Peter Donald Stueber

80 years in the making. Initially, I was planning to hit my ping three wood. Then I felt a strong breeze at my back and decided the pink seven wood was the better choice. I struck the ball cleanly and watched it fly toward the green. I saw it land just short of the putting surface, take a bounce forward, and then disappear from site. From where I stood, it looked promising, but there was no way to tell exactly where it had finished. When we arrived at the Greene, I expected to find the ball somewhere nearby. I searched around the front of the green and I couldn’t see it. I checked both sand bunkers. Nothing. I walked behind the Greene, convinced it must have rolled through. Still nothing. Then my brother casually said, “check the hole.” I walked over, not really expecting anything. After all, Golfers spent a lifetime hearing stories about hole in ones, but most never experience one themselves. I looked into the cup. And there it was. For a moment, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. After more than 80 years of life and countless rounds of golf, I finally made my first hole in one. The excitement hit me all at once. I shouted with Joy, and my celebration left little doubt about what had happened. The Golfers waiting on the tee boxes of both the eighth and ninth holes immediately knew they had just witnessed one of the rarest and most thrilling moments in the game. A hole-in-one is something every golfer dreams about, but very few ever achieve. On that day, my Ping seven wood in my hands, a favorable breeze at my back, and a little Providence on my side, the ball found its way into the cup. It was a moment more than 80 years in the making, and one I will never forget as long as I live.