By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
Rick Tinder has been golfing since about the age of 10.
Now in his 50s, Tinder couldn’t claim one of the all-time greatest feats of a golfer until last week – a hole-in-one.
And Tinder did on a big stage, too, with more than a little something riding on the outcome.
Playing hole No. 12 at Browns Lake Golf Course Sept. 17 for the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce golf outing, Tinder used an 8-iron to land a Titleist ball about six feet in front of the pin – from which point “it rolled straight in.”
In addition to getting a hole-in-one, Tinder won $10,000 for the hole as part of the chamber event.
“They had bought event prize insurance for the hole,” said Tinder. “The only way to win that was by an elusive hole in one.”
The prize was sponsored by Boardwalk Apartments.
When Tinder said “elusive,” he meant it. He’s hit the flagstick a few times, and seen the ball drift to about a foot of the hole without falling.
The magic suddenly culminated last week.
“It’s kind of surreal at that moment that it actually went in,” said Tinder, who was golfing with Tom Follis and Kent Strong.
Follis actually hit a shot within 10 feet of the hole, and Tinder said his goal was “to just get inside of his.”
“Tom told me first that he thought it went in,” Tinder said. “Then I heard the witnesses … I heard them screaming.
“When they were screaming and jumping up and down by the green, I was pretty sure it must’ve gone in.”
Tinder is now in the market for a “fun, used little sports car,” something he’s been considering for about a year.
But even bigger, perhaps, is the accomplishment.
“I like to golf,” Tinder said. “You hear about other people getting them. It’s something you can cross off your bucket list as having done.”
Tinder’s hole-in-one was the second at the hole this summer. In Browns Lake Women’s Golf Club action July 17, Sue Weis also finished the hole with a single shot.
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