When asked what he thought was the hardest shot in golf, Groucho Marx answered “I find it to be the hole-in-one.”
Add the element of getting one of these rare achievements with a hickory golf club and you’ve really got something to really talk about. With this page we celebrate hickory holes-in-one from our members and hickory players near and far. Send us your information and don’t forget to include a photo if possible. Otherwise, let us know the course, the date, the hole number and yardage, and what club you used. Regarding the club, let us know the maker and any other special characteristics of that club. We’re hickory golfers, right? So we want to know all that good stuff.
(By the way, Randy Jensen, in his book Playing Hickory Golf, reports on several holes-in-one.)
David ‘Digger’ Johnson, scored another ace, this one on March 19, 2023, on the 120-yard 8th hole of the Pebble Brook golf course at Sun City West, Ariz. He used is George Nicoll Indicator, a No. 8 mashie niblick, to make it happen.
“On Sept. 30, 2022 we started playing hickory golf at the historic City Park Golf Course,” writes Timothy Chenevert. “Both Stan Spring and I were practicing for the upcoming Tom Bendelow Classic Golf Tournament in Baton Rouge. Hole number 1 is 139 yards from the white tees. I was first off so I pulled my Tad Moore No. 7 iron and teed off. The ball hit the green and and started rolling towards the pin. Stan teed off and as we approached the green my ball was not visible. We found it in the cup! Stan contacted me later and said that it has been nearly a century since a hickory shaft club had a hole-in-one on this golf course! What an awesome experience!” So, the old clubs still have a bit of magic in ’em. Great shot, Timothy.
The latest word of hickory heroics comes from Shennecossett, Conn., where Jared Paletti of Pelham Manor, N.Y., holed out from the fairway to score an eagle on the par five 5th hole during the recent Smith-Collett Classic. This also landed him an elusive net albatross for the hole, which earned a whopping eight points under the Modified Stableford system the players were using. “I hit a 48-degree niblick from the fairway about 105 yards out,” Jared says. “It was a high lofted shot that landed softly on the green before dribbling a few feet into the hole.”
And that’s how it’s done, people. As easy as a tap-in when you have the touch.
Michigan hole-in-one ace Bill Tucholski reports yet another one (others are listed below). His latest found the cup during the 2022 Wyandotte Classic on June 4. He has had four aces during his 60 years of golf, he says, but this one was special as the round, indeed the entire tournament, was played in the memory of Ed Ronco, a founder of the Wyandotte Hickory Organization and past president of the Society of Hickory Golfers, who passed away in February 2022. The ace happened on hole no. 5 of the nine-hole Wyandotte Shores Golf Course, a par three that plays 110 yards. A bottle of Jameson was placed on that tee box for the players to enjoy a wee nip in Ed’s memory as they passed by. On Bill’s second pass through the hole (it was an 18-hole event), the players noticed the bottle was near empty, so they left what remained for others. “However,” says Bill, “after what happened next, our foursome decided to have another go-around. With Ed still on my mind, I hit my mashie niblick pure as could be. With a bounce and release on the green, my ball found it’s resting spot in the bottom of the cup! None of my previous aces has ever been, or dare I say, will ever be more satisfying than this one.” Yes, Mr. Tucholski purchased drinks for all players in the pub after the round.
Wardy Wardwell of Massachusetts reports that Rich Clark earned a hole-in-one with a mashie on the 120-yard ninth hole of the Country Club of Greenfield in August 2021. Rich is new to hickory this year and plays with the Massachusetts regional group.
The latest ace report also comes from the Northwest where Rob Ahlschwede himself jarred one on the Eastmoreland Golf Course (1918) in Portland, Ore. Rob remembers it like it was yesterday, which it very nearly was, since he sent this report the following day. The shot was made on Sunday, May 23, 2021, during a Northwest Hickory Players event. “It was the fifth hole,” Rob says, “which played as No. 14 that day as the 9s were reversed. It’s a par 3, 175 yards from the white tees; extremely downhill with the tee perched on top of the hill. I hit a spoon that landed just short of the green, bounced and then rolled to the cup and disappeared. My second ace with hickory!! So there!”
There were several witnesses, Rob hastens to add. “Unfortunately, no photos,” he says. “The cool part was when I went to the cup to retrieve the ball – I was using one with an NWHP logo – the logo was looking right up at me! Didn’t have my phone with me to shoot the pic.”
