“Yes, I was wearing my daughter’s pink scarf when I got my hole-in-one.”
For about 12 years, a group of men from our church took an annual golf trip we dubbed The New Covenant Invitational. The goal was fellowship, and golf was simply our preferred method of bringing guys together.
The trip was always in late January around North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which meant the weather could be anything from 65° and sunny to 30° and snowing.
We took our chances.
Sometime in the late 2000s, we arrived at Rivers Edge Golf Club (see the Worth the Trip section below) on a clear but cold morning. Temperatures were in the 40s when we teed off, but it wasn’t long before the sleet started falling and the temperature started dropping.
Since there was pride and bragging rights on the line, most of us pressed on.
Two guys, however, decided to bail on the round to go see the latest Rambo movie.
To this day, more stories are told about that round than any other.
One guy showed up wearing nothing but thin khakis and a windbreaker, only to discover after the round that his cart partner had an extra coat in the car the entire time. Think Dumb and Dumber, but with fewer layers and significantly worse decision-making.
And then there was Wayne.
When Wayne stepped onto the tee box of the par-3 5th at River’s Edge, it was probably 34° and the sleet was coming down pretty steadily. But there was a man on the course that day who knew better than to let miserable weather get in the way of a good promotion.
He had set up a table offering golfers a chance to win some pretty good prizes for a $10 donation to a healthcare organization. Hit the green, and you got a sleeve of cheap golf balls. Make a hole-in-one, and you won $1,000 to the pro shop and were entered into a drawing for a trip to Las Vegas.
Like everyone else that day, we looked at the conditions, our collective skill level, and the ridiculously long odds of actually making an ace.
And then it happened.
I was on an adjacent hole when I heard screams coming from the 5th tee box. I looked over and saw four grown men jumping around, flapping their arms like eagles soaring through the trees and hugging each other like their favorite team had just won the championship.
Through the cold, the sleet, and wearing just about every piece of clothing he could find in his truck...including his young daughter’s pink scarf...Wayne had made a hole-in-one.
Back in the clubhouse, someone eventually gave him a hard time about the scarf.
If you know Wayne, you know he's great with a quick, and witty reply.
“Yes, I was wearing my daughter’s pink scarf when I got my hole-in-one.”
My guess is that we'd all throw on a pink scarf if that helped our chances of doing the same.
Then someone remembered the old guy collecting donations...
“Did you give the guy $10?”
Nope.
I'm pretty sure Wayne keeps $10 in his bag since that day in case that old guy shows up again.
No one remembers what we shot that day, but stories of pink scarfs, sleet, and an unlikely ace will stay with us forever.
*Cover photo of No. 5 at Rivers Edge from GolfDigest.com