Matthew David Vorwald

Every golfer dreams of hitting a hole-in-one, but pulling off an ace on a 376-yard par 4 is the kind of stuff legends are made of. Playing an otherwise uphill, blind shot with about a 10 mph tailwind, I took out my driver and hit a ~356-yard blast over the trees on a straight line toward where I figured the green had to be. Right after hitting, I joked to my playing partner, Stephen Gault: "I hope they aren't still on the green!" When we drove up, my ball was nowhere to be found. While everyone else hit their 2nd and 3rd shots, I searched about 40 yards in every direction, coming up completely empty. Just as Stephen was finishing putting out, I heard: "Hey, what ball were you playing?" I told him a Titleist ProV1x Left Dash. He held up the ball, looked at it, and yelled back: "Number 3?!" Everything went a little blurry for a few moments as the sheer improbability of what just happened finally sank in. We immediately wondered whether the group ahead had put it in the cup after getting hit into, but by the time we drove up to ask them, they were already up on 17 green. They looked at us completely baffled and denied having any hand in it—which confirmed the surreal reality of what had just happened. To top it all off, the moment completely turned around what had been a roller-coaster round (+10 at the turn fighting hooks, followed by even par on the back for an 82). The clubhouse confirmed I was the first person to ever ace Hole 16. Sharing such a once-in-a-lifetime experience with my dad right there on the course made it unforgettable.