I was looking back over a few facts and figures from last summer and I realised that nine members of Dungannon Golf Club carded aces over a three month period! Surely this must be some kind of record!
8-handicapper Ian Rafferty aced the 2nd hole to record the Club’s first hole-in-one of 2020 during the Golf Classic on 26th July and then on Saturday 1st August Damien McNulty, playing off 2, had a hole-in-one at the 6th. The following day Aidan Taggart had a hole in one at the 2nd hole whilst playing in the Ulster Cup against Aughnacloy and went on to win his match 4 & 3.
Next it was the turn of our Golf Shop Manager, Alastair Fleming, who aced at the 16th whilst playing in the Aughnacloy Putter competition on Sat 8th Aug. The following weekend we had two on the same day! Noel Devlin and Matthew McCann each bagged a hole-in-one in the Sunday Shop Competition on 16th August. Noel aced the second hole and Matthew did the same at the 16th.
After several weeks’ lull it was Columba Fox’s turn to score a hole in one. He aced the 16th “Garden” hole on Saturday 5th September while playing for the Lady Captain’s Prize.
Then Tommy Mangan had a hole in one on the 11th hole whilst playing in the Wednesday Open on 23rd September and the last ace was carded by Brendan Corr at the 16th while playing in the turkey Trot.
So, that’s nine holes in one in three months. The 16th hole was the site of four, the 2nd hole saw 3 whilst the 6th and the 11th each one a-piece. This pretty impressive scoring from the Dungannon men!
Earlier week the European Tour released a video of two of the best golfers in the world, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, trying to make a hole-in-one with 50 shots each from 148 yards. It’s interesting viewing – if only to see how frustrated they become with shots that I would love to be able to hit!
Their reactions are entertaining, but one of the best bits is when Justin Thomas’s father says, “You missed the green with two different clubs.” He should come to Dungannon and watch me miss with all 14!!!