During a post-round conversation with a fellow Everett Golf & Country Club member June 30, Chris Dire said that he’d recorded three holes-in-one since taking up golf about 10 years ago.
“But he failed to say that he had two that day,” said Edmonds resident Vince Petosa, one of Dire’s playing partners. “He didn’t want to make a big deal about it. He’s just that kind of guy. He wanted to keep it quiet. He thought everybody would think he was lying anyway. I said, ‘Don’t worry about that — you have plenty of witnesses.’ ”
Dire, an Everett resident, retired longshoreman and club member, aced the 115-yard eighth hole with a 9-iron and the 125-yard 15th hole with an 8-iron.
“On No. 9, I hit the ball to the front of the green, and I couldn’t see where it went. I couldn’t find it, and the young kid we were playing with (Cameron Hulbert, along with his grandfather, club member John Hulbert), said, ‘It’s in the hole.’ They were jumping around and yelling.
“Then on No. 15, I hit the ball, and I could see it bounce twice, but then I lost track of it. I figured it was behind the pin. (Cameron) ran all the way up to the green and said, ‘It’s in the hole.’ I just turned around and told Vinnie, ‘Two in one day. This can’t be me.’ ”
Dire, who was a star athlete at Everett High School and went on to play football at Washington State University, plays golf regularly and sports a 10 handicap at the age of 73. He also stays active by participating in a senior softball league.
“He’s got a good (golf) game,” Petosa said. “He does everything pretty well. His putting has started to come around; it was kind of weak before. And he hits the long ball pretty good.”
Even so, Dire acknowledged that an enormous amount of fortune played a part in his accomplishment.
“It was pure luck,” he said. “I just happened to hit the ball right both times. I wasn’t thinking about getting a hole-in-one. I just wanted to make par.”
The chances of one player making two aces in the same round are 67 million to one, according to the National Hole-In-One Registry.
“I’ve never heard of it happening,” said Brent Webber, the Everett Golf & Country Club’s head professional. “You may read about it every once in awhile in Golf Digest or something like that. It’s a pretty rare feat — he may as well have bought a lottery ticket.”
“I had never seen a hole-in-one in my life, so to see two in one day was amazing,” Petosa said. “I was in disbelief. I almost wanted to go up to the hole and see if the ball was really in there.”
Both of the holes that Dire aced present distinct challenges, Webber said.
“The eighth hole has a small green with a big trap in front of it, so it’s kind of intimidating to look at,” he said. “The 15th goes uphill, so it plays longer, and the green is more severe — there’s a hump in the middle of it, and the two tiers slope back to front. I heard that (Dire) flew his ball right into the cup on that hole, so he didn’t have to worry about that.”
While Dire may have initially been a bit reluctant to brag about his feat, he’s warming up to the possibilities it may present. He’s going to be a celebrity around the clubhouse for awhile, at least.
“I’m going to get a letter from the country club and mail it to Titleist to see if I can get some free shoes or golf balls,” he said. “I told the club I want a plaque, and I may get a plaque.
“A hole-in-one is just a fluke. I got two flukes on the same day, and that’s what makes it important, I guess.”
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