Last July 13, a 23-year-old Illinois grad student visiting Colorado to qualify for his first PGA Tour sanctioned event, the Korn Ferry’s Ascendant, eyeballed the par-4 third hole at TPC Colorado and took out his driver.
The hole was playing 365 yards doglegging around the lake. But Timmy Crawford saw a straight, 336-yard opportunity over the lake and took it. One, and done: Crawford walked away with what seemed the most spectacular hole-in-one in the state in 2024.
But, was it any more spectacular than Lisa Buhlinger’s 83-yard A-wedge at the Broadmoor, Kevin Lane’s 194-yard 4-hybrid at Ravenna or Terry McGrail’s 7-iron and 5-wood, 10 weeks apart on the same hole at Spring Valley?
To bastardize Gertrude Stein, for any of the CGA members who’ve had a hole-in-one, an ace is an ace is an ace. It’s beautiful, exciting, unforgettable – and, inspiring to all who unfailingly visualize their own zero-putt when they stand at the tee.
I once played with a veteran who had lost a leg in Vietnam and subsequently had had 15 holes-in-one, and counting. “What’s your secret?” I asked. “I aim at the hole,” Corbin Cherry told me. Then, over the course of 18 holes, he showed me. The man fired at the pin no matter where it was.
It can be challenging in the dead of a Colorado winter to find inspiration for the next round of golf. Here’s hoping the words of Corbin Cherry and the stories of these CGA members, especially that of Scott Gattis’ par-4 one, plant seeds of high hopes for 2025.
“I’ve been playing golf for more than 40 years, and about 25 years ago I had my only other hole-in-one, at Los Verdes Country Club. I joined Spring Valley three years ago and these days I enjoy my weekly Tuesday rounds with my oldest son, Tony. So he was there with me to share both these special memories, exactly 10 weeks apart on the same exact hole.
“You’ll notice there was a big difference from the club I used on August 27 and the one on October 29, even though the hole was playing only four yards longer. The weather in August was warm and calm, so I used a 6-iron. We never saw it go in because of the pin placement; I had to look all around before finding my ball, in what is now my favorite hole of all time. I had a pretty good round, 85!
“That day in October, the wind was blowing so hard right at us that I had to hit a 5-wood that was the greatest shot of my life. It hit the green, bounced once, slowly rolled up and disappeared into the hole. My son and I had the course to ourselves, and we looked at each other and yelled in celebratory disbelief! I shot an 81 that day!”
HIS TIP: “Cross your fingers, play often and always bring a friend (or a son).”
“I didn’t start seriously playing golf and taking lessons until I retired about 15 years ago. Now I play for Lake Valley’s WGA B team, and on this gorgeous Colorado day we were having a match at The Ranch in Westminster.
“My partner and I were playing pretty well and we needed just two more holes to win the match. So we were pretty relaxed when we teed off on 13. I felt like I had delivered a good shot, but we couldn’t see the hole behind the bunkers in front and I was pretty disappointed when we drove to the green and I didn’t see the ball. So I grabbed my 56-degree wedge and putter and went searching in the rough.
“My partner said, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if it had gone in the hole?’ We all laughed, and then she went to check. Sure enough, there was my ball.
“The best part of the celebration was buying drinks for the group (for those who wanted one). Because it was a match day, there were about 40 people staying for lunch. When guys buy the rounds, it’s usually a few beers. But not ladies…umbrella drinks (cosmos and margaritas) all around. Very funny.
“When my husband had his first and only hole-in-one a couple years ago, I labeled an old mason jar ‘Holes in One’ and put the ball in. So I memorialized the details on my ball and dropped it in what will now be our jar.”
HER TIP: “Relax and don’t think about it. A hole-in-one is delivered by fate.”
“Even though my father and grandfather were avid golfers when I grew up in Toronto, they had steered me into playing tennis. Attending a meeting at a Great Barrier Reef resort, I went to get a tennis lesson like I normally would when I had free time. But no pro was available and I found myself drifting over to the beautiful golf course, deciding, at age 40, to take my first golf lesson. I will never forget the first time I hit an easy wedge shot that was slow, but pure. I was hooked.
