It took 50 years of golfing for Paul Edsten of Eagan to record his first hole-in-one. He didn't even have to wait until his next tee time for his second.
Playing with two friends Sunday morning at Mendakota Country Club in Mendota Heights, Edsten accomplished the jaw-dropping feat of shooting two holes-in-one in the same round.
About three hours after acing the 140-yard No. 2 using a 9-iron, Edsten did it again on the 192-yard No. 14 using a 4-hybrid.
"The first one hit a little left of the hole on a slope and rolled right into the cup," said Edsten, 63, a 7 handicapper who started golfing when he was 13 and has been a Mendakota member for 15 years. "We could see it clearly and went a little crazy after that one.
"On the second one, the pin was at the back of the green, and we couldn't tell for sure. We thought it might have rolled off the green. We got to the green and didn't see it. We checked the back of the green and one of my friends said that I should check the hole. I still didn't believe it. But it was in the cup. I just said, 'Really?' "
Edsten finished his round with a score of 79.
"Not very good when considering two aces," he said.
Mark Aldrich, who works in the pro shop at Mendakota, arrived for work Sunday just as Edsten was finishing his round.
"I heard someone say [about Edsten], 'There's the man of the hour,' " Aldrich said. "And I said, 'How's that?' They said, 'You haven't heard?' "
Aldrich said the reaction to Edsten's feat "was phenomenal. Everyone was just flabbergasted. It was fun. Everybody was happy and couldn't believe it."
Traditionally a golfer who shoots a hole-in-one buys drinks in the clubhouse after the round. At Mendakota, each member is charged $2 — essentially ace insurance — to open a tab when there is a hole-in-one. So each of Mendakota's 330 members got billed $4 on Sunday for Edsten's stroke(s) of luck/skill.
According to The National Hole In One Registry, the odds of making two aces in the same round are roughly 67 million to 1.
