Like a perfect hand in bridge, a royal flush in poker, or a four-minute mile, there are milestones in any sport that make heads turn.
Pat Anderson, a resident of Carlyle, had one of these once-in-a-blue-moon moments recently when at Carlyle Golf Club, Anderson sunk a hole-in-one.
"When I hit the ball it was flying nice and straight," said Anderson of the shot. "I saw it hit the green, then it started rolling."
Accompanying Anderson that day was her husband George, who took up the story from that point.
"It hit, bounced, and started rolling," George said. "At first I thought it was going to roll past, but the green had a real hard roll on it towards the hole, and I saw the ball start moving towards the pin."
"I kept expecting it to stop, but it kept inching along," George continued. "Then I hear a 'ping!' when it hit the pin, after that I couldn't see it anymore."
The two stood and stared at the green they say, not sure if what just happened had actually happened.
"I was just staring, wondering where the ball was," Anderson said. "That was when George said to me, "I think it went in!""
"After that I started screaming."
Sure enough, the ball had come to rest at the bottom of the hole.
"I just couldn't believe it," Anderson said. "I was shocked at the whole thing, but I just kept yelling."
"I don't know what was on that day, but she got it in there," George said admiringly. "I almost quit after that. No sense in wasting my time playing against a pro!"
Anderson admits that in the 15 years she has been golfing, she never expected to hit a hole-in-one.
"I am a double-bogie player usually, so it was quite a surprise that I got the shot in," Anderson said. "It was just luck, really."
Anderson's hole-in-one was the first the Carlyle course had seen in two years, the last being scored in 2008.
"I brought her out to the casino for dinner that night," George said. "I was hoping that luck was going to stick around, but it didn't."
"Poor Pat," George said teasingly to his wife. "In the PGA they score a hole-in-one, they get a new car or something. You got a fish dinner!"
"I'm just happy to have gotten it in the hole," Anderson said. "Getting on the plaque at the clubhouse is enough for me. Plus I got to make my granddaughter happy."
The ball that found its way to the hole was a special ball, given to Anderson by her granddaughter.
Emblazoned with an image of Mickey Mouse on it, Anderson made sure to let her granddaughter know the luck the ball brought her.
"I called her up that night to tell her that her ball scored a hole-in-one," Anderson said. "She was just tickled and so proud. She was happy that her gift did something great for me."
"We are going to have to get that ball bronzed or something," George said with a sideways look at his wife. "We'll put it on a trophy maybe. You can't lose that ball, that's for sure!"
Anderson scored the hole-in-one on the third hole of the Carlyle Golf Club. She hit the shot using a driver.
The total distance from the tee-off to the hole is around 145 yards.
