It’s rare to mention legendary golf designer Donald Ross in back-to-back days on a prep-level sports website.
But you know what is rarer? That’d be carding a two on a Par 5.
Known as an albatross or double eagle, it requires shooting three-under par on one hole. The odds of this shot are roughly 1-in-6,000,000.
And in competition on March 18 at the Ross-designed Athens Country Club, Greenbrier sophomore Jack Holley hit his golf ball 230 yards and into the cup on the 550-yard Par 5 4th hole.
“I really appreciate the guys; they push me to be better every day. And I appreciate Coach Casey Heckathorn like, coming out here and putting his time into us,” Holley told Augusta Press.
Holley’s 320-yard drive on No. 4 left 230-yards to the green, which features three bunkers on the left side of the approach and a deep bunker on the front-right side of the relatively square putting surface.
Off the tee, the fourth hole is relatively narrow but without fairway bunkers, a Ross-trait when he knows his greens, and bunkers provide the hole’s defenses. Requiring a perfect shot to just maintain the green, Holley’s ball careened toward the cup before dropping, etching the sophomore into the history books.
And on what an historic venue to accomplish the memorable feat. Holley would’ve beaten the legendary golfer Bobby Jones by one stroke on the hole if it were a head-to-head match … and 99 years ago.
According to Athens Country Club’s website, Alonzo ‘Lon’ Dudley was the founder of Athens Country Club in 1926 and wanted to build one of the best courses in the world. He’d seen previous Ross courses like Westchester Country Club in New York and hired Ross to lay out the 18 holes.
Thus, Athens Country Club is one of 11 others Ross-related courses in the state.
In the club’s opening round in 1926, Georgia Tech golfing legend Bobby Jones probably didn’t really want to travel to Athens, the home of the University of Georgia. “To hell with Georgia” he might have thought.
But – despite some possible Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate – the legendary Jones accepted the invitation and on the fourth hole, which has only slightly been altered since then, Jones chipped in for eagle. He finished the round with a 75 and said he enjoyed the course.
Holley helps lead a Greenbrier team that’s ranked inside the Top 25 in Class 5A according to the GHSA Golf app.
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