Blind Golfer Posts 2 Holes-in-One

Margaret Waldron, 74 and legally blind, made holes-in-one on the same hole on consecutive days at Amelia Island Plantation, using the same iron and the same scarred golf ball.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet. If it happens as infrequently as my husband says, I’m going to go out and buy some lottery tickets,” she said Tuesday.

Waldron, who has only peripheral vision and relies upon her husband, Pete, to tell her direction and distance, mastered the Long Point Course’s 87-yard No. 7 hole using a 7-iron and an old Ultra golf ball she had found several days earlier.

“I’ve retired it now,” she said of the ball. “It’s kind of beat up, so it won’t putt straight.”

The two organizations that track holes-in-one, the Golf Digest Hole-In-One Clearing House and the National Hole-In-One Assn., have no statistical odds on the same person making one on the same hole on consecutive days, much less a 74-year-old legally blind woman.

The aces were made in the company of her husband and others.

The first, on Sunday, was witnessed by club members Jack and Beverly Hegeraty. The second was witnessed by Jay and Dale Gress, vacationers from Ft. Washington, Pa.

Waldron did not begin playing golf until age 43 but developed into a 12-handicapper. She recorded her first hole-in-one 15 years ago at Fernandina Beach Muncipal Course, and she made another three years later near Pell City, Ala.

About 10 years ago, she developed macular degeneration in both eyes and has only peripheral vision.

She relies on her husband to give her the distance, direction and pin placement. On long putts, he will tend the pin and she will putt toward his white golf shoes.

On drives, she will look for something about five or six feet in front and try to swing to that point.

Despite her vision problem, she plays golf four times a week, usually shooting between 87 and 95 for 18 holes.

She returned to the course Tuesday to see if she could hit a third hole-in-one on the No. 7 but bogeyed the hole.

“I missed a 10-foot par putt, like a dummy,” she said.

The worst thing about the holes-in-one was that she was unable to see them.

“I didn’t see it, of course,” she said of her Sunday ace. “But the woman I was playing with said, ‘Ohhh, that’s pretty! Ohhh, it’s in the cup!’ I didn’t believe her.”