July may not have treated us to ideal golfing weather this time around, but there seems to have been more than just rain in the air these past few weeks as two of the country's most historic golf clubs recorded feats about as rare as it gets.
County Louth Golf Club in Baltray has twice hosted the Irish Open and it proved the scene for the completion of another double recently when visiting American David Haythe made a spectacular hole in one on the par-three fifth hole.
The thing is, this was Mr Haythe’s second visit to the famous links. His first had come two years earlier – and amazingly, he had aced the very same hole on that occasion too. An achievement unlikely to be matched, surely.
But not so fast. A quick spin back down the M1 and along the M50 brings us to Edmondstown Golf Club in Rathfarnham, south Dublin. It was here where single-figure man Gerry Cash helped himself to his first ever hole in one after over 50 years of trying. Only Gerry, fair play to him, didn’t even have the manners to wait for a par three – he holed out with his drive on the par-four 16th from 350 yards away.
Playing off a handicap of eight, Gerry’s ace has been a hot topic ever since. "Gerry is all the talk of the club now," Gerry’s pal and regular playing partner, William Torregiani told RTÉ Sport with a laugh.
"Everyone who walks by him at the moment is bowing down in deference. Our Captain's Prize is this Sunday coming so they're going to have a special award for him for such a rarity."
Gerry himself is worn out talking about it. Almost. "I’m sick of listening to meself," he joked when we caught up with him this week. "We’ve got great craic out of it."
Although this was Gerry’s first ace, he’s had the distinction of holing out from distance at another iconic Irish trek, canning his second shot for an albatross on the par-five 15th at Waterville Links in Kerry eight years ago.
"We were playing off the middle tees, it was 510 yards that day in Waterville," Gerry recalled. "I had 205 yards for my second and I hit five-wood into the hole. But I didn’t see it. Actually, I didn’t see it either time!"
If all that wasn’t enough, for last month’s drama at Edmondstown, Gerry even had his own personal commentator to call the action for his most unlikely ace. Veteran sports announcer Stephen Alkin, whose voice is familiar to RTÉ Sport viewers, just happened to be getting ready to putt on the 16th green when he was mildly interrupted by Gerry’s arrow-straight drive.
"Stephen was on the green," Gerry tells us. "It was a few weeks ago just before all that rain so the ground was still hard. It took a good bounce, someone in that group saw it coming, Stephen was getting ready to putt, he moved out of the way and they all watched the ball roll past them and into the hole!"
"We were playing with two young fellas so of course they all assumed it was one of the young fellas’ drive… and then we came over the hill in the buggy!
The lads on the green were all waving their fists in the air – and I thought 'oh s**t, I'm after hitting somebody!'
"The lads on the green were all waving their fists in the air – and I thought 'oh s**t, I’m after hitting somebody!’ And what a bad group it would have been to hit, they were all longstanding members, the glitterati of Edmondstown, if you like. I went down to apologise but they all started hugging me!"
"There I am standing over my putt," Stephen, Edmondstown's 2007 captain, offered. "The pin is front right, the only spot where this could have happened. And this ball comes into play. It took us a second to realise 'this is someone's drive'... and in it went. I know Gerry well and at first he was actually just embarrassed that he'd played into us, but how was he to know it would reach the green?!"
Gerry's pal William added: "A hole in one on a par three is uncommon, but a lot of people get one at some stage in their life. But a hole in one on a par four in a competition, we’ve never heard of. When we looked it up, on the PGA Tour, there’s only been one in America and two or three in Europe, so it’s a really rare event.
There’s no one better than a golfing buddy to keep you grounded however. Gerry still had to wait his turn on the par-three 17th tee, ace or no ace.
"We got up onto the next tee. And the fella I played with is a character, he always likes to play fast," Gerry says. "So we walk up onto the next tee, I’m after having a hole in one on a par-four, your man steps up, sticks a tee in the ground and hits a shot. I slagged him - ‘there’s no getting the honour off you'. It was a great bit of laugh."
Back up in the Wee County, the tales of the man who played the fifth at Baltray twice and didn’t need his putter either time elicited similar excitement to Gerry Cash’s exploits at Edmondstown.
"I couldn’t believe it when they said it," County Louth assistant pro, David O’Brien told RTÉ Sport of Haythe’s latest ace. "When you come off the ninth here onto the 10th, you go by the first tee and the clubhouse again. So the caddies shouted over to the starter to tell him what happened. They were as shocked as the player!
"Mr Haythe was talking about it before they played the fifth. He said ‘I’d a hole in one here last time’ and then slam dunk!
"He had a few buddies with him and the caddies, he was well chuffed and was delighted to tell everyone about it when he came in! We give everyone here a piece of crystal for a hole in one, it’s kind of tradition.
"When he came into the clubhouse, our general manager Ryan Donagher came down to meet him. We made sure to make a big deal of it"
If you have ever had the pleasure of a round of golf at County Louth, you'll know well how trecherous the fifth hole can be. With a valley of sin short of the green, a deep pot bunker right and large run off areas to the left, a pushover it certainly is not.
"I was out there yesterday and I birdied it," young David told us. "I hadn’t birdied it in a long time… and Mr Haythe’s had two holes in one on it!"
