The odds of an average golfer making a hole-in-one is 12,000-to-1, according to Golf Digest, and it takes an average of 3,000 rounds of golf to register an ace.
Belfast native Mike Cunningham has been playing golf for just three years, but within a month, he has recorded two holes-in-one at the Country View Golf Course in Brooks.
A month ago, he used a 7-iron to ace the 145-yard ninth hole. On Monday, Aug. 15, he used a 6-iron to roll in his second one at the 125-yard fourth hole.
“Lady Luck has been caring for me lately,” said the 59-year-old Cunningham, who cut wood for 35 years before retiring three years ago.
On his first hole-in-one, he hit his shot over some trees and said it “rolled out of sight into a gully before it rolled up onto the green” and went in.
The fourth hole is a straightaway.
“My tee shot landed 20 feet away, and I thought it was going to be a little bit short. But it kept rolling until it dropped out of sight [into the cup],” said Cunningham.
“I was flabbergasted. I was pretty lucky,” he added. “I had almost put one into that hole on the fly last year.”
“He was hollering. He was pretty excited,” said John Cushman, who was playing a round of golf with Cunningham at the time.
Donna Short, who works at the course and in the clubhouse and who has played golf for several years, said she can’t recall anyone getting two holes-in-one in the same season.
Cunningham said the trip meter on his vehicle registered “four sevens” that day, which proved to be an omen.
Cushman was actually working on the golf course when Cunningham registered his first ace, and he witnessed that one, too.
He said he had “no idea” how someone could rack up two holes in one during one summer.
“One of the guys he was playing with, Gary Snowden, has been playing for 63 years and has never had one. If Mike gets another one, Gary will probably hit him,” quipped Cushman, who has one hole-in-one on his resume.
“Gary told me, ‘That just ain’t right,’” Cunningham said with a chuckle.
Cunningham said he began playing golf after he retired “because I needed something to keep me out of mischief.”
A friend, Vince Bryant, invited him to play at the Searsport Pines Golf Course, and Cunningham fell in love with the sport.
He has played at the Country View Golf Course the past two years, and he said he plays five times per week.
“There’s a lot of different aspects to golf, and I like them all. It’s really challenging, and it’s also a social event,” said Cunningham, who used to cut wood in the Brooks area.
He said he hadn’t played golf earlier because he was “busy cutting wood and making babies.”
Cunningham has five children.
He said he isn’t just going to settle for two holes-in-one.
“I’m hoping to get a third one before the year is over,” he said.
If he doesn’t, you won’t see him sulking around the course.
“A bad day at the golf course is better than a good day at work,” he said.