My Hunting Camp Group partakes in a Memorial Tournament each year for one of our former members and its called The Possum Open. Each year at the beginning of June we come together at Ischua Valley Country Club to play this tournament in remembrance of him because he lost his battle with Cancer in 2016.
At this years event on 6/2/23, I was fortunate enough to record my first Hole in One on my very first swing of the day because we do a shotgun start. It was the 4th Hole and the tees were playing 194 yards. Since the event was a scramble, I was last to go in my group. My teammates provided no help towards a good team score on the hole because no one hit the green.
Once it was my turn, I teed up my fresh out of the box Pro V1x with my signature black dot marking over the number, took a few practice swings with my Titleist 716 4 Iron and was provided the comfort of my teammates saying "Save us and put a good one up there". The shot was the purest 4 Iron swing that I can remember and my ball was tracking with a little bit of the fade that I typically have right towards the hole. It hit the green a little left of the pin and 10 yards short of the hole and just kept rolling towards it.
From the moment it hit the green, until it entered the cup, there was a brief silence, with all 4 of us thinking, does this have a chance. Once the ball dropped in the hole, I couldn't believe it, to the point where I actually turned and looked at the group to confirm they saw the same thing. My best friend was standing about 10 yards away and immediately yelled "It's in the hole!" at the top of his lungs. We proceeded to run and jump around the tee box like a bunch of idiots making everyone else on the golf course wonder what all the yelling was about. It soon became apparent when my best friend took off sprinting towards the hole, so I followed! We both thought that was a great idea in the moment but about 100 yards into the sprint with both needed to utilize the adrenaline of the moment to get us the rest of the way.
Once we got to the green and confirmed it was in there, we jumped around and yelled just as much while our two partners brought up the carts. We relished the moment and enjoyed what had happened on the green with more hugs and handshakes. We took videos and photos and another one of my best friends face-timed to congratulate me on my feat.
Our -2 on the first hole helped propel us to an 8 Under finish as a group on the day and we won this years tournament. Without a doubt a day I will never forget!