Shootin’ An Ace: Skill, Luck or Statistics?

Every golfer wants to hit a hole in one, but only a small percentage of us ever get the privilege of buying a round for the rest of the clubhouse. Are you one of the lucky few to have carded a 1? Share your story in the comments below!

If you’ve ever wondered just how hard it is to accomplish, HoleInOneKing.com compiled these odds of hitting a hole in one, originally published by Golf Digest in 2005:

• TOUR PLAYER MAKING AN ACE: 1 in 3,000
• AVERAGE PLAYER MAKING AN ACE: 1 in 12,000
• LOW HANDICAPPER MAKING AN ACE: 1 in 5,000
• AVERAGE PLAYER ACING A 200 YARD HOLE: 1 in 150,000
• TWO PLAYERS FROM THE SAME FOURSOME ACING THE SAME HOLE: 1 in 17,000,000
• ONE PLAYER MAKING TWO HOLES IN ONE IN ONE ROUND: 1 in 67,000,000 – think that’s impossible? Tell that to the son of Mississippi’s governor, who did it last month!

Even more interesting to this Caveman are these numbers that paint a picture of the “average” acer:

• Average age of a Hole In One golfer: 44.7037 yrs.
• Average handicap of Hole In One golfer: 13.7429
• Number of years playing golf: 17.1160 yrs.
• Percent of Aces by: Male 84%    Female 16%
• Day of week most Holes In One occur: Friday
• Day of week least Holes In One occur: Sunday
• Average par for the aced hole: Par 3.02
• Average yardage of aced hole: 150.54 yds.
• Club most often used in making an ace: 7 Iron

States reporting the most hole in ones:

1. California with 2060 aces.
2. Florida with 1762 aces.
3. Michigan with 1083 aces.
4. Illinois with 908 aces.
5. Texas with 890 aces.

Countries with most aces recorded:

1. USA with 20243 aces.
2. Canada with 1092 aces.
3. United Kingdom with 455 aces.
4. Australia with 194 aces.
5. Ireland with 90 aces.

Golf balls most often used:

1. Titleist with 3945 aces.
2. Callaway with 1009 aces.
3. Nike with 980 aces.
4. Top Flite with 874 aces.
5. Maxfli with 591 aces.

So now you know to tee up a Titleist golf ball on every par 3, 150-yard hole you come across… but only if you’ve got some witnesses!

-Scratch

Sources: Averages are from HoleInOne.com, and that great hole-in-one image is from DogsChasingCars.com. Thanks!