Fisher makes hole-in-one tradition
Published 9:45 pm Wednesday, April 30, 2014
John Fisher of Suffolk is making it look too easy.
During Sunday’s 11 a.m. blitz at Nansemond River Golf Club, he made it three straight years that he has hit a hole-in-one. This time it was on No. 2 with a 9-iron from 120 yards out, meaning he has now aced all four of that course’s par-3 holes.
“I get excited when I do something like that,” he said. “This was the fifth one I’ve had, and this was definitely the easiest one to tell it actually went in the hole,” said the 72-year-old Fisher. All five of his hole-in-ones have come after he turned 50, “so there’s still hope for us old, retired people,” he said.
Offering an explanation for why he was able to do it, he cited his enjoyment of the game, but also said a lot of luck is involved.
Fisher is retired, though he still works three days a week for Beamon & Johnson Inc. in downtown Suffolk. He ordinarily plays golf on Wednesdays and Fridays, leaving the weekends open for those that work five days a week.
But on Sunday, “I just wanted to get out and play an extra round, because I saw the forecast for this week,” he said.
He ended up hitting an even par 72, aided by the big hit on No. 2 that he said hit the ground about three feet short of the hole and then took a couple small bounces to go in.
He was accompanied by two friends who could verify the shot.
Fisher, who has lived in Suffolk since 1968, estimated he has been playing golf regularly for about 50 years and has been a member of Nansemond River Golf Club since it opened in 1999.
His last hole-in-one came in May 2013 on the No. 7 from 188 yards out. Before that in 2012, he aced a hole at the Hyland Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. from 165 yards out.
Fisher estimates it was around 2009 when he aced Nansemond River’s No. 16 at a 115-yard distance. It was around 2003 when got his first hole-in-one on No. 11 from about 200 yards out.
His average is about 78, and he said, “My goal is to always shoot below 80, and if I do that, I feel like I played as good as I could play.”
He summed up the appeal golf holds for him today.
“It’s just a challenge. I enjoy being outside and I enjoy the company of the people I play with,” he said. The blitzes, like the one on Sunday, make it so he plays with different people all the time, “and that makes it even more fun.”