Best Amateur Round Ever? Golfer Hits Three Holes-in-One on Lorton Course

One of the most remarkable rounds of golf ever recorded just happened in our own backyard.

Patrick Wills, a 59-year-old Woodbridge resident and retired U.S. Marine, shot a 57 — that’s right, a 57 — after a round at one of GolfStyles Media Group’s annual Solstice Survival tournaments on June 22, according to GolfStyles. The round was played at Laurel Hills Golf Club in Lorton, Virginia.

Wills, a plus-four handicap who has reportedly not shot worse than a 70 in a Solstice Survival tournament in more than a decade, outdid himself with his 57 this year. His previous best was a 58, which is also remarkable, shot in 2011.

But what makes Wills’ round truly astounding is not that he posted a sub-60 score for the second time in a decade, or that he did so nearing the age of 60, or that his average score per round in these tournaments is a 66 despite his amateur status.

It’s that he drilled three hole-in-ones in the same round. Nay, it’s that he drilled three hole-in-ones, with two coming on Par 4s.

GolfStyles did some math to calculate just how improbable it is to shoot a round like Wills did. The numbers did not disappoint.

The odds of recording a hole-in-one for a player of Wills’ caliber are approximately 5,000-to-1. Those odds aren’t exactly as improbable as winning the Powerball jackpot.

But the odds of calculating two holes-in-one in the same round shoot up to 67 million-to-1. And both of his first two aces came on Par 4s. As GolfStyles puts it, the odds of hitting two holes-in-one on Par 4s in the same round are about the same as your odds to win the Mega Millions and the Powerball jackpot on the same day.

Then Willis hit another hole-in-one, this time on a Par 3. The odds of acing three holes in one outing are worse than 2 billion-to-1. That didn’t stop Wills from defying those odds.

Yahoo! Sports spoke with tournament director and GolfStyles publisher Michael Keating about the course the day Wills posted his legendary score, and Keating noted the course was designed to get easier as players progressed from Hole 1 to 18. Still, players competed from the white tees that day, and the course played more than 6,000 yards.

Wills told Yahoo! that skepticism from the public has not put a damper on his ability to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime, and perhaps once-in-humanity, feat on the golf course.

“People are allowed to believe what they want to believe — I fought for that freedom,” Wills, the retired Marine, told Yahoo! Sports. “But I know what I shot, my playing partners know what I shot and the people at the tournament do as well.”

His playing partners, according to Yahoo!, were his sons Charlie and Christopher, both members of the armed forces, as well as Air Force major Matt Ghormley. All three vouch for Wills’ score.

“I cannot remember if I called out in joy or broke down in disbelief,” Wills told GolfStyles. “ I have been caddying and playing golf since I was a little boy and never experienced anything like this.”