How Hard is it to Get a Hole in One?

Have you ever wondered what are the chances of getting a hole-in-one …… read this to find out the hard truth.

Sully's avatarThe Golf Academy

hole in one.jpgWe all know someone whose gotten a hole in one before, or maybe you’re one of them. It almost has a mystical allure to it, especially for those who’ve never had one (I’m one of those people). It’s rare, even for tour professionals to hit a hole in one and even more so for average golfers. But just how hard is it to get a hole in one?

Well, if you’re hoping for one in the near future, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news… According to GolfSmith.com the chances of an amateur golfer hitting a hole in one are around 1 in 12,750. That means you would have to play 12,750 par 3’s until you finally have an average chance at getting an ace.

If you consider that on a “normal” 18-hole course you only play about four par 3’s a round that means it will take…

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Pebble Beach Golf Club

Stuart Taylor's avatarhighlanderimages photography

Pebble Beach Golf Course, Carmel, California.Pebble Beach Golf Links is a golf course on the west coast of the United States, located in Pebble Beach, California.

Widely regarded as one of the most beautiful courses in the world, it hugs the rugged coastline and has wide open views of Carmel Bay, opening to the Pacific Ocean on the south side of the Monterey Peninsula. In 2001 it became the first public course (i.e., open to the general public for play) to be selected as the No.1 Golf Course in America by Golf Digest. Greens fees are among the highest in the world, at $495 (plus $35 cart fee for non-resort guests) per round in 2008.

Four of the courses in the coastal community of Pebble Beach, including Pebble Beach Golf Links, belong to the Pebble Beach Company, which also operates three hotels and a spa at the resort. The other…

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Results – Kota Permai – 10th February 2016

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It’s alway a pleasure to return to Kota Permai Golf & Country Club, one of the best courses in the KL area by far. We took the opportunity to take advantage of the special Chinese New Year Golf Package for this week’s Loose Cannons game with 20 players making up 5 full flights. We got off on two tee boxes at shortly after 8:30 am under beautiful conditions. It was humid and overcast for the first half of the game then it got hotter as the sky cleared. The course was in great condition and the greens fast and with the slopes on some causing a few players to run off the green having successfully reached it! We were back in the clubhouse between 1pm and 1:30pm for lunch on the terrace. Thank you to Barry Cousins who is a member at the club and made the golf booking and the lunch arrangements.

Results

The course played a little harder than it usually does, probably reflective of the tough greens with only two players bettering their handicaps. The winner by a large margin this week with a marvellous round of 97 for 43 points was Glenn Wombwell …. well done Glenn …. cut 4! Runner up was Martin Walsh with best gross of the day of 89 and 37 points. Full results below :

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Results – Kinrara Golf Club – 2nd February 2016

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This seemingly straightforward and innocuous little Par 71 course can sometimes eat you up …. and this was one of those days with 20 Loose Cannons failing to conquer this course. Yes it’s a tight little course but today somehow balls were being lost left, right and even centre. The rough was deep and soft and just seemed to eat up balls …. even the fairway seemed to somehow magically camouflage balls making it very difficult to find them. The weather was good and predictably hot and humid as the morning wore on. The greens were in fairly good shape …. the problem appeared to be in reaching them!

We decided to play off the blue tees which is normally a good choice at this course as the white tees are normally located on the red tee boxes making it rather short on many holes. However today we found many of the blue tees were at the back where the black tees normally are making this even tougher than it needed to be.

We managed to tee off from two separate tee boxes and most were finished by around 1pm – then we headed to lunch at Rein Li Tan’s recommended restaurant Restoran Kari Kepala Ikan Tiga– in the darkest depths of Puchong Utama. Some people had problems finding the restaurant and one member didn’t make it due to navigational problems. The consensus (at least on our table) that the food was not that great with the exception of the fish and it also seemed to be a real struggle to get a cold beer …… so perhaps not worth the hike from Kinrara.

Results

The scores today certainly reflected how tough the course was playing with only two members breaking 100. Of note Bernard Romahn managed to score only two points more than the number of clubs in his bag ….. and he actually had the proper number of clubs in his bag this week! The winner today with a measly 32 points was Mike Smith with a gross of 101. Mike is cut 4 for this wonderful performance! Runner ups were the French duo of  Charles Blanchet (97 for 31 points) and Roger Surieux (104 for 31 points). Best gross of the day was Stuart Taylor with 95. Full results below :

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Results – Staffield Country Resort – 26th January 2016

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Report

Some lessons learned.

