Ron Stewart poses with the ball he sunk from the tee on hole 14A at Cooke Municipal Golf Course on Sunday. It was the seventh ace of his career. (Cooke Municipal Golf Course/Facebook)

By Trevor Redden

Ace in the hole

Stewart’s Sunday ace the first of the season at Cooke

Jun 1, 2020 | 12:00 PM

It took just 10 days for Cooke Municipal Golf Course to see its first hole-in-one of the season.

On Sunday, Ron Stewart holed out from the tee on hole 14A as golfers enjoyed a warm but windy day on the course.

Stewart said the setup on 14A, which was being used because hole 12 is currently out of play, helped him out with the blustery conditions.

“It’s nestled in the trees enough that you don’t get affected too much by the wind. It was a pretty straightforward wedge. I just hit it well enough that it landed and rolled up straight at the hole,” Stewart said.

While they couldn’t see the end result from the tee box, his group became excited as they approached the green and didn’t see his ball. Rather than celebrating with high fives or handshakes, the foursome including Randy Hurd, Diarmuid Quill, and Shawn Williams practiced physical distancing with “putter taps.”

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This wasn’t the first time Stewart has recorded an ace. Nor was it the second, or third, or even fourth. This latest was the seventh hole-in-one of Stewart’s career.

Coincidentally, Tom Wormworth who stood as a best man at Stewart’s wedding also has seven, as the pair lead the way among Cooke regulars. Martin Ring is close behind at six. Stewart believes the provincial record belongs to George Cameron from the Duck Lake area with 12.

Stewart remembers all seven of his shots well but highlighted one that occurred on hole 17 at Cooke on a year when he had hole-in-one insurance.

“First prize of the insurance was a trip to Hawaii. However, I soon realized when I called the next day…unfortunately [the insurance company] went bankrupt just before I made my hole-in-one. So all they gave me was a couple hundred dollars in the lounge, which was consumed in a real hurry,” Stewart recalled with a laugh.

“I lost money on that deal,” he said.

Stewart is a familiar face in the local golf community with a long list of successes that earned him an induction into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. Most recently, he took the 2019 Senior Men’s Northern championship, and has three provincial amateur titles to his name as well.

As a lifetime member at Cooke, he said the quality of play during the pandemic is good, and more importantly he feels relieved to be able to play.

“It’s very easy to social distance on a golf course. You do it 99 per cent of the time anyway,” Stewart said. “You have to appreciate the fact that the golf course is open and go do the best you can. Really, the game hasn’t changed a great deal except the ball really doesn’t go right to the bottom of the hole.”

Golf tradition dictates anybody who sinks a hole-in-one is then responsible for buying the house a round in the clubhouse lounge upon returning. With the Rock and Iron restaurant at Cooke currently closed due to pandemic restrictions, Stewart said the debt will have to be paid at a later date.

“There is a bit of a plan in place to rectify that with the guys in the group. I told them I have a plan, they just don’t know what the plan is,” he said.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden