Hole in One Ball?

Hello Everyone,

I was just wondering what you are supposed to do with your ball after getting a hole in one?  I assuming you take it out of play immediately (if you want it to be a trophy for you).  What exactly do you write on it with a sharpie?... date, course , distance, club, the word "Ace" in parentheses?  Do you wash the ball first?  I was told by a fellow golfer that you do not wash the ball at all. Leave it as is.  Is there some sort of tradition of doing so, that I am not aware of? Or does it really even matter?

thanks

^^^ Yep. Do what you want.

I've seen 3 of them. One guy wanted those of us in the group to initial the ball and he kept it. The other guy (that had both of the others I've seen) didn't do anything except get the balls out of the hole and tee them up on the next tee box.

Pretty sure if I ever have one I'll do like the second guy and it will end up in the water around the island green where most of my other golf balls are retired.

usually the starts by being set on the kitchen counter or family room table then up on your bedroom bureau, then eventually in the underwear drawer....Great shot.

You can contact some of the companies that manufacture the ball, eyars ago they would send you a certificate, stating the details, date hole # etc etc.

Now a days I'm sure the companies have got too big to really bother.

Private or semi private clubs are a different story they usually acknowledge it some how.

There are any number of companies that have hole in one commemorative plaques....

http://www.greatgolfmemories.com/holeinone1.html#top

In my particular instance, since 1998, whenever I get an eagle, (this includes my hole in one in 2006), I get out a Sharpie and mark it with the date, course, hole number, club(s) used, and distance.

I then place the ball into a golf ball trophy case with 5 shelves holding 5 balls on each shelf.  Currently, seven of the balls are my eagles (including the hole in one), with the other 18 being logo balls from courses I have played or souvenir balls from different places I have traveled (Hawaii, Bahamas, etc.).  I eventually hope to fill up the case with 25 eagles, but at my current rate it would take me to the year 2050, when I would be age 100.  I hope I make it.

(This is not the actual case.)

I didn't keep either of mine.  It was fun making them, but not really earthshaking.

Mine has the Date, Course, and hole number marked on it in sharpie.   The ball is on the bottom level of my logo ball case (keep a logo ball from every course I play) and is sandwiched between the scorecard from the round my hole-in-one came from and the scorecard from my lowest round ever.

Got all 3 of mine mounted on a plaque with the date, course, hole & club etched underneath each. Nothing on the ball itself.

Oh, you want to know? Glad you asked! -

August 22, 1975, Brookledge Golf Course, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, 8th hole, 168 yards, 7 iron

August 3, 1991, Palm Beach Par Three, Palm Beach, Florida, 8th hole, 120 yards, 9 iron (went in on the fly)

May 5, 1992, Binks Forest Country Club, Wellington, Florida, 16th hole, 156 yards, 6 iron

My first is down in the basement sitting in an egg carton with a couple other unique balls (like a PING 2-color ball).  No idea where #2 is.  I suspect I just kept playing it until I lost it or scratched it up enough to toss it in the shag bag.

I have seen people have them mounted.  My parents club (TPC Prestancia) would put the ball on a plaque with the hole map and an engraved plate with your name and date.  If I were to do something with the ball, it would be similar to that.

I take the ball out of play and write the date on it.  I get home put it in a baggie along with the scorecard and pitch it in a larger bag that has the rest of mine in it.  I have made 4.

A slam dunk!!!  That one was probably pretty cool to see. Which out of those was your favorite?

As for me, if I ever hit one (fingers crossed), I would probably take it out of play.  I would then display it and tell anyone that would care to listen to me tell the story over and over again about how I once hit a hole in one

Oh, the first one. I was only 16. It was real dry out & I purposely played short of the green & let it run on (thus 168y 7-iron)...tracked right into the hole ala a Scottish course. I spastically jumped around like a, well, 16-year-old.

The second one, the slam dunk, was pretty cool too. I just held my finish pose for a few seconds while my playing partner went apeshit. It made that loud 'bang' noise you hear when a ball crashes into the pin and the flagstick oscillated back & forth when the ball went in. I just stood there stunned - the ball suddenly disappearing was like, 'Whaaa...?'

The last one, which was only nine months after the second, was almost stupid. The pin was in the back of the green. It landed about 15 feet short of the pin & ran out, then disappeared. I said to the guys I was playing with, 'Did that go in or over the green?' The guy said 'I think that's in.' I then said 'Well it's in or over the back, cuz it disappeared' Then I just laughed & shook my head, knowing it was my second ace in less than a year.

I stuck it back in my pocket, and promptly lost track of which ball of the two already there that it really was, so I set all three aside. I was surprised when the golf course called a few weeks later and said they had an engraved plaque for me. It had a place for a ball, so I put in the shiniest one.