  1. More than 6 flights is difficult to manage. 6 flights will be the max in future.
  2. Latecomers disrupt registration. 7:30 is 7:30…..LATESTIn future registration will not be delayed to accommodate late comers.
  3. Slow play needs to be addressed. If you start to fall behind speed up your play. Keep in touch with the flight in front.

Having got that off my chest I can report that 27 LC’s teed it up at Staffield in cool conditions that gradually warmed up as the round progressed, but with relatively low humidity and a strong breeze that was a full club in the later stages, the conditions could not have been better. The course was in good nick as usual at Staffield; the only complaint registered was a preponderance of unrepaired footprints in some bunkers. This of course is not something Staffield ground staff can control. It’s a Malaysian golf disease that is catered for in the KLLC local rulesRead them!

When choosing a venue for any of our games I make a point of asking if they have any other large groups or competitions registered at the same time. Staffield told me that they had a 12 flight comp at 12:30 but made no mention of the 10 to 12 flight group with a 08:30 tee time. (They claimed that this was a later registration and were slotted in AFTER us.) Despite protests by yours truly this restricted us to a one tee start. This, together with some slow play by one of our flights, ensured that the last flight didn’t complete their round until about 2pm………6 hours after the first flight teed off.

This results in disruption of the lunch with the early flights having to wait a long time for the late comers to arrive. Fortunately yesterday the first 9 lunch takers (flights 1,2 & 3)ordered their grub and kept a separate bill. Good thinking guys. 

The WINNER of the January Trophy was Andrew Robinson with 93 for 42 points. Second place was Ted Parslow with 83 for 38 points and the lowest gross was a magnificent 76 by Jason Winter which included a double on the first after driving OB. Bernhard Romahn carded an 82 for 41 points but was disqualified for carrying 15 clubs in his bag; a breach of the rules that he has previously been cautioned about. We play to the rules guys.

The full results are attached.

Lunch was at East of Highway with 21 attendees but due to the long delay between the first and last arrivals (almost two and a half hours) many had eaten and left before the presentation. Not very satisfactory but understandable.

Next week’s game is at Kinrara GC which is a TP course

The following week is tentatively Kota Permai subject to confirmation of their CNY package and availability. (Yes, we will play on Tuesday if KP is available.)

Results

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Results – Seri Selangor – 19th January 2016

With the last minute withdrawal of Hans Berger with an ear infection (get well soon Hans) and Greg Sturgess lost but getting closer, 18 LC’s teed it up on a pleasant morning at Seri Selangor with Greg joining the fun at the 4th hole. The course was generally in good nick with fastish greens that were a little variable in speed making them very challenging. The down side was a lot of on-course drainage work and the White Tees being on the ladies tee box on all but one hole. Having said that it is indeed sad to note that, despite playing from the girls tees, only 3 players managed to better than their handicap. Seri Selangor proved once again to be a serious challenge for most of us.
Lunch was taken at Sun PJ Seafood with 15 attendees. The food was good but the steamed fish; although very good, was bloody expensive at RM234 for the 2 dishes!!! But everyone enjoyed the meal washed down with copious bottles of beer. And BTW, the prawns were awesome. Sorry to have to tell you that Hans!!!!

Results

The winner with a gross 92 for 38 points was Greg Mackley. Well played Greg. You are cut 4 strokes. Runner-up o.c.b. was Mahmud Mohamed with 88 for 37 points which included an eagle at the last and the lowest gross was 84 by Andrew Chez. Full results are attached.

Results – Nilai Springs – 12th January 2016

 

We had a large turnout today at Nilai Springs with 24 players starting from the Mango nine then playing the Island nine on the return. Weather was hot and sunny and with the recent spell of dry weather the course was fairly dry but still in pretty good condition. With a 6 flight start on one nine and a few slower Korean players up front it was a slow round but we eventually all finished and then took lunch at the East of Highway Restaurant on the return to KL. We had 21 showing up for lunch so we had two tables at the restaurant – one of the best turnouts in a long while.

Welcome to a new player today, introduced by Mike Smith – Greg Sturgess.

