Far from par for the course
SUMMIT TWP — Both in July. One was uphill, the other downhill, six years apart.
With two single swings, Clearfield Township residents Greg and Jenn Hesidence became a unique golfing couple. Each has registered one hole-in-one in their lifetimes, both by attaining an albatross, both using a driver.
“I’ve never heard of any married couple doing that,” Greg Hesidence said.
He’s been around golf for a long time. Hesidence, 51, has been superintendent of Hiland Golf Course for 14 years, succeeding Charlie Young at that post. He secured his albatross — three shots under par on a single hole — on July 2, 2016, on the No. 2, par-4 295-yard hole at Hiland, which plays downhill.
He was playing in a fun scramble that day with his wife and their daughter, Tori Hesidence, who worked tending bar in the course’s clubhouse at the time. She now lives in Tampa, Fla.
“I knew I caught it good,” Hesidence said of his drive. “It was headed for the green.”
The hole was not in view from the tee-box. When Hesidence couldn’t locate the ball, he told his wife not to look in the hole.
“If the ball was in there, I wanted to be the one to find it,” he said.
No such luck.
“Of course I didn’t listen to him,” Jenn Hesidence said, laughing. “I had to look. When I saw the ball in there ... None of us could believe it.”
Nor could they believe what happened six years later, on July 13 at Aubrey’s Dubbs Dred.
Jenn was playing in her Chix With Stix League on Wednesday, July 13. The league played the back nine on this day. She teed off on the No. 14, par-4 190-yard hole, an uphill shot.
Like her husband’s drive six years ago, she could not see the hole from the tee box.
“All I could see was the ball heading toward the green,” Jenn said. “I thought I over-hit it. I was walking across the green, figuring the ball would be on the other side, when I glanced at the hole.
“The ball was in there. I yelled, threw my club in the air, all of us women started hugging each other. I thought of Greg’s albatross six years ago and started crying. This was a special thing.”
Greg has been a golfer for 31 years. He plays in Friday’s Alan Zediker Memorial League at Hiland and joins his wife for a couple of rounds of golf each week.
“We used to play golf together five times a week,” he said. “I just can’t do that anymore.”
Jenn, 47, has been playing golf for 12 years. She transitioned from golf ball-finder to golf ball-hitter.
Tori was a softball player who left the competitive side of that sport due to injury. Tori’s father became her teacher when she decided to take up golf.
“When they went to the course, I tagged along,” Jenn said. “My job became finding the golf balls. I got tired of that after a while. I figured if I’m going to be out there, I might as well learn how to play the game myself.”
“It took me 31 years to get a hole-in-one. It took her only 12,” Greg said, smiling.
After 28 years of marriage, they have something in common to smile about.
“When I got the phone call telling me Jenn had gotten an albatross, it was like, ‘What?’ I mean, what are the chances of that?”
“It just feels surreal ... and a neat thing to share,” Jenn said.
