Chuck Miller’s lucky (second) hole in one
Lefty golfer Chuck Miller made his first hole in one in 1974. Then in late June of this year, the 81-year-old amateur notched two more aces. The most thrilling part? Miller shot his second and third holes in one at Hot Springs Village’s Cortez Golf Course in the same round—an exceedingly rare event. On the PGA Tour, only three professional golfers have ever shot two holes in one in the same round.
Miller’s first hole in one in this year’s fateful round came off a 6-iron at the 135-yard, par three, 12th hole. The tee shot made the seven-decade (20-handicap) golfer proud. “If there had been a tracer like we see on the TV coverage of the shots pros make during tournaments, it would have shown a beautiful high shot that never varied in its trajectory from tee to green,” Miller told luckbox. “It was straight as an arrow!”
It was Miller’s second ace, on hole 17, that earned his luckbox designation. Again, with a 6-iron, shooting 138-yards toward a downhill, par-three, this tee shot was drastically different, and the luckbox outcome was undeserved, by Miller’s own admission. “It was a miracle the fluke shot even made it in the hole,” he said. “It wasn’t pretty but still only showed ‘one’ on the scorecard.”
For a golfer who plays nearly 70 rounds a year (managing to shoot his age only three days earlier), securing a second career ace was far from unique. That lucky third ace was the outlier. The National Hole in One Registry puts the odds of a left-handed, 81-year old golfer notching two aces about one hour apart in the same round at about 69 million to one.
