Playing off the blue tees, I was having one of my best rounds—sitting at +4 through 7 holes. On the 8th tee, I measured the pin at 140 yards, tucked at the front. With a steady 15 km/h headwind, I knew my 8-iron wouldn’t quite get there, so I decided to club up to a 7-iron, which I usually hit about 155.

I struck the ball clean, and it was tracking straight at the flag. I asked my group, half-joking, “Is that in?” But the pin was shaded by trees, making it tough to see. From the tee, it looked like the ball had settled right beside the cup—there was a small white speck by the hole, and another golfer confirmed they’d seen it bounce.

As I walked up, one of my playing partners in a cart reached the green first and shouted back that it was in. I immediately yelled, “Please don’t lie!”—not wanting to get my hopes up. But sure enough, when I got to the green, there it was in the hole! The “white speck” we thought was my ball turned out to be a leaf. My shot had landed about 3.5 yards short, took a perfect roll, and dropped in for my first-ever hole-in-one.

I blacked out the next couple of holes and was speechless for most of the round.