For most golfers, sinking a hole-in-one is a once-in-a-lifetime shot.
Matt Pitoniak was able to do it twice in just an eight-day span.
The 76-year-old Northampton resident sank an ace at the 11th hole on July 2 at the Country Club of Greenfield, the third hole-in-one of his career. On Sunday he did it again, sinking another ace at the very same hole.
“It’s one of those things where you do it and you think it’s a once-in-a-decade thing,” Pitoniak said. “You hope to do it every time but that just doesn’t happen.”
Pitoniak’s hole-in-one on July 2 came from 181 yards out. He used a 5 wood, and the feat was witnessed by Steve Lovett and Doug Muehlberg.
While the shot felt good coming off his club, Pitoniak said he wasn’t certain he had sunk it until he made it to the green.
“I wasn’t sure that it was in,” Pitoniak said. “I couldn’t really be absolutely certain until we got up there. I was excited. It was fun.”
Pitoniak — a CCG member — played the course again during the week following the first ace, but unsurprisingly wasn’t able to replicate the shot from the weekend.
That changed on Sunday. On the same hole, Pitoniak used the same 5 wood to sink the shot from 175 yards out. It was witnessed by Norm Morris and Jeff Blomstedt.
He said he couldn’t believe it when he walked toward the green and saw he had notched a fourth career ace.
“I hit a good shot,” Pitoniak said. “It rolled up and disappeared. The two guys I was playing with were saying it was in. I wasn’t sure, I thought it might have gone over the green but they were certain it was in. I got up there and they were right. I think they were more excited about it than I was. It made it more fun.”
The two aces were the third and fourth of Pitoniak’s golfing career, but his first in a number of years. His first-ever hole-in-one came in Florida, and the other happened in Arizona. According to the National Hole-in-One Registry, the odds of the average golfer making a hole-in-one are 12,500 to 1.
“It’s just really exciting,” Pitoniak said. “It was a lot of fun. You get a lot of grief when you get back to the clubhouse but it’s all worth it. That made it even more cool.”
Is another ace in Pitoniak’s future? He sure hopes so as he looks to stay hot on the course.
“I have no hopes going forward other than I’d like to do it again,” Pitoniak said.