Duke’s 12th Hole-in-One This Year Aces World Record

She will be a topic of discussion on the 19th hole for a long time now. Her name has made the record books.

With one mighty swing and a lucky bounce, Donna Duke of Camarillo accomplished what no other golfer has accomplished. Her hole-in-one on the 18th hole at Clark Golf Course at the Pt. Mugu Naval Air Base on Friday gave her a record 12 aces in a calendar year. Since Sept. 22 of last year, she has 14.

Duke, 54, is not a professional golfer. She’s a retired civil service worker who hadn’t made in ace in 14 years of trying before the start of her incredible streak.

Duke’s hole-in-one broke a 23-year record of 11 aces in a year by Dr. Boyd Stone of Bakersfield. That mark was recognized as the record by Golf Digest magazine, which verifies each ace. The record listed by the magazine for career holes in one is 54 by Norman Manley of Long Beach.

The Guinness Book of World lists a career record of 66 by Harry Lee Bonner of San Rafael, Calif. Most of Bonner’s aces were made on his own 9-hole golf course, however.

Of Duke’s 13 aces, five have come at Saticoy and four at Camarillo Springs (her home course). This was her second at Pt. Mugu.

Duke did not have the advantage of a 9-hole course.

Her ace on Friday came on a 274-yard, par-4 hole. Sure, there was a stiff wind blowing, but aides at the course estimate the ball still carried more than 220 yards over a lane of 20-foot high trees to reach the green.

“I knew I hit it good,” Duke said. “We lost sight of the ball as it cleared the trees so we had to look for it. We looked in the sand trap. We looked past the green. We looked out of bounds. Finally I said, ‘Hey, has anyone looked in the hole?’ ”

She should have known to check there first. Duke was hot Thursday, shooting a 78 and playing the back nine in one-under-par. “I had everything going for me,” she said. “I couldn’t have played any better.”

Her only bad hole was No. 9, the same hole as No. 18, but with a different tee position. “I made the green,” Duke said. “But I four-putted from there.” Next time around she skipped the putting all together.

Duke is a good golfer. A 15 handicapper. But she plays only two or three times a week. She would just as soon garden than whack a golf ball around a manicured lawn all day.

When she saw the ball in the hole, she was so relieved that she sat down on the green and cried. Hardly the way to celebrate a record, but Duke simply couldn’t control her relief.

The record had been weighing on her mind, she said. Every time she picked up a golf club, she had ace on her mind.

“Today was one of the few days I felt like going out and playing a nice, quiet round of golf,” Duke said. “Today was also one of the first days that no one said anything about making a hole-in-one. I never even thought about it today, and look what happened.”

The pressure from skeptics was tremendous.

Duke felt the most of that in January when she aced holes on three straight days and three different courses. Lois Haines, Assistant Editor of Golf Digest, called it an unprecedented achievement.

Duke said maintenance workers were sent out to spy on her at one local course she often plays. They

followed her, she said, peeking around trees.

Was she kicking it in? Was she rolling it in? Could she simply be writing a 1 on her scorecard? “Maybe they think I have a trained pet gopher who is picking

the ball up with his teeth and dropping it in the hole,” Duke said.

Whatever their suspicions, they never did see her cheat.

Duke has one big advantage over such pessimists: Witnesses--28 of them.

Each of her holes in one have been verified by at least three other golfers, who have then signed certification cards at the course. The card is then signed by the course’s pro and sent to Golf Digest, which checks with each witness before verifying the ace.

The number of witnesses has helped Duke gain the acceptance of local golf teaching pros.

“I know Donna has a good golf swing, and I know that she’s not taking her two best friends out on the course all the time and coming in and saying she’s had an ace,” said Nancy Bannon, the LPGA pro at Saticoy Regional.

John Colby, the pro at Camarillo Springs, is another Duke backer.

“She just doesn’t seem like the type of person who would make something like that up,” Colby said. “Her lady friends don’t either.”

The latest to be convinced is Modesto Ortiz, a recreational aide at the Pt. Mugu course.

“She’s unbelievable, that Donna Duke,” Ortiz said. “Such a strong woman. I probably would doubt her if I didn’t know one of the women in her foursome real well. She said it went in, so it must have. I wish I knew how she did that.”

So does everyone else.

DONNA DUKE: 14 HOLES IN ONE

No. Date Course Hole Length Club 1 9-22-84 Ojai Valley 17th 110 yards 7 iron 2 11-19-84 Kauai Surf Club 17th 149 yards 5 iron 3 1-16-85 Saticoy Regional 16th 194 yards 3 wood 4 1-21-85 Clark/Pt. Magu 11th 153 yards 7 wood 5 1-22-85 Camarillo Springs 12th 139 yards 7 wood 6 1-23-85 Saticoy Regional 16th 194 yards 5 wood 7 1-30-85 Saticoy Regional 7th 213 yards Driver 8 3-5-85 Camarillo Springs 15th 134 yards 6 iron 9 3-12-85 Camarillo Springs 12th 163 yards 5 wood 10 3-21-85 North Kern County 7th 135 yards 6 iron 11 4-1-85 Saticoy Regional 8th 160 yards 7 wood 12 4-23-85 Camarillo Springs 7th 140 yards 7 wood 13 6-26-85 Saticoy Regional 15th 132 yards 7 wood 14 7-26-85 Clark/Pt. Magu 18th 274 yards Driver