Doug Bates can’t really help but be disappointed by what’s stated on his hole-in-one plaque, even after a few weeks.
The fifth hole on the executive course at Saddlebrook, Club: 9-iron, distance: 153 yards
The Village of Charlotte resident admitted, “It’s a little embarrassing.”
What it doesn’t say is that Bates’ ace came while he was playing night golf.
To get those light golf balls to go as far as you need them, give them a little more of a smash. A little pond stood between Bates and the flagstick in his case.
How many golfers can say their only hole-in-one in their lives was a literal shot in the dark?
“We were all kind of surprised,” said Bates, who recorded his ace during a Marine Corps League Couples Night charity outing on April 22. “It was kind of a joyful thing. Everybody took pictures of me pointing down at the cup where the ball was.”
Hole-in-one records at The Villages Golf & Tennis make no mention of whether any occurred during night golf, though staff said Bates’ was the first they’d heard of after the epidemic limits were eased.
It was the first ace in the 15-year history of the Couples Night competition, according to Fred Geier, who organized the event.
In a similar manner, there are no recorded odds for making an ace in the dark. A typical golfer’s chances of hitting a hole-in-one – it is assumed, during daylight hours – are roughly 12,500 to 1, while the frequency is higher in The Villages.
Bates may at least claim to have seen the crucial shot, even if he had no way of knowing the ball had gone into the hole right away.
“It was after 10 o’clock by that time,” he said. “The pond was out of its banks, so I knew there was a lot of water. You could see the pin, but not very well because it was about 150 yards out. I was just aiming at the flag.”
Bates tracked his ball’s light as it sailed through the air, landed on dry soil and began rolling.
Then it vanished completely from view.
“I thought it had rolled off the green,” he said. “We couldn’t find it, then one of the guys looked in the hole – ‘Here it is!’”
Before that night, Bates recalled, the closest he’d got to a hole-in-one was when he was still living in Iowa, around ten years earlier. He remembered it being approximately a 200-yard attempt that caromed off the flagstick and landed a foot from the cup.
In the daytime, you can see those intricacies. On the other hand, one could argue that limiting visibility reduces distraction.
“A lot of people have told me, ‘Maybe you just ought to wear a blindfold,’” Bates quipped.
Bates’ ace, for the record, didn’t help his team win Couples Night. “But we weren’t last, either,” he said. “So, we were happy.”
It was also recommended that Bates look for a small metal plate to put on his hole-in-one plaque, emphasizing the fact that it took place in the dark. It might allay any apprehensions about the 3-iron issue.
“Yeah, I could do that,” he mused.
– Attributed Source, The Villages Daily Sun
