Curt Hocker - golfing beyond the odds

For all the golfers out there, how many of you ever hit a hole in one? I don’t know anyone that has, and I know maybe 100 golfers who have played they game for a combined total of 1,000 years. The closest I personally have ever gotten was 48” on a 125yd par-3. I won a prize in a tournament for it too. But the best part was that 9 golfers were around at the time to see it.

Now I mention that one moment of golf competency for a reason. The odds of getting a hole in one are variable depending on where you look. But going with Golf Digest the following seems accurate:

• Tour player making an ace: 3,000 to 1
  
• Low-handicapper making an ace: 5,000 to 1
  
• Average player making an ace: 12,000 to 1
  
• Average player acing a 200-yard hole: 150,000 to 1
  
• Two players from the same foursome acing the same hole: 17 million to 1
  
• One player making two holes-in-one in the same round: 67 million to 1
  

Average is a tough thing to gauge but generally that’s around 110 for most golfers.

Now imagine getting 5. That’s 5 holes in one in a single week. 2 of them on the same day. And a few were on par-4’s not just par-3s.

I can’t even begin to guess the odds on this. But 15 witnesses and members at the El Paso Golf Club (the country club bar to be exact) can confirm this. Curt Hocker is the golfer that has done this. And no he’s not a pro; he’s an amateur like you and me. Well maybe not me anyway.

It’s just bloody amazing if you ask me. I think it could be a world record, but I don’t know if anyone keeps records on that.

Of course I am sure of one thing. The El Paso Golf Club can’t wait til Hocker is off his streak. Because every time he hits another the Club picks up the tab for drinks on the house (a golf tradition) and I imagine the house is packed every time he goes out for a round these days.