Shelby junior Eli Winchester's hole-in-one 'an awesome feeling'

BELLVILLE - Shelby junior golfer Eli Winchester stepped on the tee on hole No. 3 at Deer Ridge on Wednesday ready to get his round started on the right note.

He took his back swing, torqued his hips, clipped the grass a bit and followed through. Now he was warmed up.

Starting on hole No. 3 at Deer Ridge Golf Course in a Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference match against Clear Fork, Winchester then approached his ball and repeated the very same motion. He made crisp, clean contact with the ball for his first shot of the round.

"I took one practice swing just to loosen up," Winchester said. "I have been hitting a draw after usually hitting a cut or a fade. So I committed to the draw. The hole had a front location so I aimed to the right, hit it and it drew back for me."

The ball drew back perfectly landing softly on the front of the green. It took one small bounce and released trickling into the cup for his first hole-in-one. One swing, one stroke.

"I told the ball it had to go," Winchester said. "I didn't think I put enough on it because it was into the wind. The yardage was 165. People said it hit the front of the green, bounced one more time and trickled in."

As the ball found the bottom of the cup, Winchester heard cheers from Shelby fans who gathered around the green to watch as Whippet golfers made their way up No. 2 fairway and playing the Par 3. It was the only way Winchester knew the ball went in because of the cat tails poking out of the pond guarding the front, right of the green.

Winchester went on to par the next two holes before finishing the round with a 48.

"It is an awesome feeling," Winchester said. "I've always wanted to hit one and I've come close many times. No. 5 at Shelby I rolled right past it so it was really cool to hit one."

How he was able to keep his cool after jarring one on his very first swing of the day is nothing short of a miracle.

 "Coach (Justin Schroder) always talks to us about mental focus," Winchester said. "Hitting a hole-in-one is cool and all, but you have to keep your head after that. You can't start getting cocky and you need to continue to play smart. I ended up with a 48. Not a terrible round considering how hard it is to putt on Deer Ridge's greens."

After the ace, social media blew up as Shelby Athletics tweeted about the feat as soon as it happened prompting six retweets and 23 likes with a couple of, "Great job, Eli!" replies. The Shelby Country Club, the Whippets' home course, posted Winchester's ace on Facebook gathering 147 likes and 24 comments of congratulations.

Winchester was grateful for every word, but was most excited about what his teammates and classmates had to say the following day.

"They all were really excited for me and congratulated me," Winchester said. "I had a bunch of compliments at school today. I go to Pioneer so I don't know that many people, but everyone I saw either saw it on Twitter or Facebook."

All much deserved on a job well done.

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

Twitter: @JakeFurr11