The place to get your ace

When it comes to hole-in-ones, Middleton GC
and Wenham CC have the market cornered

There are few feats in sport more difficult than a hole in one. Hitting a 100 m.p.h. fastball perhaps is one. You can argue that some track and field events, like hitting the perfect pole vault might be another. But to stand over that little white ball, swing the club, connect and then find it in the bottom of the cup 100 or more yards away trumps all those other feats. And when it happens, boy does it feel great. Just ask Middleton Golf Club owner, Bart Brown.

“You’re gleeful, just full of joy,” said Brown, a very youthful 90-years-old, who by his count has recorded nine aces in his life. “It’s always that same kind of feeling. You stand there with a big smile on your face.”

Middleton, an all par 3 course, opened in 1966 and during that first year of operation, the staff began to put up plaques at the end of each year denoting all of those who aced a hole on the course.

The tradition has gone on for all 43 years of Middleton’s existence and the plaques have accumulated a hearty list of names. One of the names on multiple plaques is that of club pro Chris Costa, who has rung up seven hole-in-ones in his almost 39 years of service at Middleton. Costa, who has also managed two more aces elsewhere, doesn’t see too many shades of gray in determining how and why a player might come up with an ace.

“It’s all luck, 100 percent luck,” said Costa, whose most recent ace came at an executive course in Florida while on a trip to golf school.

“There are so many great, great players who have never had one. Of course, if you have a lot of skill, it gives you a better chance. Here, we have all par 3s and if you add to that a good deal of skill, you might have a better shot. But to me, it’s still luck. We had someone here who holed out off the tee twice in one round. That doesn’t necessarily come from being the most skilled player.”

That player, Tom Wright, accomplished the feat in 1980 when he used just one stroke to ace both the old 10th and seventh holes, now holes No. 1 and 16, respectively. Even highly skilled players like former North Shore resident Eddie Balboni, now the head pro at Spring Brook Golf Club in Leeds, Maine, can benefit from a little luck at times. Balboni recorded seven aces at Middleton, one of which caromed off a tree and found its way in the cup.

“I know that for a fact,” Costa said with a laugh of his good friend, “because I was playing with him that day.”

Costa adds that the most aces at Middleton have come on the 10th (135 yards) and 11th (110 yards) holes.

Brown, who is also a fixture on the plaques in the Middleton clubhouse having recorded his first ace in 1967, agrees with Costa about the luck factor but thinks that there may be a little more to it than that.

“Sure, there’s a tremendous element of luck to it,” said Brown. “But the odds improve with skill. Concentration is also a key as is a player’s ball striking ability. How you set up, your alignment, your posture - those things all factor in.”

Both Brown and Costa mentioned that for all the joy that comes from recording an ace, it’s usually delayed, as most hole-in-ones are impossible to actually see. Costa’s ace in Florida was at night on a lighted course and he, “probably saw the ball land but definitely didn’t see it go in the cup. The laughs and smiles all came when we got up there.”

One hit wonders at Wenham

Over at Wenham Country Club, which is also a shorter course, but unlike Middleton features several par 4s and one par 5, aces have been plentiful through the years as well with Salem’s Dick Cusack notching 20 over the years. Club pro Darren Chin-Aleong has a theory as to why.

“I think there’s luck involved but you have to hit a good shot,” said Chin-Aleong, now in his third year at Wenham. “The holes here are pretty fair. Anybody has a good chance to get one. It’s not like there’s one 230-yard par 3 over water after another. There was one on the second hole here recently by a woman who hit a driver. This course is fair for all and everybody has a chance. I’ve seen someone here skull the ball and it went in so that’s probably a bit lucky. I mean, he wasn’t trying to hit the ball four feet off the ground. But I’ve seen a host of them here and pretty much all of them have been very good shots.”

Russ Tarr, owner and operator of Wenham Country Club, has been in charge for 28 years and seen many aces, even recording two himself (his wife Pat, who runs the facility with him, also has two). He subscribes to the idea that luck plays the most prominent role in scoring an ace but pointed out that you can’t rely on being lucky.

“The majority of it is luck, but remember there are plenty of players on the PGA Tour who’ve never had one,” said Tarr, whose family has owned the land on which Wenham sits since the early 1700s. “You have to be on the green for starters. And it helps to be an accomplished player. But then I look at a hole like No. 13 here, which has a big, very difficult green with a lot of rolls and slopes. But it’s only 135 yards and there have been several aces there over the years.”

A couple of those aces at Wenham’s 13th hole were scored by Jack Kennedy a member there since 1957. Kennedy has 10 aces and his first ever was on No. 13 at Wenham in 1960. His 10th? On the No. 13 at Wenham, this past May.

“It was really quite unusual the way that turned out,” said Kennedy, a Danvers resident, who has seen a couple of his aces aid him in multiple tournament wins at Wenham. “The first one went in on the fly and so did the most recent one. Same hole, same result in the same way. The difference was back then I hit an 8-iron and this year, it was a 6-iron. I know the course pretty well and I think that can only help. The more familiar you are with a course and the conditions that arise, the more it will help you. For that reason, I don’t think it’s all luck, not at all.”

Whether it’s through luck or skill, with a driver or an 8-iron on a low green or an elevated one, a hole-in-one is a most impressive achievement, certainly the most impressive in the game of golf. If a player records one, celebration and jubilation abound, usually followed by some hearty refreshments. And the player will have a story to tell for the rest of his or her life.

“I’ve seen them on all types of swings, but it doesn’t really matter all that much how you swing the club,” said Tarr. “I’ve seen all kinds over the years from older players and from younger players. And every one of them makes me happy.”