The Still Aceless Thread

[fixyurdivot]

Another long time friend and I are still ace-less after decades of playing the game.  Like so many, we've been very close but close just dosen't count.  We started sharing pictures of our latest "close encounters" to commiserate with one another.  I thought it would be fun to start a larger therapy group here on MGS. 

I'll start off with my most recent.  Hole #17 at Desert Hills GC in Yuma, AZ.  Playing at 140 yards to the front flag, 8i. 

Looking back at the tee

 

 

[mpatrickriley]

Love this thread idea, and I'll definitely be contributing.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I'm in.. I had a trophy picked out. You know the kind where you insert the actual ball in it. But I'm sure that company is out of business by now!  I've been waiting 30 years to purchase it... and counting.....

[mpatrickriley]

I don't have the decades-long chase that some of you have. I've only been playing regularly for about 8 years now.

What I do have is an 8-year-old who constantly reminds me that he has an ace, and that he got his when he was 5. So that's my burden.

[pulledabill]

Started golfing when I was im grade school and at age 53 still looking. I did take about 10 years off so maybe thats the problem. lol...Scared it and hit a few sticks along the way. Last year when we started playing those foam inserts, I thought I had an ace only to find the ball a foot above the stick....hmm..to this day I believe without the foam, I had an ace.  Back to playing and maybe more par 3 three courses should be on my agenda. 

Good luck to all of us.

[Shankopotomous]

7 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

I don't have the decades-long chase that some of you have. I've only been playing regularly for about 8 years now.

What I do have is an 8-year-old who constantly reminds me that he has an ace, and that he got his when he was 5. So that's my burden.

I don't know of any 8 year olds that I don't like....... but I think I could make an exception!!   

Been playing since the 70's....many, many close calls... sticks hit, lip outs, tap in birdies.....but no H I O's.

I am glad to join this therapy thread!!  

[pulledabill]

Maybe I should stuff a $100 bill in my bag so Im ready to buy drinks. Im good at spending $100s  

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I think this thread could be the longest in MGS history!

[ParFore74x]

Oh this thread will be so awesome.

Like so many others, I’ve been oh so close. . It’s one of the things about this game that I love though. 

[TR1PTIK]

I'll play. Not my first brush with an ace, but certainly the closest. #8 at Carthage Municipal Golf Course in Carthage, MO. Forget what the yardage was on that particular day, but it normally plays ~200 yards. Pin was at the front, greens freshly aerated, and playing into the wind if I recall correctly. Hit my 3 Hybrid low and up the right side of the green and watched it roll left towards the hole before stopping here...    

 

 

Think it goes in if the greens weren't punched???

[mpatrickriley]

At the end of the season, the winner of this thread is the guy whose ball finished closest to the hole without a hole in one.

[pulledabill]

A little research found that 40% of aces are made with a 7, 8, or 9i.  

Titleist account for 45% of all aces.  

Average years of playing is 24 years. 

Average hdcp is a 14. 

3500/1 to make an ace. 

[fixyurdivot]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

I don't have the decades-long chase that some of you have. I've only been playing regularly for about 8 years now.

What I do have is an 8-year-old who constantly reminds me that he has an ace, and that he got his when he was 5. So that's my burden.

Poor Kirke, robbed early of a lifelong chase for the ace .  If he checks off the albatross before his 13th B-day, we'll have to start a MGS GoFundMe until he gets his own sponsors.

[MattF]

8" is the closest for me 2 seasons ago but I think this year I'll be a major contributor to this thread. 

[Tom the Golf Nut]

So not to depress anyone other than myself...… I play between 50 to 75 rounds a year. So lets use 50.

50 rounds times 4 par three's is 200 attempts a year. 200 times 30 years is 6,000. For three years I played a work league on a par three course in CT. We played nine holes after work.  A real par three course not a pitch and putt. So add 5 holes times 20 rounds, times three years is 300.  So I have tried 6,300 times to get a hole in one.   I stink at this part of the game! 

On a positive note... This will be the year!

[Tom the Golf Nut]

27 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

At the end of the season, the winner of this thread is the guy whose ball finished closest to the hole without a hole in one.

Great so now I need to add a tape measure in my bag. But I know the day I finally get one it will be early Sunday morning and playing by myself and no witnesses. That will be the ultimate kick in the pants. But at least I'll know I finally did it.  

[CRW]

I don't have any pictures, but I'm aceless and have been playing around 7 years now.  It took my dad about 30 years to get his one and only ace.

[THEZIPR23]

I have been playing since 1995 and have had just about every imaginable situation occur except for the ball to end up in the hole. But here is the worst, my Dad, who got me into the game, never made a hole in 1, technically. Short par 3, pin in front, hits PW directly at the hole, flies about 3 feet short and spins off the the front of the green. Pissed knowing he can hit the shot he drops another ball flies it 10 feet past the hole it spins and goes in center cut! OUCH!! He tragically passed away at 50 so that was/is the only hole in one in the family. I wasn't playing with him and the time but my FIL, who never had one either, did the same thing when I was playing with him about 15 years ago. 

