{"id":544725,"date":"2026-03-16T20:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/544725\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T20:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:22:11","slug":"i-made-a-hole-in-one-just-not-everyone-sees-it-that-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/544725\/","title":{"rendered":"I made a hole-in-one. Just not everyone sees it that way"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago, I played the Wee Course, a seven-hole par-3 course at Apogee Golf Club<\/a> in Hobe Sound, Fla. In my group were my colleagues Johnny Wunder and Adam Christensen and Top 100 Teacher Stephen Sweeney, along with some of Sweeney\u2019s friends and family. If you\u2019re doing the math, that\u2019s more than four golfers, but that\u2019s the thing about the Wee Course: There aren\u2019t many rules. Heck, we didn\u2019t even play the holes in order. Our first hole was the 4th on the card and our second was the 5th. Not until after 7 did we circle back and play 1, 2 and 3. Fun stuff.<\/p>\n

But back to the 5th hole (our second), all 68 yards of it. Stephen hit first and dropped a dart to about six inches behind the flag, a shot that I had the unfortunate privilege of following. I stepped in with my new custom-ground Ping S259 lobber<\/a> and hit a flighted draw that landed just past the hole and spun back on a 45\u00ba angle. As my ball tracked toward the cup, it waved to Stephen\u2019s and then . . . disappeared. My second career hole-in-one. But that\u2019s just where the story starts.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s set the scene<\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t at Apogee to film or create content. We were there only for pure enjoyment. As we strolled the property \u2014\u00a0each of us with just three wedges and a putter \u2014\u00a0the setting sun cast a soft glow across the manicured grounds. Perfection.<\/p>\n

On our walk to the first tee shot, Stephen told me about the medallions that the club dispenses to players who make an ace on the Wee Course. I didn\u2019t think much of it, but Stephen said that he didn\u2019t have one (and neither does Apogee member Rory McIlroy<\/a>); Stephen\u2019s father, meanwhile, made sure we all knew that he did have one. The first hole went about how you\u2019d expect after a long work day and being cooped up in a car for a few hours: most of us missed the green. We laughed, jabbed one another and finished out the hole. We had zero expectations for the round, other than to have a good time.<\/p>\n

\"Apogee
\n Rory doesn\u2019t have one of these.<\/p>\n

Jake Morrow \/ GOLF<\/p>\n

On the next tee, when Stephen\u2019s shot scared the hole, our group was ready to erupt, but the ball refused to drop. Then came my fateful swing. Adam didn\u2019t capture the ball falling into the hole, but he did chronicle our reaction, which you can see above. Before long, Adam posted the video in GOLF.com\u2019s Slack channel (our messaging platform), with the caption: \u201cDoes it count?\u201d<\/p>\n

My colleagues had opinions. But I\u2019ll come back to those in a minute.<\/p>\n

\"Apogee
\n The hole-in-one hole: Apogee Golf Club Wee Course No.5<\/p>\n

Adam Christensen \/ GOLF<\/p>\n

Not my first hole-in-one<\/p>\n

This was not my first hole-in-one. Almost exactly two years earlier I\u2019d made an ace at BryanGolf\u2019s Battle at the Beach at Hammock Beach in Palm Coast, Fla. From 167 yards, I hit an 8-iron (a touch thin if I\u2019m being honest) at a blind pin and never saw it drop into the hole.<\/p>\n

\"Hammock
\n A quick moment with my grandpa once I saw that ball actually at the bottom of the cup<\/p>\n

Jake Morrow<\/p>\n

That swing was especially meaningful to me because a year earlier I had lost my grandfather, who lived in Florida, and this was my full round in the state since his death. When I found the ball in the bottom of the cup, I became a bit emotional, as if I were somehow connecting to my grandpa. It\u2019s a moment I will never forget, but the Apogee ace story is the one I\u2019ll always tell first.<\/p>\n

The co-worker reaction<\/p>\n

As the ace video marinated in our work Slack group, debate quickly raged on whether my 68-yard ace on a short course should count as \u2026 AN ACE. I\u2019ve worked at GOLF only for about six months and haven\u2019t played golf with most of my colleagues let alone had time to understand their barometers for what constitutes a \u201creal\u201d hole-in-one.<\/p>\n

Reactions were decidedly mixed. Jack Hirsh<\/a> argued a hole-in-one from any distance is an achievement that should be celebrated; Zephr Melton<\/a>, Josh Berhow<\/a> and Alex Gelman<\/a>, on the other hand, said the shot wasn\u2019t long enough for their liking. Tim Reilly<\/a> contended that you should be able to count a par-3 course hole-in-one only if you\u2019ve already made a 1 on a regulation course.<\/p>\n

That led to the classic \u201cWhat about Pebble Beach No.7?\u201d argument, a hole on which golfers regularly celebrate 90-yard aces. My take? It was a hole-in-one by definition \u2014\u00a0and I\u2019ll forever share my story. But I\u2019ll never tell people I have two holes-in-one. I\u2019ll tell them I have one hole-in-one, and one short course hole-in-one. Why bother taking credit for the shorty? Because of the memory it produced; I don\u2019t ever want that to die.<\/p>\n

The story is the winner, not the ball in the hole<\/p>\n

My job is a wonderful grind. Being a part of the Fully Equipped<\/a> team is amazing, but also challenging in many ways with so much going on behind the scenes. Johnny Wunder, my boss, is a friend and mentor. Playing golf with him is always a blast, but we usually find ourselves playing \u201cbusiness\u201d golf and rarely get a chance to just enjoy playing together with no strings attached.<\/p>\n

This round was different. Pure bliss. Stephen was gracious to bring us to Apogee, which blew Johnny and I away with its beauty. It was also a blast to play alongside Adam, who has been in the trenches with me for the last few months as we\u2019ve ramped up the Fully Equipped platforms to serve up higher quality and more frequent content for our audience. But for this short walk around the Wee Course, we set everything aside.<\/p>\n

\"Hole
\n Celebrating the hole-in-one with Stephen and Johnny.<\/p>\n

Adam Christensen \/ GOLF<\/p>\n

Beyond seeing the ball drop, there were so many other moments to love. Johnny hitting another six-inch dart immediately after me. The group of guys who saw my ball go in as they walked past the green. The celebration from THEM! Total strangers who were so jazzed to see an ace. The high-fives, the first bumps, the hugs. This was a celebration with friends. It didn\u2019t matter to me one bit that the shot was 100 yards shorter than my first hole-in-one. This one instantly meant more to me, and that\u2019s why I care about it so much.<\/p>\n

So, yeah . . . it\u2019s a hole-in-one. The 1 I most want to talk about because of the people who were with me when it happened. And if there ever comes a day when I can show Rory my medallion, I\u2019d love to have that conversation with him.<\/p>\n

Until then, I\u2019ll just keep telling everyone else.<\/p>\n