RVC golfer gets 2 holes-in-one

Having dealt with a sore back for weeks and hobbled by a foot injury suffered a few days before, it didn’t take long for Gregory P. Shaughnessy to second-guess his decision to join neighbor Ryan Byrne for a round at Rockville Centre Links on Aug. 27.

“I didn’t feel comfortable from the very first swing,” Shaughnessy said.

Through four holes, Shaughnessy, who usually shoots in the mid-90s, was struggling to the point where he stopped keeping score and decided to put his driver away for the rest of the day.

But on the 5th hole, a par 3 listed at 135 yards, after Byrne and Joe Alduino, both club members, landed their tee shots on the green, Shaughnessy took a bite of his breakfast sandwich, picked up his 7-iron and hit what to that point was by far his best shot of the day. The ball landed on the lip of the cup and dropped in for a hole-in-one.

“Everyone started whooping and hollering,” said Shaughnessy, who lives across the street from Byrne on Yorkshire Road. “The shot felt good, and it looked good all the way. 

“The day took a huge turn for the better,” he added, “but I honestly contemplated not continuing.” 

Byrne and Alduino made sure they captured the historic moment. “I said, ‘We need to take pictures and enjoy this, because it will never happen again,’” Byrne said.

But then, after four more difficult holes, Shaughnessy did the unthinkable. He aced the 10th, using a 9-iron on a hole playing an uncharacteristic 105 yards, about 40 yards shorter than usual. “We saw the ball hit on the ridge just behind the front bunker and kick right,” Byrne said. “That was all we could see from the tee box. When we walked up to the green, we couldn’t find the ball. Greg then walks toward the flag, looks down and starts laughing. He calmly said, ‘It’s in the cup.’”

This time there was more shock than excitement, Shaughnessy said, because nobody could believe what had happened. None of the three golfers, or their two caddies, had ever seen a hole-in-one, let alone two. “Joe wanted a news truck to pull up to the 10th green and do a story on the spot,” he said.

According to Golf Digest, the odds of an average amateur golfer shooting two holes-in-one in the same round are 162 million to 1. In fact, it has only happened three times in PGA Tour history. “Greg is now the most famous guest in Rockville Centre Links history,” Byrne joked.

Usually when someone shoots a hole-in-one, he or she puts the ball in a pocket or the golf bag until it eventually reaches its destiny in a display case. Not in Shaughnessy’s case, however. He lost both balls on bad tee shots on the 6th and 11th holes.

“If we were keeping score, I probably would’ve been in the 110 range,” he said. “It was the best worst day of golf I’ll ever have.”