Rare Golf Shot

NEWTON — On one of the hottest days of the summer, Ron Carson blazed a bit of history on Westwood Golf Course.

The Newton native scored the rarest golf feat of all — a double eagle, also called an albatross. A double eagle is three under on a Par 5 hole or a Par 4 hole. Although there are no exact odds on double eagles, several sources put the odds at 1-in-a-million as opposed to 1-in-13,000 for hole-in-ones.

Tuesday, July 22, in the muggy heat, Carson used his driver and then a 5-iron to reach the hole on Westwood’s No. 8 hole, which is 505 yards.

“I had a long tee shot and the distance from where I hit the second shot to the hole was 197 yards,” Carson said. “I knew I could reach the green with my 5-iron, but never expected what happened.

“The wind was at my back on the hole. When I hit the second shot, I knew it was going right toward the flag. That’s a long ways away. I saw it bounce but not roll in.”

Carson said he and golf partner Jack Hunerdosse drove their cart to the No. 8 green.

“I didn’t see the ball laying anywhere and he walked up to the hole and saw the ball in the hole. He said ‘I know why we don’t see it laying anywhere,’” Carson said. “What a surprise.”

Carson, who is 62, has two hole-in-ones in his golfing career. He aced a hole at Newton’s Westwood last September and the other one came in 1976.

“When I was teaching school in Missouri during the 1970s, I played a lot of golf,” Carson said. “I had two kids who went through Newton schools and college sports, I stopped playing for awhile, but started back up five years ago.”

Hall of Fame golfer Jack Nicklaus has three double eagles in his long career. Louis Oosthuizen had a double eagle in the 2012 Masters at Augusta National.