Aces wild: Two recent hole-in-one golf stories defy all logic

Sure, it's cool when the pros make a hole in one on TV, especially when it's your favorite golfer on a world-class course.

Rory McIlroy, GolfPass co-founder and four-time major champ, flew a wedge into the hole at Spyglass Hill during the first round of the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a cool shot that made the rounds on social media. Then, his Irish buddy Shane Lowry sank an ace on the famous seventh at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Lowry now has aces on no. 17 at TPC Sawgrass, no. 16 at Augusta and no. 7 at Pebble Beach. Not bad, right?

We're happy for you, Rors and Shane, but we've discovered two recent hole-in-one stories that might top your magic moments. They occurred thousands of miles apart within days of one another in mid-January.

I'm jealous of the two lucky golfers, Alex Hulanicki and Carolyn Mossing. I've got two aces but none since 2013. I desperately want to believe I'm due. I hit to to three inches on the famous 18th at Pasatiempo last year, and within six inches at the grand opening of the new Soleta Golf Club in Florida last December. Maybe someday soon I'll strike gold again like Hulanicki and Mossing did in January.

Mossing, a golf club member at Florida's Bonita Bay Club, sank consecutive aces on the 16th and 17th holes on the Marsh course during the appropriately named Women's Ringer tournament Jan. 16. Getting two in ones in the same round is SICK, but on consecutive swings? That's bananas.

"The National Hole-in-One Registry lists the odds of making a hole-in-one twice in the same round at 67 million to 1," said EJ McDonnell, director of golf at Bonita Bay Club. "To put this in perspective, you're more likely to be struck by lightning while holding a winning lottery ticket than to achieve back-to-back holes-in-one."

After 25 years of playing golf, she sank her first ace with a demo (!) Callaway 9 hybrid from 99 yards. She wasted no time in making her second with a pitching wedge from 85 yards.

"I stepped up to number 16, thinking maybe someday I'll get a hole in one. Suddenly, my ball kept rolling, turned, and disappeared," she recalled. "On hole 17, I stood up to keep things moving and suddenly saw the ball hit the stick and go in. At this point, my emotions took over, and we all went crazy. I think one of my teammates fell on the ground."

Mossing's lucky Callaway Chrome Soft was marked with the words 'NANA'.

"Her first hole-in-one was a perfect shot at the flag," said Joyce Williams, her playing partner. "Amazingly, on the very next hole, she struck another beautiful shot that rolled straight into the cup for her second consecutive hole in one. We couldn't believe it - a truly unforgettable round."

The feat of Hulanicki, an adjunct instructor at Monterey Peninsula College who writes about golf for the Northern California Golf Association, might be even more statistically impossible. Hulanicki sank his second career ace at his home course, Monterey Pines, on Jan 19. That wasn't altogether interesting until I read the details on Facebook. His first ace Dec. 21, 2021, was a right-handed shot with an 7-iron from 117 yards on no. 7; His most recent ace was a 120-yard upill 8 iron on no. 8 as a left-hander.

Hulanicki, 71, says he's been playing from both sides off and on since the 1980s: "I played both right and left, sometimes, switching sets in the parking lot of Rancho Canada (now closed) when going through after nine, depending on how I played. (I) have been primarily left-handed the past few years. I turn better left-handed on my titanium hips."

There's no way to verify how many golfers have made aces from both sides of the ball, but it's likely in the single digits.

"The sun was in my eyes four years ago, so I didn't see the ball roll in the cup," Hulanicki revealed on Facebook. "And yesterday, the hole was hidden by the hill. I knew I had hit a good shot near the hole, but I thought it might have gone over the green with the back hole placement. It was in the cup. Very sweet moment in 59 years of golf, but not as sweet as sharing the game with all my friends."

Do you have an incredible hole-in-one story to share? Let us know in the comments below.

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