Golfing partners Rebecca Rocker and Linda Fox don’t care what the odds were of each of them making a hole in one on consecutive par threes on Great Waters Reynolds Lake Oconee recently, they were just elated to have the chance to share the joy of the back-to-back aces.
“We love to play together, so it was really something special for us celebrate,” said Rocker, whose ace on the 14th hole at Great Waters was followed by Fox making one on the 17th hole, the two shots executed about 30 minutes apart.
“Not only were we in the same foursome, but we were in the same cart together,” Fox said. “I did not believe what I was seeing.”
Playing with their regular Thursday women’s group at Reynolds Lake Oconee, what they saw was what Rocker called, “two really good golf shots, hit perfectly.”
On the 14th, Rocker used a 9 iron from 109 yards, over water and uphill, into the hole.
At the 17th, Fox used a 9 iron from 90 yards, also over water, into the hole – at least they thought it went into the hole.
“The flagstick was in a shadow, so we couldn’t tell for sure,” Rocker noted. “So one member of our foursome (Mary Joe Thompson) ran around the water to the green and looked in the hole. We all went crazy.”
The odds of the two golfers in the same group making aces in the same round are not specified, either by the National Hole-In-One Registry, or US Hole-In-One. But accepted statistics list several related categories:
Average player making an ace: 12,000 to 1
For two golfers to make a hole in one in the same round: 32,000 to 1
Two players from the same foursome acing the same hole: 17 million to 1
For one golfer making two holes-in-one on two par 3s in a row: 156 million to 1
Also, hole-in-one facts for women:
- 16 percent of holes in one are made by women
- Average age is 55
- Average years of playing is 15
- Average hole length is 111 yards
“It was a thrill more than it was a coincidence,” said Fox, who has lived at Reynolds Lake Oconee since 2005.
The aces were nothing new for Fox, who now has four, or Rocker, who now has three – all at Great Waters.
But, said Rocker, who was born and raised and is still a resident of Eatonton, “This one, I will never forget.”
