Hole in One... Upside Down cup

[Mr. Bean]

' It's just a score on a golf hole once you strip away the mystique'

Indeed, it is just a score of 1 on the hole as per instructions from USGA, However, it is NOT a HIO as the ball never went in. There is the big difference.

[DaveLeeNC]

I see the point here,

OTOH, it is a "Golf Hole Completed in One Stroke" where Hole in One seems like reasonable shorthand.

FWIW, if I had a good view of a tee shot on a par 3 and saw my ball bounce off a upside down cup, I would be reluctant to answer 'yes' to the question 'have you ever had a hole in one' (assuming that I had no other HOI's in my golfing life).

dave

[Mr. Bean]

I would be immensely embarrassed and laughed upon if I claimed to have made a HIO in such a way the ball did not stay in the hole so I would not even dream of doing that.

Also I would never say 'I eagled that-and-that par5 by putting in a 15-meter putt! Well, actually I putted so hard that the ball ricocheted from the upside-down cup about 4 meters off but it was a fair eagle!'

[MtlJeff]

It's only really a thing if you see a "hole in one" as some sort of golf achievement. I don't really. Some people get plaques made and stuff, that is fine it is totally up to them

To me a hole in one is a score of 1 on a par 3. If you make that according to the rules of golf then you did it.

It's OK if you disagree, it just probably means you value a hole in one as an achievement and i don't, that's fine

[DaveLeeNC]

FWIW, I have had one hole in one and don't have any particularly special memories of that. However, I do have a cartbag tag that has my name and the achievement - I needed a nametag and this one was better than the one that I had previously and it was free (I like that).

Regarding a 'hole that I am proud of' it would be a 400 yard par 4 where, on a windy and 45 degree day, I holed out a 4i hybrid to a very tough rear pin. I was cursing when I approached the green, did not see the ball, and assumed that it had rolled off the back and down the hill leaving an impossible chip shot.

dave

[Carl Spackler3]

rub of the green.... no hole in one

 

[Sawgrass]

A hole in one is a perfect result. How can that not be some sort of an achievement?

 

I think it's a wonderful goal and potentially a great bit of fun.

[Mr. Bean]

FWIW, IMO HIO is vastly over appreciated. After all, it is a lucky shot. I have made two and the first one was a crappy shot that landed 30 meters before the green and rolled into the cup, The 2nd one was a good shot that landed just before the cup and 2-bounced in. Thus I wonder why so many clubs have HIO trophy shelves with the balls hung up but never have I seen condors / double-eagles advertised similarly although those require both great skill AND lots of luck. A HIO only requires the latter.

[MtlJeff]

I'm not trying to crap on it either, holing out a long shot is an awesome feeling and you want to jump and down and celebrate. it's all good! I've holed out from 100yds and i fist pumped like Tiger

I just mean, 3 perfect shots for an eagle is also a great thing, people just don't make plaques of eagles. That's all i mean

[Bonneville85308]

The way I see it...if the ball ends up sitting in the hole, with the bottom of the ball below the surrounding surface of the green, it was a HIO regardless of whether or not the "bottom" of the hole is higher than usual due to having an upside down cup, a high-bottom cup, a pool noodle, a PVC pipe, etc.

If the cup is raised above the green surface such that a ball rolling cannot physically enter the hole, and the ball hits the outside of the raised cup, even if it ends up resting against it, it is not a HIO.

This is just how I'd count it myself.

Last week I had my first eagle in 2 years on a hole where the cup had a pool noodle about a half inch below the green surface. The ball was in the cup, resting on the noodle, bottom half of the ball below the green surface. A know-it-all in the group claimed this "didn't count" because "a normal cup might have rejected the shot or it would perhaps have been more likely to lip out with a normal cup." Sounds like BS to me.

 

[Sawgrass]

Of course one can take pride in any outcome they wish. I happen to agree with your particular assessment. The USGA agrees that for handicap purposes, a ball that is partially below the surface of the green should count as being holed -- no harm in taking satisfaction in your eagle on that basis.

Further, and peculiarly, the normal rules of golf suggest that if your ball is touching the flagstick and only partially below the surface of the green, it is considered holed, but if it's not touching the flagstick and is partially below the surface of the hole it is not considered holed. (See below segment of definition of holed.) So there is no way to disagree with your eagle being legit if the ball was touching the flagstick. All of which suggests that the noodles set slightly below the surface of the green should be cut in such a way as to slightly angle toward the flagstick!

 

For the special case of a ball resting against the flagstick in the hole, see Rule 13.2c (ball is treated as holed) if any part of the ball is below the surface of the putting green).

 

 

 

 

[jmkenn0]

So slightly different twist - playing mid-late afternoon yesterday (6 pm EST), par 3, about 170, but the way the sun sets and with the trees surrounding the green its difficult to see the ball on the green after it lands. We have pool noodles that are about 1' long sticking in all of our cups, so you never touch any part of the flag, you just bank it off the noodle. My ball goes right at the flag, ends up about 6 inches to the left - its very possible it hit the noodle, but there was no way to tell because we couldn't see it! That's my Corona HIO story.

[phil75070]

I have 10 HIO, the last six within the last 28 months. I'm proud of them and all but two are commemorated in some way (mostly flags). However, I do concede that HIO is as much about luck as it is skill.

[Mikey5e]

A hole-in-one is a sacred thing in golf and should be pure, and not what is this or what is that issues. The reason people ask if they're scenario is a hole-in-one or not is because they first doubted themselves. Every golfer knows what a hole-in-one is and doesn't need affirmation from others.

[Sawgrass]

“Every golfer knows what a hole-in-one is and doesn't need affirmation from others.”

So, you’re saying this thread doesn’t exist. Okay, sure.

[Mikey5e]

This thread doesn't exist? I don't know where that reasoning came in, but regardless, maybe taper off the sauce.

[SNIPERBBB]

I'd have a hard time justifying celebration of it because you could never honestly answer the question of "would it of gone in?"

 

We're not doing the silly cup stuff everyone else is so you don't have to worry about it here. We've had a real HIO already this year at our course.

[Sawgrass]

Read the OP, genius.

[davep043]

Cmon, Mikey has made 5 eagles, he's a golf genius!

[Mikey5e]

Although, I have only had 1 since. Sg is talking foolish though.