Million dollar hole in one

I played a foursome scramble on Friday with some guys here at work to support Heroes Night Out:  http://heroesnightout.org/event-registration/?regevent_action=register&event_id=1111.  Two of the four in my group were absolute beginners.  At the raffle at the end of the event, one of the guys won the chance to take a shot at a million dollar hole in one.  Since it was a 192 yard par-3, and I don't think he could hit driver over 150 if he took 10 swings at it, he wanted me to take the shot for him.  In front of a huge crowd, they rushed me out to get my clubs and the armed guards were waiting for me at the tee box.  They stopped the golf and radioed back to the clubhouse play-by-play.  Man, talk about pressure.  At first it was so surreal, I couldn't get nervous.  Then, once I got into my pre-shot routine, I started thinking about it trying to visualize how to get the ball into the hole.  I figured if there was ever a good time to put a good swing on it, it was then.  Needless to say, it didn't happen, but it was really fun and I doubt I'll ever get a chance to try that again.  I don't think I've ever hit a mid-iron so far long and left in my life.

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Originally Posted by Beachcomber 

Why did they have armored guards at the tee?  Did they have a million dollars cash sitting on the box? LOL

Probably a contract requirement for confirmation and to increase the pressure and odds in favor of the insurance company.

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Originally Posted by Golfingdad 

Funny ... I played in a charity scramble on Friday as well (Central California Alzheimer's Association) and they also had a million dollar hole in one raffle.  They held that raffle prior to the tournament, then after the guy checked in with his winning ticket, he disappeared.  The guy in the pro shop said he looked really nervous, so apparently he was so scared he went and hid.  They had to draw another name ... he didn't come close, but at least he gave it a shot.  (ours was 165 yards)

I understand.  There's a lot of pressure for some reason because you know even if you hit it to two feet, people aren't going to be impressed.  I don't get flustered by that kind of stuff.  I just wanted to make a good swing.  I make a lot of good swings that don't result in a perfect shot, but only a good shot.  I walk away feeling like I took something away from it and people looking on, especially beginners, just aren't impressed.  Kind of like how Poulter chunks one in a bunker and then knocks the next one stiff to save par.  People boo the chunk without thinking of how good he is on average.  Same with Webb Simpson's shank in the Ryder Cup.  Dude won the US Open, people see him shank and think, if only for a brief moment, that they could compete on that level.  The difference between really good players and those guys isn't how similar they look on the normal days, it's how elite they are when it counts.  Somehow they can find a place in their mind where they can just will the ball into the hole when it really counts.  I don't have that... yet anyway.  It was fun to fly a 6-iron over the green when the pin is sitting 192 front-center.  I had so much adrenaline going and just pounded a screamer 210 on the fly.  No one cared even though not a lot of people can do that.

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Originally Posted by Valleygolfer 

Wait are you saying I can't hang with Web Simpson? I would like to think I could have hit a decent shot. Sometimes the more attention I have, the better shot. Some of worse and dumber shots are when I just think some one is looking only to look up after duffing it to see that they are not even paying attention.

I went bowling with my family once and my dad got his finger stuck in the ball on his roll, slipped and fell on his ass.  No one was paying attention except me and I only caught it out of the corner of my eye.  Didn't say a word and he strutted back like nothing happened.  My favorite dumb shots are when I'm teaching someone how not to chunk it and then I flat-out chunk it.  I then end with something diffusive like "golf is complicated".