Hole in One - Do You Buy Drinks?

[dennyjones]

Maybe it's the curmudgeon in me but I'd only buy for my group, if...

[DAK]

I’ll let you know if and when it happens. Need that hole in one first! 

[RussUK]

14 hours ago, Mr Puddle said:

I can't believe that the poll is leaning to "NO". I very much suspect Americans and Canadians must be meaner than the Brits. It is traditional that anyone who gets a whole in one buys everyone a drink in the club house. You can even get insurance to cover you for this. Honestly, it disgusts me that any golfer would choose to do otherwise 

I know two guys who have got aces. Neither bought the clubhouse a drink and not one person complained or told them they must buy everyone a drink, just a lot of slaps on the back and "Well done's". Yes it may be a "tradition" but it isn't mandatory.

If you are disgusted that people choose to not buy a drink for an entire clubhouse then thats fine, you are entiltled to your opinion no matter how outdated it may be to many people.

[RustUK]

I know someone who bought a round of drinks thinking he had a hole in one, and then discovered it wasn't actually a hole in one. 🙄😂

[nolookpass]

buddy got a hole in one last year whilst we were in an outing. There were 144 golfers, so we kept it to ourselves. Went to the bar at our course afterwards and he bought.

 

In retrospect, it may have been cheaper for him to buy at the outing..

[jetsknicks1]

19 hours ago, Mr Puddle said:

I can't believe that the poll is leaning to "NO". I very much suspect Americans and Canadians must be meaner than the Brits. It is traditional that anyone who gets a whole in one buys everyone a drink in the club house. You can even get insurance to cover you for this. Honestly, it disgusts me that any golfer would choose to do otherwise 

Disgusted seems a bit strong. If I ever get one I will definitely hook up my playing partners with lunch and drinks but I’m not going to drop a few hundred dollars on drinks for a roomful of people just because they think I hav to.

[DAK]

Agreed

[Papa Steve 55]

A few years ago a buddy called and asked if I could be an emergency fill in for his team in an outing that was going out in a 1/2 hour. I made it. got an ace on the 17th. 135 guys and I did not know one of them. I passed.

[Mr Puddle]

On 5/14/2019 at 8:24 AM, RussUK said:

I know two guys who have got aces. Neither bought the clubhouse a drink and not one person complained or told them they must buy everyone a drink, just a lot of slaps on the back and "Well done's". Yes it may be a "tradition" but it isn't mandatory.

If you are disgusted that people choose to not buy a drink for an entire clubhouse then thats fine, you are entiltled to your opinion no matter how outdated it may be to many people.

Aaahhh, I notice you are from Yorkshire 😄

[DaveP043]

I think its situational.  At my home club, we contribute a buck to the "Ace fund" and that money goes to pay for the drinks.  Basically, we have Hole in One Insurance.  At a public course, or at an outing, I think that buying drinks for your own group would be appropriate.  

An interesting one happened to me during our interclub league play.  We play 6 players at home, 6 away, so there are 3 Fourball matches at each club.  We have food and drinks after the matches, and we all share in paying the tab that is run up at our home club.  That's right, we pay for the consumption at the home club, even if we play away.  So about 18 months ago, I ace the 17th while playing away, at a club really near my home.  Their captain asks me if I'm buying drinks for the whole team and everyone else around, I suggest that its the home team's responsibility to pick up the tab for whatever happens in the matches.  I knew the captain reasonably well, it was all done mostly in jest.  As it worked out, they often leave their clubhouse in favor of a local tavern, where the drinks are cheaper.  So I drive home before I have too much at the golf club, and my wife (the sober driver) and I met their team at the tavern, and I paid for drinks for the first hour or two.  I never saw the bill, Mary Anne paid it

[Double Mocha Man]

I was a young pup at 21 years of age when I logged my first and only hole-in-one.  It was the final hole on my course and the head pro was on the adjacent practice range and witnessed it.  At dusk.  Well, he was more excited than I was and he ushered me into the clubhouse grill room where there were about 20 golfers sitting at the bar.  At the time I was a non-drinker.  Everyone started shouting that I needed to buy them a round of drinks.  Young and innocent I thought I was being scammed.  I didn't know the protocol.  I did not buy the drinks and headed home.

Now I realize my faux pas.  So, all my friends know, when I get that next hole-in-one, I'm buying drinks for all, including anyone nearby, on the range, in the parking lot, mowing the practice putting green, in the bathroom, driving by.  I have to make up for my original sin.

I may also get out the credit card, call up my old course (it was in Hawaii) and buy drinks for anyone at the bar.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Double Mocha Man

[dennyjones]

On 5/13/2019 at 2:22 PM, dennyjones said:

Maybe it's the curmudgeon in me but I'd only buy for my group, if...

We'll I was wrong.. They bought for me! But... It didn't count.. 19th hole! 

Edited May 21, 2019 by dennyjones

[Double Mocha Man]

I look at it this way:   How many holes-in-one will you have in your lifetime?  One, if you're lucky.  $300-$400 on good drinks (plus tips) for everyone, amortized over your golf career, comes to about $6 per year.  You can afford it.  Hell, it's less than one new driver!  And you'll enjoy the adulation and good cheer of your buddies in the grill room far more than that rare 295 yard launching of the ball off that new driver.

[Beastie]

Our club has a decent bottle of Whisky in the cellar. Get a hole in one and you can use it for drinks in the clubhouse. Then just replace the bottle with something of similar quality for the next lucky golfer.

[ElWagonne]

I did and my group pulled the okie-doke on me lol.  Back story, we have an annual trip where if anyone gets a hole in one, everybody on the trip pays $50.  Fast forward I get one and everybody pays me, but when I went to get a round at the golf course for everybody, they conspired to want to get their round at the cigar lounge we were going to later.  So my round of beers turns into a round of scotches and cognacs I'd never heard of.  Oh well.......

 

[RussUK]

14 hours ago, Mr Puddle said:

Aaahhh, I notice you are from Yorkshire 😄

We are not tight with our money....... just careful.

[lastings]

Feel free to not buy the drinks, It's your choice.   But, insulting the golf gods typically doesn't work out too well.   They tend to be a spiteful group.  

[David in FL]

15 minutes ago, lastings said:

Feel free to not buy the drinks, It's your choice.   But, insulting the golf gods typically doesn't work out too well.   They tend to be a spiteful group.  

True dat!