Jory Carlson
For more information contact Steve Bengtson at 218-543-4900
Jenkins golfer makes hole in one on par 4 at Whitefish Golf Club
By C.B. Bylander
When Jory Carlson's brother-in-law dared him to hit a better drive than he had. Carlson delivered.
Standing on the 15
tee box at Whitefish Golf Club, Carlson whacked his Titleist more than 300 yards on the par four hole.
His ball didn't stop rolling until it plopped into the cup.
"I crushed it," said Carlson, 42, of Jenkins, Minn. "The ball was tailing so it landed to the right of the green. My sister, Jenna Anderson, said she saw a favorable bounce and thought a hole-in-one was possible but who knew? We couldn't see the cup from the tee box because there is a dip in the fairway." As Carlson, Anderson and Garrett Anderson approached the hole something was amiss. They didn't see Carlson's ball but did find another ball well short of the green in second cut grass.
*I thought I might have flown the green and lost my ball in the woods," said Carlson. "So, I hit the ball we found just to keep the round moving. That's when my sister went up to the cup and yelled, 'Here's your ball! I told you it might have went in!'" According to the scorecard, hole 15 is 302 yards long from the white tees they were playing.
Carlson concedes he was so overwhelmed by the hole-in-one that he wasn't thinking straight. "When we got to the 16" tee box I was still trembling, and I just I teed up my hole-in-one ball and swung away. It wasn't until after I hit it that I realized I could have easily lost that ball into the woods to the left and right." Steve Bengtson, manager of Whitefish Golf Club, said this is the first hole-in-one on a par four that he's aware of during his 28 years at the course. He noted that Nevin Greer of Pequot Lakes made an albatross (three under par) hole number five during Memorial Day Weekend but that likely ranks a tad behind Carlson's accomplishment. "Nevin's albatross was a two, which is amazing, but Jory's albatross was a one ... and that has a nicer ring to it."
Carlson hits a long ball but is not a premier golfer. He golfs once a week or so, often shooting about 90 for 18 holes. He jokingly calls himself *a better to be lucky than good kind of golfer." A member at Whitefish, Carlson said he really enjoys the course and that it is the best shape ever.
