Lexington resident Joan Weinmayr walked up to the tee box on the 17th hole of Sagamore Spring Golf Club on June 12, free of hopes or expectations of what her tee shot might look like.
She joined a league at the golf course in Lynnfield to get outside, chat with friends, and work on a skill. She and her fellow golfers meet every Thursday to play 18 holes.
The hole measured 92 yards from the tee box she was hitting from to the center of the green. Weinmayr grabbed her five wood and lined up to take her shot.
“I must have hit it cleanly and perfectly because it had a wonderful sound,” she recalled. “I was so delighted with that sound and the straightness of it.”
That delight nearly eclipsed what quickly happened next.
The ball went into the air, soared straight ahead, landed on the grass, rolled through the fringe, onto the green, hit the center of the flag pole, and dropped in the cup.
“It was just so exciting, certainly, you’re just jumping inside, but before that, the sound was so beautiful…that’s what I was so excited about, and then it happened to go in at the same time,” she said. “It was just truly unbelievable.”
She realized what happened when the other golfers in her foursome, Esther Johnson, Kathy McSweeney, and Melissa Tuttman, started screaming.
“Others’ responses, it was such a warm feeling,” she said. “You just see how people genuinely feel and that was wonderful.” The players in the groups in front, behind, and to the side of Weinmayr’s ran over to congratulate her, too.
That enthusiasm continued when she walked into the clubhouse after the round.
“It was just so wonderful, when I walked through the door, so many people were there, they stood up and were applauding and singing a song I have never heard before,” she said.
She bought the golfers in the clubhouse a round of drinks, following the common post-hole-in-one tradition.
Weinmayr also plays in a large league called the “PineCones” at Pine Meadows in Lexington, which meets on Tuesday mornings to play nine holes. She told the Observer there are nearly 70 women in that league and a growing waitlist to join.
She’s played at the local municipal course since 1987, the year her son graduated from Lexington High School. Her friends, with whom she played tennis, were interested in learning how to golf at the time, so she took up the sport, too.
Asked if she found it difficult to get into a male-dominated sport in the 1980s, Weinmayr said, “no, not at all…we were always welcomed at different courses we played.” There are many public golf courses that would let anyone play, she said.
Weinmayr still plays golf today with some of the women she started playing with then, though she doesn’t play as regularly now due to health issues.
“I hoped and said that this would be ‘my year’, not to be great, but to be able to play the entire season,” she said. “I did not dream that the hole-in-one would happen.”
While Weinmayr is happy she got a hole-in-one, she doesn’t feel particularly gratified about the accomplishment. In fact, she feels getting an ace has more to do with luck than skill.
“It’s never something I was ever hopeful for or wishing or expecting, it just happened,” she said. “Who knows what is going to happen in life at any point.”
Weinmayr will continue to play in her leagues this summer, but does not have many golf-related plans beyond that. She said she will prioritize spending time with family and going to the beach.
Congratulations Joan! That’s very exciting.
Way to go mom!!!
Totally super-cool to experience with you!