Diane Marchand
On Aug. 20 Bob Ogle’s Wednesday group played The Preserve, and it looked like any other hot August day of golf, with 15 players and a bunch of friends fighting it out for the privilege of taking their buddy’s money.
However, as the second group took to the tee box on hole 11, a rarity was about to start taking place. Dennis Marchand, from the purple tees, hit a solid 6 iron to the uphill, 142-yard hole while fighting a one-club wind. And one bounce is all it took to see the ball disappear for a hole-in-one. Playing partners Tom Fitzgerald, Don Sanders, and Randy Breier witnessed Dennis’ seventh hole-in-one. Six of those aces occurred in SaddleBrooke.
However, this was not the last of the eventful actions on that day. As group four approached the same 11th hole, Don Plapinger, hitting from the green tees, took out his 9 iron from 115 yards and promptly dropped in his sixth career ace and the second one he’s had at The Preserve hole 11. Playing partners Ed Hashim and Egan Hicks witnessed Don’s ace.
At the celebration afterwards, players were wondering what the odds were for two guys to ace the same hole on the same day within the 15-man group. According to Google, the odds were 1.5 million to 1! Quite a day for Dennis and Don, and quite a spectacular pair of shots to put a spotlight on a day to remember.