of an ace. 

 

That's the closest I've ever come.

 

I almost made a hole in 3 one time. Topped a 9 iron into the water on another 140 yard par 3 way back in the day and my retee was a slinging hook I had land about 8 feet right of the hole and side sauced it's way to the cup only to lip out.

 

There were some guys who didn't see me top the first one but did see the third shot so I'm eternally grateful that it didn't go in and I didn't have to explain how that wasn't a 1.

[TLUBulldogGolf]

I fortunately have one, but it was in HS when I wasn't really any good. Closest I've had in more recent memory was a ball that landed a foot behind the hole and hopped backwards (very soft greens that day), ending up about 6 inches on the other side. 

[SnowbirdTom]

I was yelling don’t go in, there was no witnesses!  🤣 Ball mark is 10” short of a jar. Still 0 for 50 years.

 

Edited April 18, 2024 by SnowbirdTom
Spelljng

[b.mattay]

I have had a few hole in ones but 2 near misses that bothered me. 

 

1.) Destroyed the cup on a 170 yard par 3 but ball didn't stay in. 

2.) Group in front of me replaced flag with a 25-30 degree lean ahead of me on a 325 yard par 4. Ball wedged between flag and green 1mm away from dropping! 

[N8dogg2669]

In High School (many moons ago) I was playing in a tournament. If you're in the Metro Detroit area, you might know Stoney Creek Golf course at the Stoney Creek Metropark. Number 17 is an elevated tee shot to a green with water in front of it. Actually really cool hole. I played awful that day, I believe I was well into the 90s for the round. The tournament had everyone hit up on the par 3, so when it was my turn, I threw the ball on the ground, and just whacked an 8 iron without giving much thought about where it was going to go, almost just knowing it would land in the drink. Well it hit about a foot away from the pin, hit the pin, and just sat there about 6 inches from the cup. It was cool to do it in front of a crowd, wasn't cool when I told them how bad the rest of my round was going 🤣.

[unclefreizo]

Can't say I've been frustrated by close calls, ever.

 

The dopamine of getting it close always overshadows.

[golferdude54]

This was a few years ago, I had gotten my irons back from being reshafted the day before and played a round with them.

 

3 of them, the head flew off with the 3rd head being on a 150 yard par 3 and the ball landed a yard short of the pin, burnt the left edge and rolled past by about a foot. I tapped in for birdie with the head all hunched over.

 

Went back to the shop and got a full refund, the guy didn't even mix the epoxy. But man, I think I would've been the first golfer in history to make a hole in one with the head flying off, maybe not but that would've been a story!

Edited April 29, 2024 by golferdude54

[reality_filter]

Never had an ace, but last year I had 3 really close calls in the span of a week. Including a 2’ birdie putt that I missed because this particular green is so severely sloped that it’s impossible to keep the ball near the hole half the time, which I guess makes hitting one so close of the tee and subsequently missing even more frustrating in hindsight 

[Golfbit2X]

On 4/29/2024 at 1:35 AM, golferdude54 said:

This was a few years ago, I had gotten my irons back from being reshafted the day before and played a round with them.

 

3 of them, the head flew off with the 3rd head being on a 150 yard par 3 and the ball landed a yard short of the pin, burnt the left edge and rolled past by about a foot. I tapped in for birdie with the head all hunched over.

 

Went back to the shop and got a full refund, the guy didn't even mix the epoxy. But man, I think I would've been the first golfer in history to make a hole in one with the head flying off, maybe not but that would've been a story!

That's epic!

[Philpug]

It was an elevated Par 3 that I couldn't see the dance floor playing. The 4th hole at Sierra Sage that was playing 148 yards, I played an easy 8 Iron, I was tempted to play a full 9 iron. I knew it was a good shot and didn't know how good until we got up to the hole.

 

I have never had a hole in one and this was the closest. Would I like to have gotten it in? Sure but if I was that close every par 3, I would take it over a hole in one ever time. 

 

Edited May 16, 2024 by Philpug

[larrybud]

I have two aces. Before my first (2006), I had three ridiculous close calls in a very short period of time. One flew into the cup, bounced out about 30 feet away... and I three jacked... Same hole a couple of weeks later, group in front of us waves us up. Dead nuts on line, about 4" short of the pin. Couple weeks after that, foot short....

But none of that compares to a couple of months ago, and that's because I'm now in a hole-in-one pool with 11 other guys. $100 a man, and a 2nd pool with two other buddies for $50 a man. Playing with one of the guys in the pool. Right at it, hits the stick (rolling) and ends up about 6" away.  Normally you'd be happy with a shot like that, but dang, I was sick to my stomach.  Cost me $1200...

[iNeedMoreGolf]

175 par 3 front left flag.. 3 hybrid.. aimed at flag..hit a pull fade... that was fading back toward flag. A mid flight. Knew it would be close but when i got there it was maybe 3 feet. I feel like if it could had rolled a bit more it would have been close to going in. Closest ive been in a long time.

[subrew]

Same hole but different days and different tee/flag locations, but all from this weekend.   Just happened to be a distance good for this one length 9 iron I was using in a short set.  
 

I’ve had six aces so far, two of which were terrible shots that got lucky bounces. 

 

 

Edited June 4, 2024 by subrew

[MtlJeff]

I put another one to an inch on Saturday. 167yd par 3 a bit downhill, actually landed a bit behind the hole and spun in back and lipped out. 

 

One day i'll make one. 

 

Ironically the next day i holed out a 50yd shot for eagle.