Rich Gamble started Saturday like he normally does, watering greens and getting the Hampden Country Club ready for another day of golf. <\/p>\n
Then things took an unusual turn for the course superintendent. <\/p>\n
Gamble and his girlfriend decided to have a family golf outing with her son and some close friends. They started on the eighth hole to avoid slowing down other golfers on a busy day. <\/p>\n
Gamble stepped up to the tee on the roughly 245-yard par four thinking he would show the kids that he could drive it to the green. But he ended up doing more than that \u2014 He put the ball in the hole. <\/p>\n
\u201cI took one practice swing, and then I addressed the ball and just swung exactly how I\u2019ve done 100 times before on that hole,\u201d Gamble said. \u201cIt just came right down, rolled right down onto the green and just dropped right in the hole. I didn\u2019t get a chance to see it go in. That\u2019s why it was so unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The eighth hole at the Hampden course is driveable, but you can\u2019t see the hole from the tee box. So while Gamble knew he had hit a good shot, he didn\u2019t know quite how good until his girlfriend, Tonya Quimby, found the ball in the hole. <\/p>\n
\u201cI went down, walked around the green, looked for my golf ball. I was like, it should have been right at the pin,\u201d Gamble said. \u201cLike, it should be right near the pin. I don\u2019t know why it\u2019s not here.\u201d<\/p>\n
He started to think he had hit the ball too far, but asked Quimby to check in the hole just to make sure it wasn\u2019t sitting in the cup. And there it was. <\/p>\n
At first Gamble thought Quimby might be joking, or that the group of college kids playing ahead of them might have left a ball behind. <\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of just sat there and looked at my girlfriend and looked at her son and I was like, did this really just happen?\u201d Gamble said. \u201cI was beyond words.\u201d <\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t like the course superintendent had done himself any favors with the pin placement, either. <\/p>\n
\u201cI put the pin in the front of the green where there\u2019s a pretty good slope,\u201d Gamble said. \u201cI told myself, I was like, well this is gonna be a pretty interesting part for a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it was, at least for those who actually had to putt. Gamble had bogeyed the eighth hole day before with the same pin placement, but saved three strokes Saturday by not having to putt at all. <\/p>\n