HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

In
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
, a hole in one or hole-in-one (also known as an ace, mostly in
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
) occurs when a ball hit from a tee to start a hole finishes in the cup. Holes-in-one most commonly occur on par 3 holes, the shortest distance holes on a standard size golf course. Longer hitters have also accomplished this feat on longer holes, though nearly all par 4 and par 5 holes are too long for golfers to reach in a single shot. While well known outside golf and often requiring a well hit shot and significant power, holes in one need also a significant element of
luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at a ...
. , a
condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua language, Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. One species, the And ...
(four under par) hole-in-one on a par 5 hole had been recorded on five occasions.


Description

In
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
, a hole in one or hole-in-one occurs when a ball hit from a tee to start a hole finishes in the cup. The feat is also known as an ''ace'', mostly in
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
. As the feat needs to occur on the stroke that starts a hole, a ball hit from a tee following a lost ball, out-of-bounds, or water hazard is not a hole-in-one, due to the application of a stroke penalty.


Rarity

While well known outside golf and often requiring a well hit shot and significant power, holes-in-one need also a significant element of
luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at a ...
. ''Time'' magazine reported 1,200 holes in one were made by American golfers in 1922. , a
condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua language, Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. One species, the And ...
(four under par) hole-in-one on a par 5 hole had been recorded on five occasions, aided by thin air at high altitude, or by cutting the corner on a doglegged or horseshoe-shaped hole."Condor", GolfToday.co.uk, 2010, webpage (dated October 2008):
GT-condor
.
Holes-in-one most commonly occur on par 3 holes, the shortest distance holes on a standard size golf course. Longer hitters have also accomplished this feat on longer holes, though nearly all par 4 and par 5 holes are too long for golfers to reach in a single shot. As such, they are more common and considered less impressive than other hole accomplishments such as completing a par 5 in two shots (an
albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Paci ...
).


Miniature golf

The world record on one round of minigolf is 18 strokes on 18 holes, a score relatively common for courses constructed of eternit. On other playing systems, a perfect round of 18 holes-in-one is extremely rare, although such rounds have been reported in Sweden on both felt and concrete courses.


Holes-in-one on par 5 (or higher) holes

, a
condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua language, Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. One species, the And ...
(four under par) hole-in-one on a par 5 hole had been recorded on five occasions, aided by thin air at high altitude, or by cutting the corner on a doglegged or horseshoe-shaped hole. * A horseshoe-shaped par-5 hole once enabled a condor hole-in-one to be achieved with a 3-iron club. * Another may have been achieved at the former Piedmont Crescent Golf Course in 1973 after bouncing multiple times on a very firm fairway due to unseasonably dry weather. * The longest recorded straight drive hole-in-one is believed to be , on the par-5 No. 9 hole at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
in 2002, aided by the thin air due to the high altitude. None of the five par-5 holes-in-one were achieved during a professional tournament.


Notable holes-in-one

A memorable hole-in-one was made in the 1973 Open Championship by Gene Sarazen at age 71. Earl Dietering of Memphis, Tennessee, 78 years old at the time, is believed to hold the record for the oldest person to make a hole-in-one twice during one round. During the second round of the 1971 Martini International tournament, held at the Royal Norwich Golf Club in England,
John Hudson John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...
had two consecutive holes-in-one. Teeing off, using a 4-iron, at the par-three, 195-yard 11th hole, Hudson holed his tee shot for a hole-in-one. At the next hole, the downhill 311-yard, par-four 12th, and this time using a driver, he once again holed his tee shot, for another ace. This is believed to be the only time a player has scored holes-in-one at consecutive holes in a major professional tournament. Despite the relative rarity of holes-in-one, there have been a total of six in Ryder Cup matches. Peter Butler scored the first in
1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
at Muirfield followed by a 20-year gap before Nick Faldo scored a hole-in-one in
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
. Two years later, Costantino Rocca and Howard Clark both scored holes-in-one before an 11-year gap to 2006 saw
Paul Casey Paul Alexander Casey (born 21 July 1977) is an English golfer who is a member of LIV Golf. He has also played on the US-based PGA Tour and the European Tour. In 2009, he achieved his highest position, third, in the Official World Golf Rankin ...
and Scott Verplank both hole out in one on the 14th hole. On August 11, 2016, Justin Rose shot a hole-in-one during the first round of the golf tournament of the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
in Rio de Janeiro, which is considered to be the first in Olympic history. For the 189 yards par-3 hole, he used a 7-iron.


Traditions

It is traditional for a player who has scored a hole-in-one to buy a round of drinks for everyone at the clubhouse bar.


Competitions

Occasionally special events host a hole in one contest, where prizes as expensive as a new car, or cash awards sometimes reaching $4 million are offered if a contestant records a hole in one. Usually such expensive prizes are backed by an
insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...
company who offers prize indemnification services. Actuaries at such companies have calculated the chance of an average golfer making a hole in one at approximately 12,500 to 1, and the odds of a tour professional at 2,500 to 1.


See also

*
Golf glossary The following is a glossary of the terminology currently used in the sport of golf. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Old names for clubs can be found at Obsolete golf clubs. 0–9 ...
* Miniature golf *
Hail Mary pass A Hail Mary pass is a very long forward pass in American football, typically made in desperation, with a very small chance of achieving a completion (American football), completion. Due to the difficulty of a completion with this pass, it makes r ...
, similar feat in American football * List of longest NBA field goals (all of which are
buzzer beater In timed sports, a buzzer beater is a successful shot made as the clock expires at the end of a period or at the end of the game, leaving zero seconds remaining. A buzzer sounds whenever a game clock expires, hence the name "buzzer beater." In b ...
s) for context on the similar feat in basketball


References


External links


Hole-In-One FAQs
United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rule ...
{{Golf Golf terminology Perfect scores in sports