luckbox of the month
CHUCK MILLER’S LUCKY (SECOND) HOLE IN ONE By Jessica Christoffer
American golfers play
450 million rounds each year
50% 64
128,000 holes in one are scored each year of hole-in-one golfers are age 50 or older
luckbox | august 2019
straight as an arrow!” It was Miller’s second ace, on hole 17, that earned his luckbox designation. Again, with a 6-iron, shooting 138-yards toward a downhill, par-three, this tee shot was drastically different, and the luckbox outcome was undeserved, by Miller’s own admission. “It was a miracle the fluke shot even made it in the hole,” he said. “It wasn’t pretty but still only showed ‘one’ on the scorecard.” For a golfer who plays nearly 70 rounds a year (managing to shoot his age only three days earlier), securing a second career ace was far from unique. That lucky third ace was the outlier. The National Hole in One Registry puts the odds of a left-handed, 81-year old golfer notching two aces about one hour apart in the same round at about 69 million to one.
Average handicap of hole in one golfers:
14
69,000,000:1
Odds of making a hole in one are
3,500:1
The odds of Chuck Miller’s two aces in one round
Most PGA Tour career holes in one: 10 Robert Allenby and Hal Sutton
Most holes in one scored by a pro: 51 Mancil Davis
Most holes in one scored by an amateur: 59 Norman Manley
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF JOSHUA COOK / GHIDOTTI
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efty golfer Chuck Miller made his first hole in one in 1974. Then in late June of this year, the 81-year-old amateur notched two more aces. The most thrilling part? Miller shot his second and third holes in one at Little Rock’s Cortez Golf Course in the same round—an exceedingly rare event. On the PGA Tour, only three professional golfers have ever shot two holes in one in the same round. Miller’s first hole in one in this year’s fateful round came off a 6-iron at the 135-yard, par three, 12th hole. The tee shot made the seven-decade (20-handicap) golfer proud. “If there had been a tracer like we see on the TV coverage of the shots pros make during tournaments, it would have shown a beautiful high shot that never varied in its trajectory from tee to green,” Miller told luckbox. “It was