I've been playing golf since I was 12 years old and after 47 years (and many near misses) I finally registered my first hole-in-one!! We typically play later in the day but decided to tee off at 8:00 AM last Sunday - I double bogeyed the 1st hole and parred the 2nd before reaching the Par 3 third. The funny thing is I had just had a playing lesson with my coach 2 days prior and we spent several minutes discussing how to play this hole. It is one of the more difficult holes on the course - over water and nowhere to bail out. A quality shot is a must. I teed off first and I knew right away I had hit a quality shot - it was a 6 iron baby draw to a pin 165 yards away and it hit roughly 12-15 feet right of the hole. It began to track towards the hole - one of my playing partners was screaming "disappear" over and over again but strangely my own reaction was very quiet. I thought I'd hit it close enough for a kick-in birdie but didn't think much else about the shot. After everyone had hit their shots and as we we began riding towards the green my playing partner mentioned that he couldn't see my ball - I told him I was sure that it was behind and hidden by the pin itself. I didn't want to allow myself to believe that it was possible - as we got closer to the green I realized I couldn't see the ball either. My heart began to race as I parked the cart and started sprinting (or a 59 year old version of a sprint) towards the green. When I got to the hole I couldn't believe what I saw. I always wondered what it would feel like to get a hole-in-one but the truth is it is better than I ever could have imagined - it feels like I'm floating through life for the last day. It has brought my golfing "career" full circle and reminded me again of why I love this game so much. Every time I hit a 6 iron, play a Titleist #5 ball or have a yardage of 165 yards to the hole I'll be reminded of just how special this feeling is!