When Bob Crick aced the second hole at the Juan de Fuca par 3 golf course, neither he nor his playing partner realized at first what had happened.
“I thought it had gone by the hole and I couldn’t see it,” Crick said of the Aug. 12 shot. “We couldn’t find the ball, but it was in the cup!”
The 73-year-old lifelong golfer never thought he’d get a hole-in-one with the shot, which was straight over a wide water hazard, his old nemesis, he said, laughing.
“I was hoping to make the green!”
But clear the water he did, and he sunk the ball for his first ever hole-in-one.
He was so excited that he pulled out his cellphone immediately and called both his wife and his longtime golfing partner in Calgary.
“In all my years of golfing, I’ve never seen (a hole-in-one) before. There’s lots of golfers that never see one, let alone get one themselves,” he said. “It’s very, very exciting.”
The feat was made all the more impressive by Crick’s recent return to the course. After having surgery to have both knees replaced, he was out of the game for five years. He’d only played a handful of games before last week’s round.
Crick, who moved with his wife last November to the Songhees retirement park on the border of View Royal, joked that Juan de Fuca is quickly becoming his favourite course.
His advice to other golfers awaiting their first holes-in-one?
“Just keep golfing, and hope for the best!”
acowan@goldstreamgazette.com