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Niagara Falls
Thursday, March 28, 2024
NOTL golfer scores his first ace at St. Davids

For a golfer, there is nothing quite like hitting the perfect shot, where everything comes together and the ball goes exactly where you intended it to.

Niagara-on-the-Lake's Mark Mckay experienced that joy – and more – Saturday, when he hit a perfect shot and then watched it roll into the cup for a hole-in-one.

Mckay and three buddies – Hermano Ponte, Bill Christensen and Len Day – were on the seventh hole at St. Davids Golf Club when he recorded his first ace.

“It was a solid 7-iron connection with the ball and straight for a change,” Mckay told The Lake Report.

The hole, about 180 yards on the scorecard, requires a shot over a large gully, to a large, flat green. “It happened so quickly.”

“As a lefty, I tend to slice my shots towards the left on any fairway. The ball came off the club with great loft and was on a direct line heading towards the flag. The ball hit the green with a couple of bounces,” he recalled.

“No issue with backspin on the ball because I could not hit that type of shot if my life depended on it.”

The ball rolled several feet onto the green and right at the flag.

“Then … it disappeared. For a moment I thought it rolled past the pin and to the back of the green, out of sight. Then my golfing buddies starting celebrating confirming they saw it go in the hole,” Mckay said.

“We had a lot of high-fives.”

Pumped up, they walked up the path to the green and could see three balls. “I was still expecting to see mine on the back fringe of the green. I walked to the cup and in the hole was the ball,” he said.

“At that moment it felt absolutely awesome to know I had my first ace, and likely the last.”

The enthusiastic golf partners “all enjoy the game and don’t take it too seriously,” Mckay said.

They get out several times a week to courses in the area, including the NOTL Golf Club, Whirlpool, Queenston, Ussher's Creek and Battlefield.

“We’ve been playing together for about three years and it does definitely keep us sane during the pandemic,” said Ponte.

 

 

 

 

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