I was having a long rough day
out on the links. The word “mulligan” and “slice” continued to crop up in our
conversation. But then again, I was only 15 years old and didn’t know any
better.
When I walked up to the eighth
hole, I was just in a mood to just let it fly and swing with little concern (unless
my ball went hit someone at the tee box on the second hole.) I pulled out a
7-iron, which for a 134-yard hole was way too much club, even for my skinny
frame. I didn’t care.
I remember staring down at
the ball before swinging, noticing a little crack on it. Didn’t care. I swung.
The ball went straight and
true heading right towards the hole. I was calm on the outside, but inside my
body was jumping for joy.
When the ball hit the ground
it disappeared.
I sighed, thinking at least
my day on the course had been consistent. My golfing buddy at the time was Mike
Gassner (now Michael Gassner, Rancho Cucamonga Court Commissioner), who looked
at me with a sorry face as we walked to the green.
When I got to the green my
ball was nowhere to be seen. Mike and I fanned out behind the green thinking I
hit the ball too far. Why couldn’t I have used an 8 or 9-iron! Getting
impatient, I just naturally walked on the green to tend the flagstick for
Mike’s second shot.
I grabbed the stick and
looked down. It was then I noticed my ball was lodged in the cup with a now
larger crack smiling right up at me. I just shot a hole-in-one on the fly. Tee
to cup.
Needless to say the events
after get a little blurry given this was 42 years ago. But I do remember
running down a hill past the ninth hole to the golf shop screaming about what
just happened. No need to finish my round, I was done for the day.
The gentleman in the golf
shop seemed a little alarmed, given he had this crazy kid running towards him
with ball in hand. I showed him the ugly looking ball, told him some version of
this story, pointed to Mike at the top of the hill as my witness, who kindly
waved to acknowledge the event.
The gentleman in the golf
shop had to figure this nutty story was true and immediately pulled out a small
trophy with a big number “1” that also sported a nice spot to hold the ball.
I’ve told this story a few
times lately, not only because this is still the only hole-in-one in my
sporadic golfing career, but also that all these events occurred at the
Claremont Golf Course. Claremont’s only golf course and one that is closing
after 53 years due to dropping attendance.
I consider this course a
Claremont institution and hope maybe there’s something that can be done to save
it. I’m even willing to throw in free advertising to promote it. Maybe this is
a time the College Consortium can simply step up and do something for the city.
Be a partner. Do the right thing. Invest in the course instead of let it go
brown. Maybe Golden State Water can lower water rates and show they are a
partner too. Hey, anyone can dream.
Maybe as residents of
Claremont we can go out and support our course! Novel concept.
Otherwise, the bean counters
win and the golf course will slowly shut down by the end of the year. It’s hard
for me to imagine another condo development or dormitory on these grounds.
We have a real “Best of” special section today
The COURIER has not published
many special sections highlighting the best places around Claremont to eat,
drink and be merry. Actually, it’s a lot more than that when you consider there
are many other businesses getting recognition too.
It’s easy to see “Best of”
special sections are more common now, as newspapers and websites find it an
effective way to sell advertising. The COURIER obviously sold advertising for
this section.
What has been lost over time
is the voter aspect to this contest. More often than not, it’s possible to buy
your win with a paid ad, or simply have hundreds of winning categories creating
a large pool to solicit each of winner. Even a newspaper located close to us,
simply partnered with a company who specializes in creating these sections, to
then split the revenue.
Doesn’t seem real accurate or
genuine does it?
Our approach at the COURIER
was quite simple. Allow people to vote as many times as they want, so
businesses could spread the word. If customers really like the business, they
will vote. A perfect example is Rocky’s Laundry and Cleaners, who garnered 131
votes from their many customers.
Since a large majority of the
almost 7000 votes were submitted online, it was easy for our staff to vet the
process and find those who wanted to stuff their ballot box. In this day and
age, you can tell how many votes came from a single source, date, time, and use
of incorrect categories (writing one name in all categories counts as a single
vote!)
In other words, the COURIER
took great pride in this contest, made sure the counting was accurate, yet had
an appreciation for the many odd and funny things people would do to show their
enthusiasm.
The results are now released
to the public today, all for your enjoyment.
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