Results
 
The winner today with 38 points and a gross of 89 was Tony Morris (cut 4) and the runner up was Jeff Pearce with 37 points (gross 92) Best gross of the day was Andrew Cseszko with 85. Full results below:

 

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Kuala Lumpur Loose Cannons (KLCC) – Rules

For reference here is the latest updated list of rules to be used for all Loose Cannons games :

Kuala Lumpur Loose Cannons (KLLC)
Rules
1. KLLC play strictly to the Rules of Golf as published by the R&A and the USGA except as allowed by KLLC Local Rules published below.
Handicap
1. Each new player to join KLLC will play his FIRST game off his official USGA Handicap or his DECLARED Handicap. The Convenor may, at his discretion, assign a handicap.
2. New players will have to play 5 games to qualify for a KLLC handicap. New players cannot ‘win’ until they have completed the 5 mandatory games.
3. The WINNER each week will have his h/c cut by 4 strokes. Should he win his next KLLC game his h/c will be cut 8 strokes.
4. All other players that week will have 1 stroke added to their h/c up to a maximum of 3 strokes above their current USGA h/c as published by the KLLC official Handicap Monitor.
5. Handicaps are calculated according to the USGA Handicapping Formula. {(Adjusted gross score – USGA Course Rating) x 113 / USGA Slope Rating} will be used with a cap of 36.
6. Handicaps will be maintained using USGA approved software held and operated by the Handicap Monitor. Adjusted handicaps will be published each week.
Competition
1. Each week’s competition will be played on a Tuesday morning with a 08:00 starting time. Play will normally be from the WHITE TEES and scored to the Stableford System. Each player is responsible for returning his correct (adjusted) GROSS score to the appointed scorer. The scorer is responsible for returning a legible and correct card recording each players Gross and Stableford Points.
2. The game on the last Tuesday of each month will be played for a Trophy. This will be referred to as the Trophy Game.
3. Flights will be randomly selected or assigned by the Convenor except for the Trophy Game when flights will be by ascending Handicap Order.
Fee, Pot & Kitty
1. Each player will pay the Fee consisting of the cost of the days golf (varies from club to club) plus RM30 for the Pot.
2. The WINNER will receive RM50 from the Pot.
3. RM5 will be transferred to the Kitty to cover administrative costs and the cost of the monthly Trophy.
4. The balance of the Pot will go towards the Lunch.
5. At the end of the year the Kitty  Balance (less a min. of RM100) will be used to partly offset the cost of the Christmas Lunch.
KLLC Local Rules
1. BUNKERS. A ball lying in a footprint of other depression left by a preceding flight may be lifted and dropped within the Bunker, at the nearest point of relief, not nearer the hole, without penalty. The player must notify his playing partners of his intent to implement this local rule BEFORE lifting his ball.
2. PLUGGED BALL in FAIRWAY. A ball which, in the opinion of the flight, cannot be found because it is judged to be PLUGGED in the FAIRWAY, can be replaced at the point at which the flight judges the ball to have struck the FAIRWAY, without penalty.

 

3. PREFERRED LIE. A ball coming to rest on a closely mown area through the green may be marked, lifted, cleaned and placed within one card length of the mark, on a closely mown area, not nearer the hole. Take Note that a player can only replace his ball ONCE. As soon as the ball is released and comes to rest it is then IN PLAY. Rule 20-4.

Results – KGSAAS – 5th January 2016

 

The first game of 2016 was held at KGSAAS with 19 players in 5 flights teeing off on the Sultan and Alam Shah 9’s under the command of our new Convenor, Mike Smith. The weather was good with clear skies making it rather hot and sticky by the time we concluded at around 1pm. The course was in good condition and I didn’t hear any complaints from anyone – if we were to be picky there were a couple of greens under repair with some patches but otherwise the greens were very good.
We took lunch at the excellent Pantai Seafood which is great value for money and with the RM50 added into the pot from the winner (thanks Ray!) who wasn’t there to collect it and the added bonus of Alan Holgate buying the beers to celebrate his 80th Birthday it was a rather cheap lunch. Many thanks Alan for your kind drinks purchase – we all look forward to the Big 90th Bash!
Results
The winner today was Ray Funnell with 39 points and a gross of 95 and the runner up was Stuart Taylor with 38 points and the best gross of the day of 84. Under the new “Social Golf Rules” Ray will be cut by 4 strokes and all other players will go up 1. Full results below :
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