North Carolina State University Athletics
Behind The Scenes With Tony Haynes: One and Done
4/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
April 1, 2002
By Tony Haynes
For me personally, the end of each basketball season brings a slightly slower pace and my continued pursuit of one accomplishment that has eluded me for my entire life. The accomplishment to which I refer is, of course, golf's ultimate feat: a hole in one.
Now the fact is, making an ace shouldn't be a goal for anyone because knocking a little white ball in the cup from anywhere between 130-220 yards out involves more luck than winning the lottery
I started playing golf at around the age of 10, which for me was one year after Neil Armstrong used that famous phrase, "that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." By my late teen years, I had evolved into a low handicap golfer who was capable of shooting in the low to mid 70s on most days. Since that time, I've tallied a handful of under par rounds, while also making a decent share of birdies and eagles. Still, getting that elusive ace had become a running joke in my mind. A few hours after NC State's final basketball game on March 17, I had already decided to write a column about my futile quest to make a hole in one.
Over the years, I've often been paired with guys whose idea of a good shot was anything that avoided trees, lakes and backyards. These are the same guys who'll tell you that they framed the scorecard after shooting a career-best round of 96. But then, inevitably, they would make reference to the two aces they had made.
"Why is it," I often thought, "do these people who are satisfied with any score below triple digits also happen to be the same hackers who have enjoyed the thrill of walking up to the green and pulling the ball out of the cup after cold-topping a five-iron that kills three worms and rolls through a bunker before shattering the flagstick and disappearing?"
It had gotten to the point where I was thoroughly convinced that there was no correlation between being a good golfer and making a hole in one. But of course, former PGA Tour player Art Wall sliced that theory out of bounds by recording more than 40 aces in his lifetime.
My brother Troy, who was a member of the NC State golf team in the mid 1980s, played the game for more than 25 years before making his first hole in one a few summers ago. He then added a second one a few weeks later. Who can figure these things? The golf magazines are filled with stories about nine-year old kids who go out and make two aces in the same round.
"I've been standing on the par threes forever and I've never seen a hole in one made by one of my players," said Wolfpack men's golf coach Richard Sykes. "When I'm playing by myself, I just skip the par threes because I know that's when I'll make one."
In fact, Sykes says the only time he made a one was when he was playing by his lonesome. Fortunately, the group in front of him did witness the shot.
As it turns out, I had scribbled down some notes for this particular column before I went out for my first round of the spring last Thursday. Teeing it up at the Magnolia Greens Golf Plantation just outside of Wilmington, I was joined by my longtime partner Tom "The Hammer" Huff, who rarely takes to the course without a cooler full of performance enhancing beverages.
It was a beautiful, sunny day, the kind of afternoon that can take your mind off taxes, bills and impending dentist appointments. And, in fact, as we teed off on number one, I had stopped thinking about the hole in one column I would be writing this week.
On the par three third hole, I swung and hit a fairly ordinary (Peter Alliss would have called it a 'pedestrian' eight iron) 8-iron that landed just short of the green and rolled onto the putting surface. While the shot was on line, I figured at the time that it had not been hit solidly enough to get to the back right pin placement. The Hammer's shot was a good one, landing about 10-feet to the right of the hole.
When we arrived at the green, Tom's ball was about where we thought it would be. But where's mine? It wasn't short and it wasn't long. There was only one last spot to look. We jogged (more like ran) to the flag and looked down.
Draino.
After reaching down to pull the super spin, extra distance, ultra soft, liquid core with technically enhanced dimple patterned Top-Flight XL out of the cup, I exchanged a holler and a high-five with The Hammer. And then it occurred to me. "Aw *#@*, my column is ruined," I said.
It was a small price to pay.
(Watch gopack.com next week for details on how you can join Tony as he begins his quest for a second hole in one.)
