John Bonds Sr. of Suffolk has seen many golfers hit a hole-in-one, but he was beginning to conclude he would never hit one himself. A Thursday round at the Suffolk Golf Course changed all of that, when he aced the par-3 No. 14 from 110 yards out with a pitching wedge.

“I’ve played golf for 36 years, and this was the first one,” the 64-year-old said of his ace. “At this rate, I’ll be 100 years old by the time I get my second one.”

Thursday was already special for being his 4-year-old granddaughter’s birthday. Bonds was playing golf with friends Gary Chaney and Doug Gregory.

While they were teeing off on No. 14, the talk of hole-in-ones started before Bonds even hit.

“The guy that teed off in front of me — I thought his ball had gone into the hole,” Bonds said. “We couldn’t see the hole because of the sand trap. So, then I got up, and I hit, and everybody said, ‘Oh, that’s going to be closer, that’s going to be in the hole.’”

Nearing the green, they saw one ball was about a foot from the hole, another 20 feet away and the third was nowhere to be seen.

Chaney reached the hole first and delivered the good news to Bonds.

Bonds’ son, SGC general manager John Bonds Jr., was on a nearby hole and got to see his father’s reaction. Bonds Sr. was glad his son was there, since he had seen the younger Bonds ace holes at the ages of 13 and 14, only six months apart.

“I was ecstatic, so happy for him,” Bonds Jr. said. “I could see him as he walked up, so I got to see the look on his face, everything. It was awesome.”

“I have been hitting the ball fairly decent in the last six months or so,” Bonds Sr. said. “So I just felt that it was a good swing, and it felt good, and it was right on line.” And he agreed with a friend that luck had something to do with it.

He ended up shooting a 77 on the par-72 course, three strokes below his average.

He said the bucket list for golfers includes hitting a double eagle, an eagle and birdies, with an ace being the ultimate item on the list.

“I’ve got my hole-in-one now, so I’m carrying on,” he said.