Ashley and Bob Maze carded holes-in-one within two weeks of one another.

Father, daughter turn up aces at The Springhaven Club

  The Amazing Maze’s.

  Sounds like a circus act. This one, however, doesn’t entertain by showcasing large animals and acrobatics under the big top. Bob and his daughter Ashley turn tricks on the golf course.

  The Springhaven Club members carded aces within two weeks of one another. Ashley did so during the club’s anniversary tournament July 14, which coincided with her 30th birthday. Playing alongside her mother Vicki and good friend Tory Valente, she attacked the par 3, 180-yard 13th hole with a driver.

  “I thought it just rolled behind the pin,” Ashley, 30, of Conshohocken, Pa., said. “I couldn’t see that far. I hit it and all I thought was I hit it perfectly. I wasn’t expecting it to go in.”

  Valente and Vicki Maze sensed Ashley’s golf ball found its way into the cup. Two women playing from an adjacent fairway ran to the 13th green, inspected the hole and raised their arms to signify an ace.

  “Everyone was hi-fiving and hugging,” Ashley said. “There were other groups screaming. It was like an echo.”

  Bob, who was on the 12th hole at the time, heard a roar and immediately knew the source.

  “She’s so good,” he said. “She hits the ball so flush and straight. It was exciting. The place was packed. It was a great time to have one.”

  Eleven days later, Bob participated in his usual Thursday night league. He arrived at the 160-yard No. 3 and equipped a 7-iron.

  “It was probably the best shot I’ve hit in a long time,” Bob, 59, of Broomall, Pa., said. “It was dead straight right at it. I thought it was going to be a really good shot. I saw it was going right toward the flag, so I reached down to pick up the tee and started walking to the cart. Everybody started screaming, ‘I think it went in.’ I wasn’t even thinking hole-in-one. I was thinking, ‘get it close and make a birdie.’ I should’ve watched it, but I thought I got what I was looking for. I hit a green.”

  Ashley, an account executive for a firm in Center City, occasionally meets her father at The Springhaven post-work. She happened to come out the night of his ace.

  “I met him in the No. 7 fairway and was like, ‘Seriously?’” Ashley said.

  “I had to one-up her,” Bob added.

  Bob now holds six career aces, Ashley three. The two play golf together once or twice a week. Like any generous father, Bob allots his daughter three strokes when they compete in a nine-hole match.

  “We always get to No. 9 and it’s tied,” he says. “I look at her and I say what?”

  “He says, ‘Alright Ash, now I’m going to take you out,’” Ashley adds. “It always comes down to No. 9 and I blow it.”

  “I don’t let her win. I’m trying to beat her,” Bob said.

  The Maze’s credence at The Springhaven goes beyond the aces. Bob won the men’s club championship in 1991 and 1997, Ashley the women’s in 2012. And the memories certainly don’t stop there.

  “We spent a lot of time out there, even when she was very young,” Bob, a 31-year member, said. “I could get her here if I said you could drive the cart. She was obsessed. When she was a baby, I’d set her in the car seat at the end of the range stall. She would just watch me hit balls. I had practice putting green strip, and I’d have her sit on the other end of it. The ones that didn’t go in, I’d have her grab and send them back.”

  “I’ve had a lot of people say, ‘How did you ever get this relationship with your daughter? Father-daughters are unique, but not like her and me. I think a lot of it started with golf.”