“When a new position took me to Brussels, I decided to get serious about the game that I had only dabbled in to that point. I found a fantastic club south of Brussels and obtained the “Brevet d”Apititude,” the golf license process required by the Royal Belgium Golf Federation assessing etiquette, rules, and playing skills before one can play on a championship course. I was hooked, and after a move to Chicago joined my first country club.
“In 2020, I followed my son and daughter to Denver and joined my son’s club -- a fantastic course, very walkable, with no two holes alike and an extremely friendly, family environment. On Father’s Day 2024, the first one since my own father had passed, I hit a sweet shot on the par-3 13th hole with the flag 143 yads across a pond and on the front quarter of the green. I knew I hit it sweet, but was worried that even though it was right at the flag, it might have had a bit too much gusto and end up in the rear bunker. The two younger players I was with were very excited and said that they thought it might have gone in. I walked at a brisk pace towards the green, around the pond with great expectation, but not allowing myself to get too excited in case it was merely another bunker hit. One of the young Turks headed toward the back bunker while the other made it to the hole before I did, and the celebration began!
“I do not drink when I play, but the cart was stationed by the next hole and I bought a round of beers for the group and allowed myself to celebrate. I must say that having had a very good round to that point, after the excitement and guzzled beer, I bogeyed the next hole and double-bogeyed the hole after. Nothing was going to ruin my day, and I still ended up with one of my lowest scores of the year.
“I kept the ball and scorecard and am having them framed. It was a moment I will always remember.”
HIS TIP: “My only advice for those that have not yet had that magic moment is keep after it. The longer you try, the sweeter it is when it finally happens!”
“I’ve been playing golf since I was a 13-year-old growing up in upstate New York. In 1987 I had a hole-in-one there with a shot that never even got up in the air after I skulled my wedge. In 199, I had a hole-in-one in England that kicked off a mound near the green and rolled in.
“So this one was my first in Colorado, on a perfect, sunny day with temperatures in the 70s and minimal wind. It was a CGA Member Play Day at Ravenna, where I’d enjoyed playing at a Member Play Day in 2021. My friend and I were paired with two other gentlemen. I was having a mediocre round, some good holes, some not, when I hit a perfect 4-hybrid on 6 that hit 15 feet short of the flag and rolled in.
“Of course, I either doubled or tripled the last three holes on the front as my heart was pounding 1,000 beats per minute. Then I bought the group a round of drinks at the turn – fortunately there was no beverage cart that day because the course was only open for the CGA event. I still have the ball, scorecard and certificates – tried to get a free round out of Ravenna, but no luck!”
HIS TIP: “Keep trying, you never know. It can happen any round you're playing.”
“I grew up in Byram, New Jersey, but didn’t start playing golf until I was about 40. Now I play on the Flying Horse team in the Pikes Peak Team League, and my partner, Laura Watt, and I had a match that day against the Broadmoor ladies. It was a beautiful day for golf, with sunshine and no wind, but I wasn’t having one of my better rounds. Broadmoor greens are mean.
“At No. 5, I was the last to tee off and the others had started walking back to their carts. I stayed and watched it go in. I screamed like a little girl and told my playing partners the ball went in. We drove to the green, they went up first to verify it, we took pictures. When I got to the next hole, a maintenance worker brought me the flag from the hole.
“I texted my husband and he said, ‘Great, did you really need to get a hole in one at the most expensive golf course in town?’ I did pay a pretty hefty bar bill for the ladies who were competing that day. I left after one drink because I had to drive home but invited several of the ladies to come over and continue the celebration. It was a good one.”
“I’ve been playing golf for more than 64 years and already had four hole-in-one balls proudly displayed at home in Gypsum. On this beautiful day, I was playing a regular weekly round with three friends at my home course. It wasn’t such a great front nine, so when I got to No. 11 I decided to just go at the pin.
“I knew it was a good shot, right at the pin, but when we got to the green we looked all around and as a last resort looked in the hole. There it was.
“We all celebrated, and all I heard was, ‘You are buying drinks.’ Which I did gladly. I kept the ball and my wife ordered me a new trophy case for safe keeping.”
HIS TIP: “My advice for those playing golf is just keep swinging. The next shot is yet to land and you just never know what might happen.”
“I’d had two holes-in one over the 52 years since I picked up the game, watching the LPGA and hitting balls at the open field at a local high school. But this one was very different – it was in a four-person scramble charity tournament to benefit a local elementary school, at a course I’d never played before.