I play a lot of golf by myself, I am fully confident that one day I will make an ace, but I also know that it will come playing by myself with no one within 400 yards. 

So my family tree of aces will have 2 aces that were on second shots and 1 who made his with no witnesses. Such a tragedy. 

[Siamese Moose]

52 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Great so now I need to add a tape measure in my bag. But I know the day I finally get one it will be early Sunday morning and playing by myself and no witnesses. That will be the ultimate kick in the pants. But at least I'll know I finally did it.  

It would probably be a jinx, but you could use a Sharpie to put 6" marks on your putter shaft in lieu of a tape measure. 

I have two close calls: the first was in my league, about 160 yards, ball came up one revolution short. The second one I didn't see, but it had to be close. Uphill, so the surface of the green was not visible, 180ish. Got there and my ball mark was a few inches in front of the pin, the ball was a few inches behind, and a straight line between them went through the center of the cup.

I have to admit, I've probably used up my luck. I have three albatrosses, but I would give all three for an ace. 

[Shankopotomous]

1 hour ago, fixyurdivot said:

Poor Kirke, robbed early of a lifelong chase for the ace .  If he checks off the albatross before his 13th B-day, we'll have to start a MGS GoFundMe until he gets his own sponsors.

Just to make us feel better I think his dad needs to be handing him the snow shovel and kicking him out the door to fund his own 8 yo hole in one self!! They are in Michigan after all.  And he could even be muttering "Hows that H I O feel now punk" as he hands him the shovel!    

[Tom the Golf Nut]

4 minutes ago, Siamese Moose said:

It would probably be a jinx, but you could use a Sharpie to put 6" marks on your putter shaft in lieu of a tape measure. 

 

I think someone will be within a score cards length of the hole this year.  

[BNewton51]

25 years an counting.... Not sure I'd know what to do if I do sink one, but I'd think that a good problem to have!  I'm in!

[SlowNLow]

Nope, golfing since 1977.   Lots of close calls but....

If I get one, I'm afraid the world will come to end.  Right up there with the Lions winning the Super Bowl.

BTW, great idea @GolfSpy MPR, I'm in.   Maybe I will hit a green at least.

Edited February 3, 2021 by SlowNLow

[00sportsman]

Congratulations, everyone.  This will definitely be your year.  I'm joining this thread, which means at the end of the season I'll be the only one without an ace, since that's how things always seem to work for me.  I will require partial credit for your aces, however.

I've been inside 3 feet a couple of times, but not in the last couple of years and never really thought any of those close calls really had a chance.

I do like the "winner is the closest to the hole without an ace" angle presented by @GolfSpy MPR.

[fixyurdivot]

5 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

So not to depress anyone other than myself...… I play between 50 to 75 rounds a year. So lets use 50.

50 rounds times 4 par three's is 200 attempts a year. 200 times 30 years is 6,000. For three years I played a work league on a par three course in CT. We played nine holes after work.  A real par three course not a pitch and putt. So add 5 holes times 20 rounds, times three years is 300.  So I have tried 6,300 times to get a hole in one.   I stink at this part of the game! 

On a positive note... This will be the year!

Love the analysis Tom... really puts this pursuit in perspective.  I hate to pile on, but if you factor in @pulledabillstats, and that no one gaming Sub70 irons has ever made an ace... well, just saying .

[cnosil]

I have been playing on and off since the 70s and regularly since the 90s.  I have hit quite a few into the hole from the fairway or rough (par 3 distances) but have never done it from a tee box.  Like most everyone else I have gotten close a few times with the closest being about  1 1/2 inches in the early 90s.   This stands out to me clearly due to what followed.   as I approached the next tee an older gentleman asked me if it went in the hole and I said no.   He responded that Ben Hogan once told him that having the ball stop next to the hole required skill but it only required luck.   I later found out that he was Chandler Harper a former professional golfer who has 7 tour wins including a PGA Championship.  

[tony@CIC]

At the end of the season, the winner of this thread is the guy whose ball finished closest to the hole without a hole in one.

Ouch, I'd rather miss it by a lot. Kinda like having all but one lottery number - I'd rather know I didn't come close to the numbers picked

BTW, one of the guys I regularly play with whose handicap is 12 strokes higher than mine reminds me occasionally he's had 2 HIO.


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[toehold57]

My younger brother has had two.  I think he’s a dork 

[Tom the Golf Nut]

On 2/3/2021 at 5:42 PM, fixyurdivot said:

Love the analysis Tom... really puts this pursuit in perspective.  I hate to pile on, but if you factor in @pulledabillstats, and that no one gaming Sub70 irons has ever made an ace... well, just saying .

Well I only started playing the Sub-70 irons last summer. I came close a few times last season with one being about 2 inches from the hole with those clubs. So I can say I'm getting closer than what I was used to.  

But I am detecting a challenge..... Game on brotha!

 

[Kenny B]

What a great thread!!  I'd really love to participate... but I can't!!