For most golfers, getting a hole-in-one is pretty unlikely; even for professionals, the odds are about 2,500 to 1 against scoring an ace. They’re even higher (12,500 to 1) for the average amateur.
If you’re talking about someone getting two aces in one round, the odds skyrocket to about 67 million to one. (For comparison’s sake, your odds of being hit by lightning twice in your lifetime are just 9 million to one.)
In other words, just about impossible. But earlier this summer, Aaron Haehl bucked the odds when he scored two holes-in-one during a round at Hillview Country Club.
“Both holes, I knew about where I wanted to hit the ball, and I put the ball right where I wanted to hit it,” the 37-year-old said. “That does not happen a lot, but it just so happened on those two holes, I put the ball right where I knew I needed to to give myself a chance.”
Playing with fellow Hillview members Hillview members Gene Jones, Jack Horner and John Horner, Haehl recorded his first hole-in-one of the day — and the first of his life — with a pitching wedge on the 152-yard sixth hole. He said the back-right pin placement was a difficult one since he usually draws the ball, but he managed to find the right spot.
“I couldn’t really tell how close it was, and then it just disappeared,” Haehl recalled.
Haehl took a bunch of photos and fired off text messages to several of his friends after acing the sixth — but little did he know there was another one to come.
A couple of hours later, he teed off on the 132-yard 14th hole with a gap wedge, landing the ball to the right of the flagstick and spinning it left into the cup.
While his reaction after the first hole-in-one was a mix of jubilation and relief, Haehl was more shocked than anything after the second.Â
“I think my reaction there was pretty much disbelief,” he said. “Someone told me I was sitting there with my hands on my head with my mouth wide open.”
Since his incredibly unlikely moment, Haehl says his golfing life has returned to normal. While he’s still trying to finish a round under par for the first time, he jokes that he has primarily gone “back to missing a lot of greens on par-3s.”
Regardless of how many he misses from now on, Haehl can rest on his laurels, knowing he’s part of a club that doesn’t have very many members.