“This particular hole had three holes on it with different charity prizes, one of them, on the left, an American flag. Then there was a checkerboard flag in the middle of the green, and the Hiwan course flag on the right side. I decided to aim at the American flag hole, sliced the shot a little and ended up in the actual hole for the day, on the far right side of the green. My buddies and I celebrated, and went on to finish middle of the pack in the 50-team event.
“In this case the shot was definitely more lucky than good. It was in the hole from the time it left the club, just not the hole I was aiming at!”
HIS TIP: “Play, play, play – my three are 25 years apart. As Lee Trevino once said, ‘Hey it was what I was aiming at.’ Don’t become all full of yourself, just enjoy this wonderful game that no one, even the pros, will ever master. Appreciate the good or lucky shots as they come along, because we all know the bad ones are right around the corner.”
“I bought my first set of clubs for $20 when I was a 10-year-old growing up in Cherokee, Iowa, but I had never had a hole-in-one. My Uncle Bob and I were paired with two others on this gorgeous fall day, temperatures in the mid-60s and nothing but sunshine.
“I saved bogey on the first hole despite hitting my second shot into the penalty area, and the first two guys to go at the back pin on 2 hit great shots for looks at birdie putts. I chose an 8-iron, normally a 165 club for me, so that I wouldn’t go long and roll down to the collection area or into the lake. It was probably the most perfect 8-iron of my life, but we couldn’t see the ball go in because that part of the green slopes away from the tee box.
“So I brought a wedge and a putter to the green, plus an extra ball because I thought it probably went long. As many do, I checked the hole first, expecting to find it empty while my playing partners chuckled. But this time there was my ball! Lots of high fives all around, a quick photo shoot then off to the next hole where of course nobody would tee off before I did. Fortunately I managed to hit another good tee shot despite the excitement and nerves. Nobody wants to shank one right after hitting a hole in one!
“I got lucky one more time that day: When we found our way to the 19th, we found the bar to be completely empty so my bank account was spared the shock of all those drinks!” “So much of it is luck. Just make a good swing and hope either the greenskeeper put the hole where your ball lands or the golf gods favor you!”
“I started playing golf more than 50 years ago and had never had a hole-in-one despite a few close calls. I certainly didn’t expect to make my first on a par-4 -- an internet search says odds of that are six million to one.
“It was mostly sunny that day, and that’s where the good ends. I told the person who checked us in he was lucky to be working inside. It was cold and very windy. I was dressed more for skiing than golf, in many layers and a ski hat. I was also wearing jeans, something I never do when playing and it’s not allowed at my home club, not even on the practice range. I was with one of my best friends from high school, Randy Paulus, his wife, Karen, and their buddy Dave Burr.
“Course conditions were generally good – greens and fairways were not frozen – and the par-4 7th was playing downwind. I knew a 3-wood could cover the 298 yards. As I drew it, I was ready to address the ball and then backed off to take a couple of practice swings – unusual for me, but I hadn't hit the club yet that day. It felt right.
“When I struck the ball, it was certainly right at the hole the last time I saw it, but I lost it in the sun before it fell out of the air. Upon arriving at the green, I saw no balls so I grabbed a putter and a couple of wedges to look around in the bunker and over the green. As I walked by the hole to take a peek, as everyone does from time to time, I saw my company's logo on the ball staring up at me.
“I was in shock. It was an ace and albatross all with one swing. I stayed away from the hole until everyone reached the green and then I took it out of the cup as some pictures were taken.
“As we approached the green on the eighth hole, someone said to look up. There were two bald eagles circling us high above - sure wasn't lost on me - a double eagle on the hole before and then two of them as our gallery on the very next hole. My parents are deceased, so I think they sent them from heaven as a sign they were with me.
“The celebration wasn't much. We were about the only people on the course. I saw the person who checked us in and told him I was glad I went out, as I had aced the 7th. He didn't even react – was probably just thinking ‘oh sure you did, good for you, that's a par-4 you idiot, couldn't have happened.’ ”
HIS TIP: “Never turn down a legitimate opportunity to play, weather be damned. I had a cold, felt quite lousy, conditions were nothing like what you hope for. The lesson? Go play and see what happens. You can't put a one on your card if you don't play.”