'1-in-67 million odds': Ontario man makes two holes-in-one in same round

The odds were 1 in 67 million John Payne of Woodstock, Ont. recounts his two holes-in-one while playing a round at Sally Creek Golf Club on Oct. 22, 2023.

John Payne of Woodstock, Ont. waited 62 years to make his first career hole-in-one.

It took him less than a half-hour to make his second.

“I don't even think it's really sunk in yet,” said Payne after acing holes three and seven at Sally Creek Golf Club in Woodstock, Ont. on Sunday.

The odds of making two holes-in-one in the same round are roughly 1 in 67 million according to the National Hole in One Registry. The feat has only been accomplished three times on the PGA Tour.

The two aces come after the semi-retired Payne had been watching his playing partners make aces on three separate occasions this year.

“He describes himself as a “professional hole-in-one witness” and wondered when was it his turn?

“Nobody was more shocked than guys I golf with because they know how badly I suck at this game,” joked Payne, who says he is a 13 or 14 handicap.

Payne said him and playing partners Tom Shaddick and Jake Deverell went out to play the nine-hole course early Sunday morning with temperatures barely above zero degrees Celsius.

“We got to hole number three and it is a 104-yard-blind shot and they (Payne’s playing partners) said they heard [the ball] hit the stick,” said Payne. “We walked up and, boom! There it was in the cup. We went nuts.”

After a brief celebration and taking a couple photos, they moved on.

Three holes later they got to the seventh hole.

“Another shot that went up, and I think that was about 117 yards,” said Payne. “Again, it went in. The sun was kind of in our eyes so we didn't really see it go up there, and there it was in the cup.”

He said at that point, Shaddick got out his phone to look up the odds of two aces in one round. When he was told of the astronomical chances, Payne was astonished.

“I thought about going out and getting [a] lottery ticket, but I thought maybe I've drained the tank on my luck already today,” laughed Payne.

He described Sally Creek Golf Club as a “difficult, short track” and with the cold temperatures, it was playing tough Sunday.

Payne still shot in the “mid-80’s,” even with two holes in one.

“They are short par threes, but even from those yardages to put them in I’m really happy,” he said. “I’m also happy for all the bogey-golfers out there who aren’t scratch or low handicappers to know that it can happen. My handicap is in the mid-teens and it can happen if you keep grinding and hitting the ball.”