Luck on the links
Terry O'Donnell hits Westlock's fifth hole in one of the season
Terry “Doodle” O’Donnell just might be smuggling horseshoes in his golf bag. Or maybe there’s just an extra thick patch of four-leaf clovers at the Westlock Golf Club.
Whatever it was, he can consider himself lucky after he hit an ace on the sixth hole while golfing with his friend Dr. Alan Watt last Wednesday evening.
“I just took out a six-iron and two-hopped it into the hole,” he said. “I said, ‘Alan, I just got a hole in one.’ He said, ‘I can’t see that far.’ True story.”
Anyone who has spent any amount of time on the links will tell you golfing requires two things: a good sense of humour and a lot of luck. Clearly, O’Donnell is lacking in neither.
“It’s just plain luck,” he said. “Tell you what, I just came out to play a game of golf.”
It was the second hole in one the 50-year golf veteran has ever scored, notching his first one about 10 years ago on Hole 11.
“I’m looking forward to the next one,” he laughed.
Club Pro Kevin Lynes said that while a hole-in-on is always impressive, what’s astounding is that this is the fifth hole-in-one scored at the club so far this season, just a little past the halfway mark.
“At odds of one in 12,500, and we put through 20,000 rounds a year, that’s a lot,” he said.
Of the five aces this year, two were on Hole 17, two were on Hole 6 and one was on Hole 2.
Even the club pro could not offer any advice on how to hit a hole-in-one — it really is all about the luck. Lynes recounted that about five years ago, a girl was golfing for the first time when she hit a hole-in-one on her second Par 3.
O’Donnell said hitting the ace was nice, but it would have been better if he’d done it during the Men’s Open, which he took part in last weekend.
“I hoped my luck would spill over for this weekend, but so far it’s been a struggle,” he said on Sunday morning.
Results of the Men’s Open, which ran Aug. 4-6, were not available by press time. See next week’s Westlock News for more.
Any ladies looking for some action on the links can get their fill this weekend for the Ladies’ Open, which runs Aug. 11-12.
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