By Brandon Bartlett, The Spirit Animal

In the world of golf there’s an unwritten rule that a player that achieves a hole in one buys a round of drinks. Here’s where the “unwritten” part becomes a problem. Some think the round is for just you and your foursome. Some duffers think it’s your foursome and anyone else that witnesses it. It seems the majority of golfers believe the lucky Ace is on the hook for a round of drinks for the entire clubhouse! It was my understanding I was in for a huge tab when I hit my first, and hopefully not my last, hole in one. It was a well struck eight iron on the 130-yard par three seventh at Tierra Rejada in Southern California. The green was on a really intimidating looking peninsula. Kind of like a sideways uvula. You couldn’t go left, short, or long or you be in a large gully with the ball lost forever. I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I had to look up the word “uvula”. The ball drew a bit which it rarely does for me and landed about six feet to the right of the pin. It then started rolling to the left and suddenly disappeared into the cup! My buddy and I had been paired with a couple Australian guys. When that ball fell, the four of us all jumped into the air like one of those old Toyota commercials. Oh what a feeling indeed!

I immediately started to think about buying a round for everyone in the clubhouse. I didn’t care that it was going to be expensive. I finally had a hole in one! It also helped that I had a fat wad of cash in my pocket from poker the night before. I couldn’t wait until the 19th hole when I could buy everyone in the place a cocktail and proclaim my victory over the Golf Gods to anyone who would listen. They’d have to listen, I just bought them a drink! After 18 the Australian guys couldn’t stay. They congratulated me again and left. My buddy and I hurried to the bar where we found two people having Arnold Palmers. Neither of them drank. My tab was a total of $28. Admittedly, not a very exciting end to an exciting day. However, a couple months later I was playing with that same friend and he hit his first hole in one. When we pulled up in our carts to the 18th green we could see there was about 75 to 100 people at the bar for a very busy after work happy hour scene. My pal’s eyes grew to the size of golf balls! He started saying over and over, No Way! No Way! No Way! We all agreed that we’d keep our traps shut if he bought us a round of 25-year-old Scotches.

The odds of hitting a hole in one are roughly 12,500 to 1 for the average golfer. It’s 3,000 to 1 for a PGA Tour Pro. Each year there’s around 450 million rounds played in the United States. Each course on average reports 12 to 15 hole in ones a year. That means an ace is scored once about every 3,500 rounds.

So how did this tradition of buying drinks get started? There’s really no singular account of it, but in 1918 there’s a story that mentions “Hole-in-One Insurance” in a newspaper. It turns out a lot of golf clubs include a small fee to members in their dues that is specifically for HIO insurance. The majority, if not the entire tab, is taken care of by the club with the funds they’ve been collecting. It was always my thought that the tradition started to keep people honest. Who’s going to make something up that’s going to cost them a bunch of money? This is where we get back to the “unwritten” rule part. The golf world is very divided on the subject. I checked out some online golf forums and good Lord were they boring. And I’m a golfer! When I found one discussing buying drinks after an ace, there were some good suggestions. One contributor said buy a case of beer for the clubhouse and when it’s gone, it’s gone. One guy said he bought drinks for his foursome, the bartender, and the club pro that signed his card. One woman said her and her friends only drank wine so she bought a couple bottles of ice cold rose’ and anyone that wanted some was welcome. She then admitted she didn’t get many takers. My guess is that was the idea. Brilliant! After that, a guy from Finland chimed in and said that in his country it’s customary for the lucky golfer to buy bottles of Champagne. In Japan, after a hole in one it’s not out of the ordinary for a golfer to buy dinners for friends and expensive gifts for friends and family members.

There’s no official Hole-In-One Cocktail, but if you look around there’s a few that have used the name. The 1978 edition of the Mr. Boston Deluxe Official Bartender’s Guide says The Hole-In-One Cocktail is made with 1.75 ounces of Scotch, .75 ounces of dry vermouth, .25 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 dash of orange bitters. Absolut Vodka’s website lists the same drink with the same name. I find it odd that a vodka website lists a scotch drink and funnier yet the average rating for the recipe was a half star out of five stars. Another drinks website listed a Hole In One Cocktail as vodka, OJ, and Cranberry. Back when I bartended many moons ago that was called a Madras and sure sounds a lot more refreshing to me than scotch and vermouth after 18 holes. A few other popular cocktails on the course lately are an Arnold Palmer with vodka or whiskey, otherwise known as a John Daly. Another one gaining ground is the Transfusion cocktail made with vodka, grape juice, ginger ale, and a squeeze of lime. It sounds weird but I really enjoyed it.

I think it all comes down to this. A hole in one should be celebrated. It’s a once-in-a lifetime occurrence for most. I think it’s important we remember that celebration is relative. It all depends on the time, the place, the circumstances, and what you can afford at the time. If you showed up in a Porsche and just spent $350 for lap around Pelican Hill then yes, your buddies are going to expect you to drop some coin. On the other hand, if golf is a treat that you rarely get to afford yourself and you just had your fourth kid, then buy your three pals a beer and tell everyone else to go jump in the lake! There are a lot of rules and traditions in golf. Rules in the game are meant to be followed. However, traditions are there to be observed. It’s my choice whether or not to take part in a tradition. With that said, I’m now going to go back to my favorite after golf drink, a gin and tonic and daydreaming about getting my second hole in one. Cheers!

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