Ashton gets an ace

By MARVIN HOGAN, Sports Editor

August 22, 2008 12:17 pm

— Dorian Aston didn’t believe the shot went into the hole.
After using a nine-iron to put the shot pin high on the third hole at the Gainesville Golf Course, Aston didn’t see the ball go into the hole.
“Some friends of mine that were playing the round told me that it did go into the hole.”
“No it didn’t,” Aston said. “Yes, it did,” Jim Klement and Smoot Earnhart said.
Aston said the trio walked up to the hole and saw a big divit, where the ball hit the green. “We found the ball in the hole,” Aston said.
Many golfers would have been rattled by the event, Aston said, “but it didn’t hurt my game, at least not on the next hole.
“I made a birdie on the next hole,” Aston said.
The round ended with Aston shooting a 91. “I had one bad hole (shooting a nine) and that ruined the round,” Aston said. “Otherwise I played pretty well.”
David Hersman, of the Gainesville Municipal Golf Course, said golfers make a hole-in-one eight to 10 times a year at the facility.
“A lot depends on the number of people you have playing during the year,” he said. “If you have 20,000 coming through, you have less chances than if you have a course that has 40,000 rounds a year.
“Also the length of your course also has something to do with it. If you have a course with a lot of short, par 3 holes, you are going to have more than if most of your holes are par 4 or par 5.”