No worries, Rob, we believe you and congratulate you on your happy shot.
Like Son, Like Father
There must be something in the water in Spokane, Wash.
Having celebrated his son’s miraculous two holes-in-one on the same hole in two consecutive days during a U.S. Open Qualifier, proud father Jim Von Lossow was happy to retell the story of this uncommon feat. In fact, as he made his way down the third fairway at Gearhart Golf Links on April 6, 2021, with three of his other Northwest Hickory Players members (Rob Ahlschwede, John Henry Williams, and Rob Birman), Von Lossow was telling the story once again. “We were walking together and I asked him about Andrew’s Instagram posts,” said Birman. Andrew’s story was shared widely on the social media platform and also covered in Golf Week. “Andrew was with us the day that we founded Northwest Hickory Players,” continued Birman. “Jim and I also happened to be paired together at the inaugural Spokane Hickory Open two years ago as we watched his son card a two on a par five (with hickories, of course) right in front of us. His son Andrew is certainly a skilled and gifted player.”
The NWHP members were at Gearhart on April 6 to film some promos for the forthcoming U.S. Hickory Open this September (2021). Having spent the morning in interviews and doing some on-the-course filming, the foursome set out after lunch for a casual round.
“Jim had the honors as we stepped to the fourth tee,” said Birman. “It’s a 163-yard par three with a substantial mound left of the green surface.” Oddly, that’s precisely the same yardage as the 14th hole at Wine Valley Golf Course in Walla Walla where his son carded his two aces last October. “The flag was in the front and we had a bit of a headwind.” Jim used his MacGregor BB iron to send his ball on a high flight with cut spin into the breeze. “As the ball descended, it hit the left side of the green and just started trickling toward the center,” recalled Birman. “We all started saying, that’s got a chance. It just kept rolling, and rolling, and – in an instant – disappeared.” The four suspect their shouts were heard up in Astoria at the Country Club, as the racket was instantaneous. It was Jim’s first hickory hole-in-one.
Wedgy Winchester, long drive champion from 1988 and trick shot artist also witnessed the feat from his vantage point on the fifth tee. The Northwest Hickory Players started a Hickory DoDo Club for all hickory holes-in-one in their group. Von Lossow is now the 11th player to join the ranks. Birman captured the scene at the green on video while John Henry Williams took some still photos.
Congratulations, Jim!
Arizona Ace for David Johnson
David Johnson scored his ace with a mashie on Hole No. 11, a 128-yard par 3, of the Briarwood CC in Sun City West, Ariz., on Nov. 17, 2020. Below is a certificate he received from the Arizona Golf Association marking the accomplishment.
Two aces in 2019 for John Lavendoski
Martin Pool reports: It was a banner year for John Lavendoski, Northwest’s own “Ted Ray,” who made two dodos at year’s end. (Dodo is the term used by the Northwest Hickory Players to describe holes in one. See below for more information about their “Dodo Club.”)
On Nov. 17, 2019, Lavendoski aced the newly redesigned, 183-yard Redan-style 10th hole at Wing Point G&CC, Bainbridge Island, Wash., his home course. He used a c. 1928 “Rudy Fielitz” mussel back mid-iron that had been recently restored by master clubmaker, Jerry Olson. Making only his fourth swing following its restoration, John knocked his shot in for his hickory dodo.
Three weeks later, on Dec. 12, 2019, also at Wing Point, he used a PGA of America P-80 jigger (another restoration project by Jerry Olson) to knock it in from 110 yards out on the No. 2 hole. Lavendoski says he was using the “shaft- covering-the-ball” technique which he learned from his playing partner Jeff Dean to add loft and ‘soften’ his jigger shots.) Nice work Jerry and Jeff! Oh, and you, too, John.
John says the best part of it was having his two kids with him to share the moment. He also says he bought them a round of “cranberry juice and lemonade” afterwards. And something stronger for himself, one presumes.
Hickory ace at the 2019 English Hickory Championship
Andrew Buchan was enjoying his round with good friends at the 22nd English Hickory Championship of 4 October, 2019, at Rye Golf Club, when the round took an exciting turn. “I holed out on the 14th from the back tee (white) with my baffy,” he writes. It was about 176 yards. I was just glad to be on the green and when the ball disappeared I thought it had gone through.”
