Hole in One records, feats and incidents

OLDEST

The oldest golfer, man or woman, known to have made a hole in one is Elsie McLean, aged 102 when, on April 5, 2007, she holed out with a driver on the 100-yard fourth hole at Bidwell Park, in Chico, California. Due to the slope of the green, she couldn't see the ball drop, and only discovered her feat when her playing partners found the ball in the cup. She later said, "For an old lady, I still hit the ball pretty good." It was the first hole in one of her life.

The oldest man to have holed in one was the previous 'oldest' holder and first known centenarian, Harold Stilson, who was 101 when he holed a 4-iron at the 108-yard par-3 16th at Deerfield Country Club in Florida on May 16, 2001. It was his sixth.

Actor and comedian Bob Hope achieved a hole in one at the age of 90 in Palm Springs.

YOUNGEST

Jake Paine, three years old, holed out on the 66 yard 6th hole at Lake Forest Golf and Practice Course, California, in 2001 and is believed to be the youngest ever, although some record keepers only admit holes in one acheived on holes of 100 yards or more in length.

The previous record holder was 5 years, 212 days old Matthew Draper, who set the record at the 122 yard 4th Cherwell Edge Golf Club, Oxfordshire, England, on June 17, 1997.

The youngest girl to hole in one is thought to be Rhiannon Linacre, who achieved the feat at the 116 yard 17th at Coxmoor Golf Club at the age of nine years and 75 days, beating the previous record of Kate Langley, nine years and 166 days old and 4ft tall, when she holed out on the 134 yard 1st at Forest Pines Beeches in Scunthorpe, England in August 2005.

Tiger Woods made his first hole in one aged six, and Michelle Wie shot her first ace when she was 12.

MOST IN A LIEETIME

Norman Manley, an amateur of Long Beach, California is credited with 59 holes in one, including extraordinarily rare successive holes in one on par 4s, a feat he achieved in September 1964 at Del valle Country Club, Saugus, California on the 330 yard 7th and the 290 yard 8th, both being dog-legs and downhill. They were part of a course record 61 (10 under par) he shot that day.

ODDS

A study made for Golf Digest by Francis Scheid, Ph.D., retired Chairman of Mathematics at Boston University, using all the available statisitics for holes in one, both amateur and professional, came up with the following estimates:

• Professional Tour player making an ace: 3,000 to 1
• Low-handicapper making an ace: 5,000 to 1
• Average player making an ace: 12,000 to 1
• Average player aceing a 200-yard hole: 150,000 to 1
• Two players in the same foursome aceing the same hole: 17 million to 1
• One player making two holes-in-one in the same round: 67 million to 1

But however long the odds, don't ever take your eyes off the ball on a par 3. See what happened to Fuzzy Zoeller in the video below!