Hartwell, Misuraca net aces

By Chris Kinkaid
St. Tammany News
Published on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 9:42 AM CST



Dave Hartwell and Victor Misuraca both drained their first hole-in-one at Royal Golf Club just three days apart.

Misuraca, 57 and a Chalmette resident, earned his on Oct. 21, while playing the 17th hole. He did it from 145 yards away using a 7-iron.

Misuraca, who said he has been playing for about 20 years, is retired and estimates he plays between 2-5 times per week at various courses. Misuraca said he competes in tournaments about twice a month.

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His ace was witnessed by Richard Labourdette and Jerry Krummel. Before he stepped up to the tee, Krummel said he jokingly told Misuraca he wanted to see him make a hole-in-one.

Krummel, who has one career ace at Breakway, located outside of Chalmette, talked about what he saw.

“When he hit it, I looked up in the air and said, ‘aw man, beautiful shot.’ It hit the green. The green kind of slopes down to the right. The ball kept rolling with the slope. The first thing you know, the ball was out of sight, gone and in the hole. All three of us got excited,” Krummel said.

Misuraca said he had an eight-iron, but thought better of it, went back and grabbed a seven-iron. The decision worked.

“I hit it nice. It had a little loft to it. It landed right on top the hill, we saw it rolling and then it disappeared into the hole,” Misuraca said.

He also talked about the feeling he had after he recorded the hole-in-one.

“It was beautiful,” he said. “It’s something you don’t think you’ll get one in your life. You hear of people getting them. I guess it’s lucky. I’ve been playing a lot since I’m retired. You have a better shot of getting one the more you play.”

Just three days later and five days after he celebrated his 60th birthday, Hartwell of Slidell, recorded his initial career hole-in-one. Hartwell, who has been playing since he was 13, accomplished his feat on the seventh hole, using a nine-iron from 145 yards out.

He ended up making par that round with a 72, his best ever at Royal.

He said his career best round is 68, which he shot at City Park.

Hartwell said it was straight at the flag.

“I knew it was real close,” Hartwell said. “The two guys I was with were yelling, ‘man, it’s all over it.’ It hit, took one hop and was in.”

Hartwell said he was kind of in shock at first.

“It was just like, finally. I’ve been waiting 47 years,” Hartwell said.

His feat was witnessed by Rick Bakay and John Ciruti.

Bakay, who also had an ace back in 1984 at Eden Isles, talked about Hartwell’s shot.

“It was high, fading and one bounce into the hole,” Bakay said. “It was a good shot. He normally hits a fade and it was on target.”


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