Gilroy
– Touring golf showman Mancil Davis claims to have hit at least
one hole-in-one every year from 1967 to 1987. Gilroy resident Eric
Von Forstmeyer will take the two he’s hit in the past 36 years.
Gilroy – Touring golf showman Mancil Davis claims to have hit at least one hole-in-one every year from 1967 to 1987. Gilroy resident Eric Von Forstmeyer will take the two he’s hit in the past 36 years.
That’s one ace on April 28, 1969 at the old El Rancho Vega nine-hole course in San Jose and one last Thursday, April 14, on the 8th hole at Laguna Seca.
Never mind the taxman, April’s been a pretty good month for Von Forstmeyer.
Made official by the club – Laguna Seca gave him a golfing towel and put his name down for its records – Von Forstmeyer’s ace was struck with an 8-iron on the 140-yard eighth.
“The pin was pretty far back and the green slopes to the right,” the 12-handicap golfer said. “(The ball) dropped on the left side and rolled right in. I thought it was a birdie at first, but, oh my God, it went right in.
“Another guy (in the foursome) hit one to within inches of the cup on another hole. We thought we had another hole-in-one for a second.
“My son looked it up on his computer and it’s 8,000-to-1 that you’ll hit a hole-in-one.”
Those numbers are speculative. Some experts put the odds of an amateur golfer hitting an ace on any given par 3 as high as 12,000-to-1. Whatever the odds, said Von Forstmeyer, there’s nothing like hitting one for a lifelong amateur golfer.
“I’ve been golfing since I was 15,” he said. “We used to sneak into Tilden Park in Berkeley to play from sunup to sundown. My aunt gave me an old 3-wood and a putter and we just hacked around.”
Von Forstmeyer, who moved with his wife to Gilroy from South San Jose four years ago, said he aced the 150-yard 7th at El Rancho Vega with a 7-iron those many years ago. The course has long since been plowed over.
“All the old hands will remember it,” he said.
Though relatively new to the Gilroy community, Von Forstmeyer has volunteered at the Garlic Festival the past five years.
