It was the first swing of B.J. Morlock’s sophomore season at Tinora High School in Defiance, Ohio.
It was on a par three.
It went in the hole.
A hole-in-one on the first swing of the season? Doesn’t get much better than that. In fact, it can’t get better than that.
The story gets wackier, though. Morlock, 15, is coached by Brent Renollet, who is new to the golf coaching position at Tinora. Because of a family vacation, B.J. missed the week of practice prior to the season’s opening tournament, so Aug. 9, the day of his hole-in-one, marked the first time Renollet had seen him swing.
“Must be a heck of a golf coach,” someone said. “The kid takes his first swing with him as coach, and it’s a hole-in-one.”
Morlock scored the ace on the Eagle Rock Golf Club’s sixth hole, a 158-yard par three. His group started the tournament on that hole, and his 7 iron hit about eight inches behind the pin, then rolled back into the cup.
“I just turned around sort of in shock and yelled,” said Morlock, who recorded his first hole-in-one. “It was just crazy, ecstatic.”
His father and grandparents were there to see the shot.
“He was the first to tee off in the group, and the ball went right over the stick and all of a sudden disappeared,” said Burt, B.J.’s father. “He turned around with the biggest smile on his face. The whole place went nuts. It was pretty surreal.”
Sammy Sinn, one of B.J.’s teammates, logged a hole-in-one in the team’s next tournament, adding more evidence that the new coach must know what’s he doing.
Burt Morlock taught his son the game. B.J. started tagging along on course with his dad at the age of 7.
To date, Burt has won all of their matches. “But now he has a hole-in-one and I don’t,” Burt said.
Must be the coaching.
Editor’s Note: This story was submitted by Stick & Hack member Burt Morlock, and written by Mike Hembree. If you have a story you want to share with the community, email us at info@stickandhack.com.
