Odds of making a hole in one on a par-4? Up to 6 million-to-1. And this golfer did it

The National Hole in One Registry places the odds that you, the average golfer, will record an ace while knocking around your local muni at 12,000-to-1. Your odds of shooting an “albatross” — a hole in one on a par-4 (most holes in one are nailed on par-3s) — are even more steep:

Try a staggering 6 million-to-1, according to the Double Eagle Club (though some believe it might be closer to 1 million-to-1).

Yet that’s precisely what Overland Park’s Geoffrey Schneider did last week.

On July 8, after teeing off, Schneider and his friend, Dave Woodring, approached the par-4 ninth hole at Painted Hills Golf Course in Kansas City, Kan. No. 9 at Painted Hills is a 288-yard uphill slog with a bunker to the right.

With the wind behind him, Schneider, 36, had struck his ball off the tee with a 3-wood, sending it soaring into the humid air. Schneider watched the ball’s flight and initially thought he had hit it too far, because the green wasn’t visible from the tee box and he couldn’t tell where the ball landed.

As he approached the front of the green, he still couldn’t find his ball. So he went to the back of the green and looked in the rough — and he couldn’t find it there, either. So Schneider walked toward the pin and, sure enough, when he looked down, the ball was there.

In the hole.

“There was a group on the green beside us and they started cheering — it was crazy,” he said. “It was such a weird situation because typically you see it go in or you have someone that sees it go in.”

Schneider didn’t see the ball land in the hole — not uncommon on a hole in one — Schneider said Woodring and four nearby golfers on the course at the time witnessed it. Painted Hills, which confirmed the hole in one by Schneider, lists its aces on its website, and only one other person, in 2014, had ever recorded a hole in one on 9.

The albatross is an extremely rare bird anywhere, even among professionals. Golf Digest notes that there has been just one recorded Par-4 hole in one in PGA Tour history, by Andrew Magee at the 2001 Phoenix Open.

Michael Christensen, who founded the Double Eagle Club to honor and preserve the history of every double eagle recorded, said these things take more than luck — shooting an elusive albatross requires skill.

“I would say that there’s 80,000-to-1 (odds) right now for single-digit (handicaps) and pros, and a million-to-1 for those that are high-handicappers, without a doubt,” Christensen said. “These guys are younger, they’re athletic, they’re able to drive a ball 280 yards with a 3-wood and get an ace. That’s crushing the ball.”

Schneider and Woodring were actually on the course for a rematch that day. The KCK summer heat had became overwhelming their last time out, so they’d stopped playing after eight holes. Woodring held a slight lead at the time and made sure to rub it in when their round resumed last week. Schneider, meanwhile, pointed out that the round wasn’t finished just yet.

“Every time we play, I give him static and he gives me static,” Woodring said. “It’s a part of the friendly rivalry and that’s going to continue even though he made the hole-in-one.”

That Wednesday afternoon was no different weather-wise, steamy hot with a high of 95 and a heat index over 100. The two men had planned to play the front nine to make up for their unfinished match.

But the friends moved pretty quickly through the course. Schneider said he found his swing early and carried that momentum as they went along. When Woodring realized Schneider had made his epic shot, he said he was happy and thrilled to see how excited his friend was.

Schneider had played the course before and said there are many ways one can attack that particular hole. He said he happened to get lucky and choose the right approach.

Despite how muggy and hot it was that day, in the words of Woodring, Schneider made up his mind to play the back nine, as well. He finished the day at 2-under and actually came withing 12 feet of sinking another ace.

Schneider has been playing golf with his dad since age 10. He said golfing runs in the family — his brother and his mom play, too. He won a state team championship with Blue Valley Northwest as a high schooler, but, in all of his years of golfing, he had never hit a hole-in-one.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given Schneider more time to play these days — and that extra time playing sure paid dividends last week.

“It’s been a really nice escape during a lot of this COVID-19 timeline,” he said. “It was one of the few things you could get out of your house and do. I was probably doing it more than I should have been doing and I suppose in some ways it paid off.”

This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 12:13 PM.