The English Hickory Championship is an official fixture, a “major,” of the British Golf Collector’s Society. Original clubs and jackets are compulsory for participation. Nigel Notley, the BGCS secretary, believes Andrew’s hole-in-one to be a first in a major U.K. hickory championship.
Wardy puts one in in Massachusetts
Bill Wardwell of the Massachusetts Hickory Players nailed an ace on Sept. 20 while playing with a casual foursome at Twin Hills CC in Long Meadow, Mass. He was the only one in the group playing hickories – that’s all Wardy plays. The shot came on the 13th, a 138-yard uphill par 3.
“I was using an old Wright & Ditson mashie,” he says. “Not purely a muscle-back, but with a little bulge in the back. We saw the ball bounce one, but the green is slightly elevated and we couldn’t tell if it went in. Sure enough, it was a purely struck shot and a good one – the ball was in the bottom of the cup.”
Wardy was using a mesh-style ball that he acquired from Steve Simer, a Wisconsin player who has tried his hand at re-molding modern balls.
The ace came during a pretty good round, too. Wardy shot a 78 over the 6,100-yard layout. He was really pumped about the shot. “Now I’m Jones-ing for another one,” he says.
Marci Likens scores ace at Winter Park in Florida
On Friday evening, Aug. 9, 2019, Marci Likens, playing in an outing with the Florida Hickory Golfers, had a hole-in-one at Winter Park Golf Course on the second hole. It was a special day as this was The Golfers Journal outing and she cashed in with $300 from the Shootout. Great fun!
Aces at the Onion Creek Hickory Classic
Pete League of Austin, Texas, reports on a couple of aces that have been scored at the annual Onion Creek Hickory Classic, one of the great hickory golf events each year. In 2008 Pat Hill nailed a mammoth 193-yard shot on No. 11 of the North Course with a spoon. In 2013, John Hutton added his name to the hickory hole-in-one legends with a 115-yard ace on No. 2 of the original course with a mashie niblick.
An Ace in Houston
John Willbanks of Colleyville, Texas, has been playing golf for more than 55 years, but thanks to good friend Ken Jackson, who introduced him to hickory golf, he reports “a new love and respect for the great game of golf.” Here’s his account of a new appreciation for golf and the joy of a hickory ace.
“I was introduced to the game by my friend, Ken Jackson, in December 2017. I was, shall we say, “HOOKED.” Ken encouraged me to go all in and I began searching for clubs, clothes, and courses. Hickory golf reinvigorated my love for the game. We entered the Houston Hickory Team Challenge last year, a tournament managed by Michael Sloan, and had a wonderful time. We entered again this year. The tournament was in Magnolia, Texas at High Meadow Ranch Golf Club. After the first round on Saturday we were a stroke back with a 65 and were trailing by one stroke to the team of Scott Pilgrim and Nick Flaim. On Sunday it was slightly overcast with no wind. Ken and I were tied with Scott and Nick through 10 heading to the par 3, 11th hole, 119 yards to an elevated green that sits about 12-15 feet above the tee box. The green is firm and it’s hard to stop the ball. The pin was in a back right location. I had just missed a 2-foot birdie putt on 10 that would have tied us and was not happy going to the 11th tee. Ken said “shake it off” but you know how difficult it is to do that after missing a big putt.
I was last to hit on the 11th and chose a Louisville Precision Model mashie niblick. (It was a Wilson Duo 29-compression ball, by the way.) I am not a particularly high ball hitter, but this shot was perfectly struck and dead at the flag. I knew it was going to be close. The ball landed about 20-22 inches in front of the flag and one-hopped into the cup. Although I could not see it go in, I could hear the ball hit the cup and I knew immediately I had just made my fourth hole-in-one, and my very first hickory ace.
I have played that hole maybe eight times before with little success (as a matter of fact, I’m not sure I’ve even hit the green before), but today the shot was straight and true and I was blessed to make a one-hop hole-in-one, which by the way, happened to flip the match and Ken and I were fortunate to win the tourney by three strokes.
The joy of a hole-in-one is almost indescribable, but what made this shot so memorable was the gentlemen with whom I could share the moment – my friend, Ken, who introduced me to hickory golf; Scott Pilgrim (secretary of our regional playing group), who is one of the hardest working men I know promoting our game, and proprietor of Knickerdog Knickers, a great source of great knickers; and Nick Flaim, who is as good a hickory player as there is in our area. It was a delight to share the moment with them and see they were as pleased about the shot as I was; truly a wonderful memory.
