Florida man waits four decades for ace, makes two in one round

JD Schlotterback waited almost four decades to hit his second hole-in-one. The Naples golfer only had to wait for seven holes to bury No. 3.

Schlotterback, 55, buried two aces on Feb. 11 at the Golf Club of the Everglades. The first came with a 9-iron at the 160-yard hole No. 4 . His second was with a pitching wedge at the 147-yard hole No. 11.

“It’s just surreal,” Schlotterback said. “I don’t know how to explain it. I go 38 years in between hole-in-ones, and then to have another one just two par-3s later is crazy.”

Schlotterback, who played collegiate golf at Mount Mercy University in Iowa, hit his first hole-in-one in the 1985 Waterloo Open when he was just 17.

In between his first and second ace, Schlotterback spent 10 years as a club professional and played one season on the Sunbelt Senior Tour in 2017. He’s played in a number of amateur competitions and earned a fifth-place finish in last year’s Florida Senior Open, as well as the first alternate spot in the U.S. Senior Open.

Schlotterback has his sights set on the upcoming Florida State Golf Association season. His continued practice has helped him play at a high level as of late, culminating in a once-in-a-lifetime round of golf.

The irony of it all, Schlotterback wasn’t even supposed to play golf that day. One of his close friends asked him to come with some out-of-town guests and he reluctantly agreed, if only to spend a light and easy afternoon on the course.

“I practice quite a bit because I’m going to be playing in a lot of the Florida State Golf Association things this year, so I kind of hesitantly said yes,” Schlotterback said, “It was just a nice and relaxing day.”

After starting the first three holes 2-under, Schlotterback had a great shot on hole four, but never assumed it was his first ace in over three decades.

“It was kind of a back-pin, so it disappeared but I said ‘You know, I think it’s behind the hole,’” he said. “Like I said, 38 years between hole-in-one number one and two. You come so close you get to the point where it’s just ‘Yeah, it’s behind the hole probably.’”

But ecstatic neighbors near the hole alerted Schlotterback that the ball did, in fact, roll in for an ace. The group celebrated the shot, then continued on with the round. He finished the front-nine 5-under but hit it into the water on his second shot of the back-nine.

Schlotterback lipped out from 88 yards and saved par on hole No. 10. Headed to hole No. 11, he…