by Holes-in-one on par 4s are very rare, but that hasn’t been the case lately at Tatnuck Country Club.
Lauren Birkbeck aced the par-4 fifth hole on July 31. Greg Jouki made a hole-in-one on hole #5 on Friday, August 30. Incredibly, Patrick Hanlon He also took 5th place the next day, August 31.
That makes three holes-in-one on the par-4 fifth hole in a month and two in two days. You could almost say Tatnuck had aces galore.
“I feel like a pioneer,” Birkbeck said.
“I guess good things come in threes,” Hanlon said.
“It’s unreal,” Jouki said. “I don’t know if it was the flag placement. I don’t know if it was the weather, but three holes-in-one in one month, it’s crazy, on the same hole and on a par 4.”
The aces are the first on the fifth hole since Ryan Harper Shrewsbury’s Harper hit a driver into the cup in 2021. Tim Bishop, who was head pro at the time, said Harper was the only member the club knew of who had an ace on the fifth hole. Tatnuck’s bartender Dave Nelson I had one about 15 years before this, and a member of the grounds crew had one many years ago. There is no record of anyone else having done so.
The holes-in-one were firsts for Birkbeck, Jouki and Hanlon, so none of them have yet made a par-3. Of course, making a hole-in-one on a par-4 is much more impressive.
Hanlon, 35, from Worcester, is the best golfer of the three. He has a handicap of 6.7, while Birkbeck, 37, from Paxton, has a handicap of 26.8, and Jouki, 33, from Paxton, has a handicap of 25. But they will always be linked for their exploits on the course.
A hole-in-one on a par 4 is 3 under par and is called an albatross or a double eagle. According to the Double Eagle Society, the odds of getting an albatross range from 1 million to 1 to 6 million to 1, but that includes a 2 on a par 5. The odds of the average golfer getting a hole-in-one on a par 3 are 12,000 to 1.
Birkbeck only started playing golf seriously two years ago, and she and her husband Robert joined Tatnuck this year. She admitted she had never heard of albatrosses until she photographed one.
The women’s league was postponed due to an approaching storm, so Birkbeck and Liza Laurent They decided to play as many holes as they could on their own before the bad weather arrived.
On hole 5, Birkbeck hit a PXG ball with his PXG 0211 driver from the red tees, about 227 yards from the cup.
Even before her ball hit the cup, she said it felt like the best shot of her life.
His ball landed a few inches to the left of the hole and rolled into the cup. Birkbeck and Laurent couldn’t believe their eyes.
“We were high-fiving and fist-bumpin’,” Birkbeck said, “and we got closer and we were like, ‘Did that really just happen?’ When we got to the hole, we were like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ We were yelling.”
The women in her golf league joked that they were going to start calling her “Al,” which is short for albatross. They might also call her the Queen of the Fifth Green.
After his round, Tatnuck CC leads the pros PJ Breton Birkbeck informed her that she was believed to be the only woman to have shot a par 4 at Tatnuck.
“It was really great,” she said. “It motivates me to improve my golf game and keep going.”
Thanks to the hole-in-one insurance, none of the three had to buy drinks for the members afterwards.
Hanlon, a Worcester police officer, has been playing golf for about 15 or 20 years and joined Tatnuck this year.
From 257 yards out, Hanlon took an 80 percent swing with his Callaway driver and curved his Titleist Pro V1 from left to right. His ball landed on the front of the green and rolled up to the upper level and into the cup.
Hanlon was playing in the Petersham Cup member-member tournament, so was one of 16 people playing on neighbouring holes who saw his ball fall into the hole.
“The cart girl saw it too and she gave me a hug,” Hanlon said.
Hanlon was playing with his brother, Mast37, who made a hole-in-one on the sixth hole at Green Hill when he was about 12 years old.
Jouki only started playing golf three or four years ago, and this is his second year as a member of Tatnuck. Jouki also hit his shot with his Titleist TSR2 driver straight to the fifth green from 257 yards, but he couldn’t find his Titleist ball. So he started walking back to his cart and said to his playing partner: Brian D’Andreato give him a bogey. After D’Andrea put out of play, he found Jouki’s ball in the back of the cup.
“Total and utter shock,” Jouki said.
He didn’t jump for joy or give D’Andrea a high five.
“I was very calm and in disbelief,” he said.
Monday, Jess Eckström Tatnuck made a hole-in-one on the second hole, a 170-yard par 3. It was the third ace in four days at Tatnuck. It was the third hole-in-one on a par 3 at the club this year. That means Tatnuck has made as many aces on par 4s as he has on par 3s this year.
“I think it’s crazy,” Breton said. “I think we should play the lottery.”
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—Contact Bill Doyle at bcdoyle15@charter.net. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @BillDoyle15.
This article was originally published on Telegram & Gazette: Tatnuck Country Club holds three par-4 aces in hand for a month
