I told Grahame (BushBaby) I insisted on posting details and photos from the hole-in-one the old rascal managed to card when we played at Las Aromas on February 3rd. It was a cool experience for me to witness a HIO, I had never been present to see one made.
For non-golfers: Grahame got a hole-in-one!!
For golfers, it went like this:
We left POP that morning around 7:30 am, and it immediately started raining as we headed toward the Las Aromas course in Santiago. I'm not an early-morning person and this didn't help my disposition at that hour to be on the road to play golf in the rain. But no problem....rain golf is better than no golf - we'll do what we have to do. We crested the rise through the Altamira tunnel and as we headed down into the Cibao, the weather started to look better. Unfortunately Hillbilly wasn't able to join us that day, so Grahame and I set out on the course as a twosome. The rain was gone. We even debated whether to take a caddie or not and decided it might come in handy for the occasional errant shot, not that we intended to make any (!!)
The tee sign on the 3rd hole at Las Aromas indicated 165 yards from the blue tees we were playing from. It is an uphill, fairly narrow par 3, with the green elevated enough from the tee box that one can't see the surface of the green at all. Not much room to the right of the green or you're in the brush and trees, and it slopes severely downhill on the left side - so if you're not on the green or just off of it, you're in for a struggle. Not the kind of hole I usually approach with high expectations.
Doing the mental calculations that golfers must do to attempt to determine the proper club, we estimated the hole would play 180 yards based on the elevation of the green, and the fact there was a breeze into us.
I was first up on the tee and selected a 4 iron, my 180 yard club. It was perhaps my best shot of the day, a nice draw up the narrow slope to the green. The caddie liked it, and I loved it. I was pretty sure I would be on the green. Sweet.
Grahame hit his shot. Just as nice a shot as mine, also with a draw...maybe better based on the caddie's reaction. Caddie said "maybe a hole-in-one!" Not a chance, right?
When we drove the cart up to the back side of the green there was only one ball on the green, not very far from the pin. Nice shot, but who's was it? And where was the other ball? Since Grahame's shot was just that much better looking than my shot, I figured it was Grahame's ball a few feet from the pin and mine must have run off the green somewhere and was sitting just off in the fringe.
As the three of us walked onto the green to look for the other ball, the caddie said "Look in the hole." No chance, right? Like that's going to happen.
But there it was!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course I missed my birdie putt, but Jesus Cristo, Grahame got a hole-in-one!! Very cool to be there for that, I must say. I've never had one, and I think Grahame said it was his first.
And there you have it - GWB's Hole-In-One. Not some dinky little 125 yard par 3 either.
For non-golfers: Grahame got a hole-in-one!!
For golfers, it went like this:
We left POP that morning around 7:30 am, and it immediately started raining as we headed toward the Las Aromas course in Santiago. I'm not an early-morning person and this didn't help my disposition at that hour to be on the road to play golf in the rain. But no problem....rain golf is better than no golf - we'll do what we have to do. We crested the rise through the Altamira tunnel and as we headed down into the Cibao, the weather started to look better. Unfortunately Hillbilly wasn't able to join us that day, so Grahame and I set out on the course as a twosome. The rain was gone. We even debated whether to take a caddie or not and decided it might come in handy for the occasional errant shot, not that we intended to make any (!!)
The tee sign on the 3rd hole at Las Aromas indicated 165 yards from the blue tees we were playing from. It is an uphill, fairly narrow par 3, with the green elevated enough from the tee box that one can't see the surface of the green at all. Not much room to the right of the green or you're in the brush and trees, and it slopes severely downhill on the left side - so if you're not on the green or just off of it, you're in for a struggle. Not the kind of hole I usually approach with high expectations.
Doing the mental calculations that golfers must do to attempt to determine the proper club, we estimated the hole would play 180 yards based on the elevation of the green, and the fact there was a breeze into us.
I was first up on the tee and selected a 4 iron, my 180 yard club. It was perhaps my best shot of the day, a nice draw up the narrow slope to the green. The caddie liked it, and I loved it. I was pretty sure I would be on the green. Sweet.
Grahame hit his shot. Just as nice a shot as mine, also with a draw...maybe better based on the caddie's reaction. Caddie said "maybe a hole-in-one!" Not a chance, right?
When we drove the cart up to the back side of the green there was only one ball on the green, not very far from the pin. Nice shot, but who's was it? And where was the other ball? Since Grahame's shot was just that much better looking than my shot, I figured it was Grahame's ball a few feet from the pin and mine must have run off the green somewhere and was sitting just off in the fringe.
As the three of us walked onto the green to look for the other ball, the caddie said "Look in the hole." No chance, right? Like that's going to happen.
But there it was!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course I missed my birdie putt, but Jesus Cristo, Grahame got a hole-in-one!! Very cool to be there for that, I must say. I've never had one, and I think Grahame said it was his first.
And now the commemorative Hole-In-One photos
Notice that in this shot you can see way back up the cart path to the tee box. From this perspective the blue tees are to the back, right side.
Now, for those of you who haven't played golf with Grahame you may be asking "What's up with those bright red pants!!??"
Well, you don't know the half of it.
Let's just say that he has a flair for fashion while out on the course, so I can't resist the temptation to include some other fine photos of Grahame from some other days on the DR links. This should help explain the red pants at least. (GW, I hope you don't mind me giving away your fashion secrets!!)
At Las Aromas, 1st tee
At Playa Dorada
At Playa Grande. I insisted he dress more normally, er, conservatively for Playa Grande.
He threatened to put on his swim fins and Speedo to hit this shot but the caddie recommended against it.
Random Playa Grande tee box photo, just 'cause we're talkin' golf!
Notice that in this shot you can see way back up the cart path to the tee box. From this perspective the blue tees are to the back, right side.
Now, for those of you who haven't played golf with Grahame you may be asking "What's up with those bright red pants!!??"
Well, you don't know the half of it.
Let's just say that he has a flair for fashion while out on the course, so I can't resist the temptation to include some other fine photos of Grahame from some other days on the DR links. This should help explain the red pants at least. (GW, I hope you don't mind me giving away your fashion secrets!!)
At Las Aromas, 1st tee
At Playa Dorada
At Playa Grande. I insisted he dress more normally, er, conservatively for Playa Grande.
He threatened to put on his swim fins and Speedo to hit this shot but the caddie recommended against it.
Random Playa Grande tee box photo, just 'cause we're talkin' golf!
And there you have it - GWB's Hole-In-One. Not some dinky little 125 yard par 3 either.