Reggie Bray retrieves his ace at the 2018 Mid Pines Hickory Open.
• One for the books at Mid Pines. Reggie Bray made a hole-in-one at the 2018 Mid Pines tournament on No. 2, using a mashie niblick from 120 yards on the way to shooting 84. No word on how he survived the 19th Hole.
• An ace in North Carolina. Former SoHG Board member and long-time hickory player, Barry Markowitz, jarred his second hickory hole in one on Aug. 12, 2018. He aced the 149-yard 13th hole on the Lake Course at Carolina Trace Country Club in Sanford N.C. “My tee ball was well struck over water to the island style green and rolled slightly to the left before disappearing in the hole. I used my favorite club, a Mungo Park 23-degree wooden cleek that carries 150 yards.” It was Barry’s second hickory hole in one and he now has an ace on each of the two courses at Carolina Trace.
• First hickory hole-in-one in Finland, since maybe the 1930s. Antti Paatola describes his perfect shot from October 2011. “On Saturday Oct. 8, 2011 we had a season-ending club competition at my home club, Keimola Golf Club. The 15th hole on our Saras course is a 150-meter par-3 where the green is a few meters below the tee. A beautiful hole. I had in my hand a concentric back Gibson iron which has no name on it. It is about 26 degrees so it is equivalent to today’s 4-iron. Originally this club was put together by a club pro, William Binnie, who worked at two clubs in Kinghorn, Scotland from 1901 to 1912. Because this club is one of my favourite ones I have broken the shaft and now it has a modern hickory shaft from Mike Just, Louisville Golf. I had a good hit and immediately other players said that it looks good. The ball went straight into the cup. A sound of the ball hitting the pin and no ball on the green so it must have gone in and so it did. My third hole-in-one and my first with hickories.”
• “Jarred another one,” reports Bill Tucholski, who plays in the Michigan Hickory Tour. It seems that the holes are snapping at his golf balls like starving dogs looking for a meal. This one occurred Aug. 13, in Edmonton, Alberta, during a warmup round for the Canadian Hickory Open. It was on hole No. 3 of the Trestle Creek GC; 100 yards with a Stewart niblick. “Had to buy drinks for 40 of my closest friends,” Tucholski says. Tough it out, Bill, tough it out.
• The Northwest Hickory Players report on several holes-in-one from its members. They have inaugurated what they are calling “The Dodo Club.” The dodo, reports Martin Pool, was a commonly-used term in the 1920s and 1930s to describe a hole-in-one. “It was thought that making a hole-in-one was as rare as sighting a dodo,” he says. “The term gradually faded from common usage and became extinct much like its namesake.” From official sources, then –The dodo was an extinct heavy flightless bird (Raphus cucullatus syn. Didus ineptus of the family Raphidae) of the island of Mauritius. It was larger than a turkey and was related to the pigeon.
The following are members of the exclusive Hickory Dodo Club of the Northwest Hickory Players.
Larry Buckingham – 2016
Galen Peterson – 2015
Martin Pool – 2014
Rob Ahlschwede – 2004
Click here for a story and photos of each of these most rare, though hardly flightless, NW hickory accomplishments.
• Houston native Mark Wehring, one of the early SoHG men and hickory veteran of no small accomplishments (many championships here and abroad), reports on two of his aces. Both were scored in 2009. The first came on Feb. 28 at the Champions Golf Club, Cyprus Creek Course near Houston. Mark recalls it was the 150-yard 16th hole. He used a Stewart mashie with “E E Foord WJF” cleek marks. He was accompanied by Trey Wilkinson, John Wilkinson and Pat Kiley. (Click here for two 2009 Houston Chronicle articles about Mark, which cover both his passion for hickory golf and his Texas hole-in-one.)
Later that year, Mark, who enjoys hickory competitions in Great Britain, scored another on May 18 on the Coxmoor Golf Club, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England. This came during the Central English Hickory Championship on the 128-yard seventh. The weapon for this accomplishment was a Stewart Maiden, H&B Regis EM-3, stainless 8/niblick.
