[efnef]

Played with a buddy this Sunday. On a par 3, 190 yards downhill. Can see the entire green surface from tee. He struck an absolutely perfect iron. Already while in flight I said it can't be struck better.

Touch down. One skip. Ball rolled perfectly towards pin. GONE! Whohoo!

Cheers, joy, jumping up-and-down. Clapping.

Until....

We moved a yard left or right. Hmm. Is there maybe something white at the bottom of the stick?... Ball resting against the pin or what?

The ball ended up more or less one feet exactly behind the flagstick. There was no way we could see it from where we stood on tee. Must have been the perfect distance from behind the pin to hide the ball when looking from more or less the right angle.

The birdie was a gimmie, but one of the rare sour ones.

Anyway we got a taste of the excitement.

The closest I got to an ace was a little island par 3 like the infamous 17th. I stuck a nine iron to about 2 feet, it rolled to the cup and hung on the lip. When we got to the green, we saw that the ball was in an unrepaired ball mark that had pushed the turf up above the cup making it impossible for the ball to roll into the hole. Sat there like a pea in a pod.