Stephen Brown (left) and father Vic have netted five aces the last two years.

Tee feats: CVGC's Browns break ace drought in unbelievable fashion

  Vic and his son Stephen played Chester Valley Golf Club — their home course — alongside friend Mike Ryan, Jr. Vic arrived at No. 7 – a downhill par 3 with a back-center hole location – with a 7-iron in hand.

  “I hit a really good shot,” Vic, 64, of Paoli, Pa., said. “It hit the middle of the green and rolled and plopped right in. We couldn’t believe it. It was amazing.”

  “It was elation and then it turned into relief,” Stephen, 33, of Kennett Square, Pa., added. “We heard stories from his friends who’ve had two or three. I was glad I was there, especially for his first one.”

  Fast-forward to this past June. Stephen competed in Chester Valley’s club championship qualifier – a two-day, 36-hole event with the low 15 scorers and the tournament’s defending champion advancing into match play. He attacked No. 7 – measuring 200 yards from the back tees that day – with a 6-iron. Stephen saw his golf ball land 10 feet short of the flagstick and track toward the cup. Uncertainty clouded his hopes of hole-in-one grandeur.

  “We drove down and there was nothing on the green,” he said. “We get out of the cart. I didn’t take any clubs with me because I wanted to see what I had. I’m looking in the back, five or 10 yards behind the green, and no ball. I gingerly walked up to the hole. I’m sort of peaking over, and sitting in the back of the cup, it’s there. I start screaming and yelling like you wouldn’t believe.

  “It was fun. My score proceeded to plummet. I shot 37 on the front and 47 on the back because I was beside myself.”

  The Brown ace scoreboard: Dad 1, Son 1.

  In August, Vic joined friends Joe Rafter and Joe Zulli for a round at Chester Valley. On No. 5, an uphill par 3 featuring a back-right hole location, he hit a solid 3-hybrid, but lost sight of his golf ball mid-flight.

  “I knew it’d be reasonably close,” Vic, an adjunct business professor at Ursinus College, said. “I wouldn’t dare walk onto the green without a club in my hand, so I took my wedge and putter with me, thinking [my golf ball] just rolled off the back. Joe Zulli was walking ahead of me. He looked in the hole and said, ‘There it is.’”

  Stephen soon received a text message from Jonathan Doctor that simply read, “You’re behind.” The Brown ace scoreboard: Dad 2, Son 1.

  A week and half after Vic’s second career ace and the family’s third overall, Stephen, a sales manager for Coilplus, retreated to the club after work in preparation of a one-day, Member-Guest at Gulph Mills Golf Club. He completed a driving range session and decided to play Nos. 10-14 – a stretch situated on the other side of Swedesford Road. Elizabeth Granahan, an instructor at Chester Valley, and one of her students arrived at the 10th hole, an imposing par 3 that measures 217 yards from the tips. With witnesses now present, Stephen proceeded to smash a solid 4-iron.

  “I see it land, roll and disappear. I just assume it’s gone past the hole,” he said. “I get to the green and there’s a ball mark four feet in front of the hole. I said, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.’”

  To make his ace official, however, Stephen needed to post a minimum of nine holes. With daylight beginning to dwindle, he raced around the golf course and finished the 18th hole at 7:10 p.m., leaving time for a front-nine venture. Stephen bumped into fellow member Michael Civitello and his employer on No. 4 and feverishly explained the circumstances. He played through the two and tackled No. 5, site of Vic’s second ace. Stephen knocked 6-iron to the rear of the green and watched his golf ball roll down the slope.

  “I walk over to the hole, and by this point, Mike and his boss have pulled up to the tee-box,” he said. “The ball is sitting in the hole. I’ve said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ They [Civitello and his employer] didn’t see me swing, so it’s unofficial. I called Jonathan [Doctor] and said, ‘You’re not going to believe this.’”

  According to US Hole In One, an insurance organization based in Bryn Mawr, Pa., the odds of a player carding two aces in one round are 1 in 26,045,834.

  “He texted me after the first one,” Vic said. “I was having dinner with a friend in Chester Springs. Before I finished dinner, I got another text. He said to me, ‘Even though his last one was unofficial, in our family, do you agree that I’m ahead, 3-2? I said, ‘Yes.’”

  So Stephen’s achievement stands, and the Brown ace scoreboard now reads: Son 3, Dad 2.