Perhaps as priceless as scoring an ace with hickories in Great Britain was his playing partner, Alec Shepperson of the Coxmoor GC, who played on the 1957 and 1959 British Walker Cup teams. His opponents for those matches were Jack Nicklaus, then Tommy Aaron at Muirfield. Also on hand to see the ace was John Hanna (a long-time Through the Green contributor and good friend of hickory golf) from Belfast, Ireland and the Malone GC. Mark included the following two links for those who might wish to read about those early Walker Cup matches.
http://www.walkercup.org/news/1959walkercup.html
http://gsrpdf.lib.msu.edu/ticpdf.py?file=/1950s/1959/590608.pdf
• Bill Tucholski, a regular on the Michigan Hickory Tour, nailed one at the Arthur Hills-designed Stone Ridge Country Club, Bowling Green, Ohio. His shot came on No. 13, a 141-yard par 3. The weapon of choice was a No. 5 mashie with a Shaller Overbrook cleek mark. “Both of my hole-in-ones came on the two public courses in Bowling Green,” he says. One was Forest Creason on the Bowling Green State University campus. Both were on hole No. 13!”
• Jim Clawson recorded one on the final day of the 2018 Virginia Hickory Open at Capon Springs. IT was on the second hole, a par 3 of 124 yards. Jim used a deep face mashie, pure and straight. “I thought it had bounced off the back of the green, but it went in after landing about 20 feet short of the hole,” he said. If that wasn’t enough, Jim holed out from 100 yards to an elevated green on the par 4 fifth hole as well. “Still came in second in my division,” he says.
• Dick Walden of St. Johnsbury, Vt. carded an ace on Sept. 23, 2017 on the 151-yard third hole at Mountain View Country Club in Greensboro, Vt. “I used a George Nicoll No. 6 mashie, carrying power 120/40 yds, no model indicated on the clubhead,” he says. “This occurred only 49 years, four months, and 15 days after my first and only other hole in one…but who’s counting?”
• Former SoHG president Ken Holtz of Sun City West, Ariz. aced one on No. 5 of the Pebblebrook GC in his town. “A grand shot it was,” says he. “It went 158 yds, took three hops and rolled into the hole. The shot was made with a 1903 Mills Sutherlund No. 2 aluminum hybrid of yesteryear.” The shot was reported way back in 2010.
• Robert Wolfensperger of Modesto, Calif., reported his ace back in 2013. “The fateful day was Feb. 2,” he wrote. “It was cool and calm. I was preparing for Ken’s (the Arizona Desert Classic, hosted by Ken Holtz) initial Arizona tournament. In preparation, I was playing my hickories for about a week with my regular group. On Saturday morning, it hit. We were playing Del Rio CC and had reached No. 8 on the Oak Course, a 163-yard par three from the white tees. I was using a Bridgestone TREO soft ball. I teed off with one partner next to me and the other two almost to the green Good swing. My comment was “fade a little” and it did. Hit 10 feet short and 4 feet left. One small bounce and a putter-like roll right in. The club was a 16-degree Louisville Black Spoon. Great club. The club members drank well that Saturday.”
• Lee Burton of Danville, Va., nailed his hole-in-one on Sept. 21, 2011. He used a Tom Stewart jigger for the 159-yard shots on hole 15 of the Ringgold Golf Club. A smooth swing and a bounce or two later and he had his first hickory ace. The 47-year-old Burton, a member of the Carolina Hickory Golf Assoc., shot a round of 78 using his hickories and plays to a 11.2 handicap. Lee is a member of Ringgold and of the Goodyear Country Club in Danville, Va. where he is employed by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. He says he’s been playing mostly hickories since 2006.
• Kody Kirchhoff, a co-founder of the Florida Hickory Golfers and the United States Professional Hickory Golf Championship earlier shared two that he had made. One was on June 16, 2006, just three months into playing hickory golf. The shot came on the 125-yard third hole of the Eagle Run Golf Course, Omaha, Neb. Kody used a deep groove Tom Stewart mashie niblick. His second came on Aug. 10, 2008 at the Benson Golf Course, Omaha, Neb., on hole No. 13. He used a Tom Stewart RTJ 3-iron for the 188-yard ace.
• Howard Lindsay, who plays at the Tatum Ranch Golf Club in Cave Creek, Ariz., had a hole-in-one playing in his first ever hickory golf event – the 2018 Arizona Desert Hickory Tournament on the Pebblebrook Golf Course in Sun City West, Ariz. Howard’s ace occurred on No. 8, a 94-yard par 3, with his Tom Morris niblick.
