By TONY CHERBY/For the Sentinel
BUENA VISTA — According to PGA.com, “the odds for making a hole in one in golf” are these: “Tour player: 3,000 to 1, Low-handicap player: 5,000 to 1, Average/Weekend player: 12,500 to 1.” I’ll leave it up to my readers to decide where all but a few of us belong.
All I know for sure is that as long as I’ve been chronicling the mayhem and mischief that our gang of misfits and merry makers in the Ocean City Tuesday Senior Golf League have been up to in “The Modern Era” (since I’ve been around), we’ve only had three aces, the first in 2015 by Tom Brunneband.
But now, after 11 years, we’ve seen two in 40 days. Greg Harlan got his first ever at hole 12 on July 8. And this week, on hole 5, Captain Dave Carter, our erstwhile “League Leader in Perpetuity,” also got his first ace. DC did it on 5.
Holes 5 and 12 have a lot in common. They are shorties but diabolically designed in 1957 by father and son architects William and David Gordon when they carved Buena Vista Country Club out of the South Jersey Pinelands. And Gordon the elder is a blueblood in the history of golf in America. He built courses with Donald Ross, who apprenticed under one of the most legendary figures in the history of the game: Scotland’s Old Tom Morris of St. Andrews. St. Andrews is where it all began. Real golf aficionados (aka, dweebs) like me drool over stuff like that, but I know it puts the rest of yinz to sleep. But think about it: Buena Vista C.C. was designed by Old Tom Morris’s “grandson.” That gives me the chills.
Also, both 5 and 12 feature greens protected, front and sides, by deep bunkers you do not want to visit. A “good” shot on them can be a layup in front, between those trenches. Then you can chip on and, unless you foozle one off your ankle, you can at least count on a bogey. And a bogey won’t ruin your day. Also, in our almost 5 years of camping out at Buena Vista C.C., I do not recall once when the holes on 5 and 12 were visible. There’s a good reason why 5 is called “Thread the Needle,” and 12 is “In That Bunker Again…”
Carter reports using a 7-iron to a flag about 115 yards away. Like Harlan’s shot, no one in his foursome, which included opponent Chris Ramsay along with Frank Coppenbarger and Mark Lapham in the other buggy, knew where the ball went, as they were firing to a blind pin behind a steep bunker. Finally, they looked in the last place it could have gone. See, in golf, there are a gazillion things that can go wrong when you manage to hit a ball, but only one thing can go perfect: our Holy Grail, a hole-in-one. And he did it with a shiny orange ball of all things. Last week, he used a dull gray Nike. They haven’t made golf stuff since 2016 so now we know that, like me, Dave uses any kind of ball he finds in the bushes. This time, it was the right one.
Two aces in 40 days is remarkable. Greg and Dave have ensured that our 2026 campaign will go down in our 35-year history of play as perhaps the most notable season. Chris Ramsay witnessed both aces, and I was home eating Rice Krispies when they happened. If you are a superstitious golfer, stay away from me and recruit Chris for your foursome.
Another interesting coincidence is that Tony “The Collector” Cornell, who’s on the IR list after going to the garage to get some new hardware installed, was a sure bet to win closest to the pin for the season on 5 until this. He’d come a mere 7.25” from the hole on 5 on the same day Harlan got his ace on 12. We’d almost engraved his name on the trophy. What matters is that Tony is doing fine, already taking walks down the street. We wish him well. No one sucks in those 6 bucks for prize money every week like TC. Just don’t ask him to make change for a $20. That’s the kiss of death.
What Tony Cornell’s near-miss on 12 has in common with this little opera is that just before Carter jarred his tee shot, just like Tony, Rich Hawthorne was a good bet to win the trophy for the best pin win all year, this time on 5. He’d come a mere 2 feet from the Promised Land for the best we’ve seen there in 2026 – for about 27 minutes. Then along came Dave. So, like Tony, Sir Richard now has a “close but no cigar” story to cry about over that bag of burnt pretzels they share every week.
In another notable highlight, Bill Mackey, a “new” guy who joined us about two months ago (this was only his sixth outing with us), is off and running. Thanks to firing his personal best for the year, he’s now made his first mark in our match-play wars. He owns the lowest net score we’ve see this season, a sparkling 64.
Here are the results of all our matches: Mayson 4, Franks 0; Harlan 3, DeLanzo 1; Coppenbarger 4, Lapham 0; Ramsay 4, Carter 0; Hawthorne 4, Gahr 0; Hollerbach 4, Bill Wright 0; Greene 4, Curtis 0; Baird 4, Gardner 0; Van Zandt 2, Hurston 2; Lyons 4, Salgado 0; Borucki 2, England 2; Mackey 4, Ghost 0.
WEEKLY WINNERS
Low Gross (83): Greg Harlan, Mark Lapham
Low Net (64): Bill Mackey
Fewest Putts (28): Mark Lapham
Birdies: Frank Coppenbarger, Greg Harlan, Kevin Greene, Chris Ramsay, Stan Borucki, Rich Hawthorne
Most Pars (10): Frank Coppenbarger
Most Bogies (13): Ralph DeLanzo, Tom Gahr
Closest to the Pins:
No. 5: Dave Carter ACE
No. 8: Bill Gardner 15’7”
No. 12: Rich Hawthorne 2’
No. 17: Dane Mayson 9’4”
