A golf shot 35 years ago. 🏌️‍♂️⛳

The weekend of October 5, 1985 I was in Cincinnatus NY.  We travelled from Rochester to visit my father-in-law. During the week he had polyps removed from his throat. They turned out to be non-cancerous. However, he was stuck in the living room with a pot to vomit in. He felt ill and was nauseous. Additionally , he was unable to speak. 

It was a damp chilly fall day on Saturday,October 5th 1985. My brother-in-law and I decided to go play golf at Knickerbocker Golf Course in Cincinnatus , a few miles away. It was an old dairy farm converted into a 9-hole golf course, now it's 18. My in-laws played regularly there in a golf league as did my brother-in-law.

I played there very often with my father-in-law beginning in July 1983,  and this was the first time I was playing the course without him. Rusty and I were  some of the few brave ones  on the golf course that chilly blustery fall day. I got off to a relatively good start and parred the first two holes. Rusty was a much better golfer than I, but we were neck in neck going to the 9th tee, a par three.

I had a par on the 8th hole and Rusty bogeyed it. That gave me honors and the tee box. The hole was 123 yards and the wind was in our face. The hole is uphill, so I took an extra club and hit an 8-iron. The shot itself was not pretty, more of a scull shot than a solid hit. Rusty then hit his tee shot. We walked up to the green and we saw  Rusty's ball, but we couldn't find my ball. Rusty decided to look in the cup and he was so excited my ball was there.  I couldn't believe it. A hole-in-one, both of us had never seen one in person before. It meant that I tied Rusty with a 43 for the first nine holes.

We repeated the nine holes again and this time Rusty definitely showed that he was a better golfer. But on number nine I knew I needed a par to break 90 for the first time. I did !  I shot an 89 with a hole in one !

We went inside to the clubhouse to report my score and the hole in one. They took the information to put on the board at Knickerbocker Golf club. There were only a few diehards at the bar area watching a college football game. I didn't have to buy any drinks

We went to my in-laws home, and told my father-in-law. He couldn't talk because of his throat, but he was as excited as I was and disappointed that he wasn't able to witness it. Two months later I had my own physical problems that required surgery, I ruptured my Achilles tendon playing basketball. 

It's a golf hole, and a shot that I'll never forget. It's hard to believe that it's  almost 35 years ago. Fore. 🏌️‍♂️🏌️‍♂️

I played many more golf rounds at Knickerbockers until my father-in-law sold his dairy farm in May 1988 and they moved.  But, I played many more rounds of golf ( Florida, Dryden NY area or Webster ) with him until he died in June 2002. He wasn't the best golfer, but he enjoyed every round he played.