The cost of a Hole-in-One

[Robster59]

This is always a lively topic when it comes up. I'm with @Albo and @banjofred on this.

It's largely softened up here in that I have never seen anyone literally buying everyone in the bar a drink. The standard is the person buys a bottle and puts it plus glasses on the bar for the following week. People take a shot and when it's gone, it's gone. It varies, from whiskey, port, baileys, probably some others.

At a push, I'd do the above, begrudgingly 😄. I certainly wouldn't buy individual drinks for strangers, it's a nonsense.

The same at our club. You put a drink of your choice (I've seen anything from Whisky to Sherry), and some glasses and that's it. Even that is down to the choice of the individual, but it's not onerous. I think the idea of getting a drink for everyone in the bar is fine if you want to do it, but should certainly not be compulsory.

 

[backwoodsman]

At ours you get £250 on your bar card. Up to you as to whether you buy drinks or not (and/or who for). Most folk buy a round for their social circle - or until the moneys gone.

 

[Yorkhacker]

I pay into something that costs £2.50 and if you get a hole in one, it covers whisky and you get £60. Every hole in one by a participant becomes a strike and when there have been 5 strikes you pay another £2.50 to carry on. £5 usually lasts a couple of years

 

[OnTour]

Had 2 don't drink so tap water all round.

 

[BiMGuy]

Nope. Why am I expected to buy a load of people I don’t know a drink because of a random act of luck? Another stupid golf tradition in my opinion.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Nope. Why am I expected to buy a load of people I don’t know a drink because of a random act of luck? Another stupid golf tradition in my opinion.

Point is that you are celebrating your luck and sharing the enjoyment of it with your fellow members. For most folks it’s a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence…and a heck of a lot cheaper than a lot we splurge our money on.

 

[evemccc]

What I would like to do:
Buy PP a drink and bar staff.

What I am expected to do at my club:
Buy anyone on the course / in the bar a drink.

Why give someone an unplanned and clearly un-budgeted for hit of up to £250 for something that should be a moment of joy / elation?

This is one of my club’s ‘traditions’ - when I raised this with several board members I was just told to get insurance..

I wish it wasn’t 🤪 But I need to get insurance anyway I’ll make sure this is included in it when I do

 

[nickjdavis]

If it is in an official Club Comp then the Committee will cover the cost of any drinks up to £200....but the "TAB" can only be opened by the player who got the HIO once he has returned to the clubhouse.

We had an instance in the past where someone else in the field heard about the HIO, got to the bar and said "so and so has had a HIO we need to open up the TAB so folks can have a drink"...by the time the player himself got in to the clubhouse a couple of hours later the TAB had closed as it reached the limit...so the poor player who got the HIO and the blokes in his group didnt get a drink. Not only that, but it transpired that more than a couple of folks had more than a couple of drinks from the TAB.

If you get one in a social round then just buy the rest of your group and anyone else you fancy a beer, coffee, coke...whatever...but no obligation to buy the entire clubhouse drinks.

 

[Liverpoolphil]

Nice and simple for us


Bottle of whisky behind the bar

I also bought playing partners a drink if they didn’t want a whisky

I then just replaced the whisky

You can claim it back through golf insurance with the club provided it’s in a comp


Also get £100 from the RAFGA for everyone hole in one which I donated to charity

 

[Crazyface]

Best get one when there is no one else in the bar.👍

 

[BiMGuy]

Point is that you are celebrating your luck and sharing the enjoyment of it with your fellow members. For most folks it’s a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence…and a heck of a lot cheaper than a lot we splurge our money on.

If people feel like they want to celebrate with others that is fine, and on them.

It shouldn’t be expected.

I’ve had 3. Only one was a decent shot. The other 2 were certainly nothing to celebrate.

 

[Orikoru]

No sure if I am covered or not...if I remember I'll check with the other guys today. But if I'm not covered, there is no way I'm buying drinks for a million people just because I finally lucked out and got a hole in one. I'm willing to put a decent bottle of something up on the bar.....but I'm not going into debt on such a silly tradition.

Agree with that. The idea of actually buying insurance to cover an optional social tradition just baffles me. If I ever get a hole in one I'll buy the drinks for my playing group, and maybe for one or two in the bar if I see anyone that I like, but buying drinks for everyone in the clubhouse, absolutely no chance.

 

[Neilds]

Just checked our rules, we also get a £50 bar credit to buy drinks if the HIO is during an official club competition - limited to first 10 HIO each year. You still get the option to put a bottle on the bar but this isn't covered by the £50 which is drinks only and only for the day of the HIO.

Aslo get £100 for the RAF Golf Association - not that I have needed it yet!

 

[Old Colner]

We have or did have insurance when I got my first one on a comp day so the club covered it, which was a bottle on the bar, when I got my second one during an evening round after work when the course was quiet I asked at the bar and a bottle was £40,I thought it would be an idea to have a bottle without the massive mark-up put aside for such an occasion.

 

[MiurasFan]

…and at mine the cost to the member is pretty much, if not actually, the cost to the club. I think I was charged about £18 for the bottle of Grouse that was put on the bar for my 49yd HI1 a few weeks ago.

I'm not sure that should count! But well done anyway!

 

[Imurg]

I sit here, fairly smug-faced, contemplating those who have yet to find out.......🤗😉

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I'm not sure that should count! But well done anyway!

I was sure..it didn‘t. However my chums in the rollup I’d been playing in decided that it did.

And so when I turned up the following week a bottle plus glasses were sitting on the bar with a notice congratulating me on my HI1. Various forms of suggestion that I should get my wallet out to pay for it were made…and of course I graciously succumbed and acceded to the suggestions 🙄

 

[Slab]

I was just mulling over what amount the bill would need to reach before I might start to regret getting a hole in one

As a resort course it’s quite possible that when I play a social round (when I’d be responsible for the bill) the bar area of my home club could have more non-golfers & tourist players in it rather than members, so I don’t really see me offering drinks en-masse

Certainly it’d have to be offered to the group I’m playing in, be that a 4-ball or a 30person roll-up, plus a few others that may come up and offer their congratulations etc

If it ever happens it’s probably a once in a lifetime thing so I’d want to celebrate with (& regale) the other players anyway (i.e if you want that free drink you’re gonna have to sit with me and listen to me tell the tale a dozen times or more!)

 

[nickjdavis]

Best get one when there is no one else in the bar.👍

£7 mine cost me back in 2005

 

[nickjdavis]

If it ever happens it’s probably a once in a lifetime thing so I’d want to celebrate with (& regale) the other players anyway (i.e if you want that free drink you’re gonna have to sit with me and listen to me tell the tale a dozen times or more!)

Oh jeez...we still hear from one of our group about how he bounced the ball off the rocks in the water hazard to the right of the 8th hole at the Montgomerie course in Belek, into the hole....and that must have been 12-15 years ago?

He's had about half a dozen in his lifetime but that's the one that keeps being regaled.