Why should I have to buy everyone drinks if I make a hole-in-one? Now, keep in mind, I, Christopher Powers, have personally never made a hole-in-one, which may cloud my judgement on this matter.
But I am a man who loves a good tradition, particularly the kind that no one can trace the origin of. The buying-drinks-for-everyone-after-an-ace tradition fits that bill. If you Google where it began, you’ll get a very questionable AI-produced tale about a man named James B. Marker making a hole-in-one at the 17th hole at Pebble Beach in 1921, then buying everyone a shot of whiskey in the clubhouse. I reached out to Neal Hotelling, who has spent decades of his life unraveling the history of Pebble Beach, writing three books on the iconic golf course, to confirm if this story was accurate. While Hotelling said he’d love for Pebble to be able to claim the tradition, that was the first time he had heard that tale. Thanks for nothing, Google AI.
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Being the tireless researcher he is, Hotelling did help me find some potential starting points for the hole-in-one tradition via newspapers.com. One article from 1901 states that it may have began in Indiana at Dyker Meadow Golf Club, which set a policy that “the maker of a hole-in-one is ‘fined’ a bottle of scotch.” A 1906 article from Australia cited that “an immemorial Scots golfing law that a caddie is entitled to a bottle of whiskey on his master doing a hole-in-one” and that it was improved upon in 1903. An article from 1912 in Manchester, England referenced a “usual penalty” for a hole-in-one, indicating the tradition had been well established by then. Finally, a 1915 clipping from Yorkshire discussed a hole-in-one made in 1894 and speculates that the hole-in-one penalty had not been invented yet, but that the occasion would not be allowed to pass un-celebrated.
In other words, no closer to a definitive answer.
Two words you’ll notice from those newspaper clippings are “fined” and “penalty,” which are apt for those who do have the fortune having made an elusive ace. It’s as if you are being punished for the improbable, once-in-a-lifetime feat. The odds of making a hole-in-one as an average golfer are 1 in 12,500.
Bradley Turner, a PGA Professional who writes a blog for Keiser University’s College of Golf, made an interesting point in a 2021 post on this matter. Turner writes that the tradition may have originally been that the golfer who made the hole-in-one received drinks from their friends, which, naturally, could have led to players falsely claiming aces for free drinks. The tradition then evolved to the player who made the hole-in-one having to buy the drinks, as a way of 1. proving it, and 2. celebrating their good fortune with others. When you think of it this way, the tradition that has never made sense does make a little bit of sense.
Then there’s the private club “hole-in-one insurance” factor, where club members pay part of their dues into a hole-in-one fund of sorts to cover large bar tabs when someone does make one. This is probably the best possible way to handle this tradition, allowing everyone to celebrate the achievement together no matter who makes it.
But what about regular folk? The public course weekend warriors who happen to make an ace at the local muni on a Saturday morning and want to celebrate afterward without having to spend a fortune on some random strangers? In this case, the hole-in-one should be celebrated with only the people in your group. Of course, some public courses do have paying members or leagues or events that create a community, a situation that sparked quite a Reddit debate in August of 2024 when a young man in his 20s made a hole-in-one with his buddies during his weekly golf league and was chastised by an older man who runs the league for not buying everyone a drink that night.
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Situations like that, to me, only further highlight the silliness of the tradition itself. If you tradition is causing you to lash out at a person for not paying for something they may not have the means to pay for, you may need to reassess the existence of the tradition. If someone is not comfortable spending a lot of money, they should not be forced to.
Where I ultimately land on this is that the hole-in-one tradition is the most situational tradition in golf. In a world where you have to CHOOSE A SIDE for every single debate, let’s start introducing some nuance into nuanced situations. Private club with hole-in-one insurance? Everybody drinks! Public course where you’re just out with your three buddies and make one? You should absolutely go celebrate as a foursome, whether it’s in the clubhouse bar, a restaurant three miles away or your own house. A solo hole-in-one—which I firmly believe is how I’m going to make my first—that no one saw and no one’s going to believe you made anyway? Run home like Charlie Bucket, tell your family, tell your friends, say you’re buying a 30-rack and if anyone wants to come join, the door’s open. But the No. 1 thing you should do above all if you make a hole-in-one is celebrate that achievement for yourself and then handle the tradition however you want to handle it. It’s your ace and no one else’s.
Do you have a “stupid” golf problem? A question you’re too ashamed to ask your close friends? A conundrum that needs to be talked out in a public forum? We’re here to help. If you have etiquette-related inquiries or just want to know how to handle some of the unique on- or off-course situations we all find ourselves in, please let us know. You can email me ([email protected]) or send me a DM on Twitter/X (@Cpowers14) or on Instagram (@cpthreeve).
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
