Tom Aldinger has achieved the almost impossible on Lakewood Country Club’s greens
No one besides Tom Aldinger can sit in the clubhouse and boast that he has aced every par three green at Lakewood Country Club.
Someone tried once. Aldinger heard a man bragging that he had shot four holes-in-one — every single par three on the course. Aldinger put an end to his gloating by explaining that his own record was five holes-in-one — the regular par threes plus a practice green acting as an official hole while the course was under construction.
The fact that Aldinger has aced even the practice green “is just crazy,” says Gilbert Freeman, Lakewood Country Club’s head golf professional.
“Hole-in-ones are a funny thing,” Freeman says. “There are many great golfers who have never even made one, and there are regular people who have.”
Even Freeman, Lakewood’s head golf professional for many years now, has never shot a hole-in-one.
But when Aldinger’s golfing buddies pooh-pooh his achievement as nothing but pure luck, Aldinger good-naturedly rebukes them.
“With tongue in cheek I say, ‘Oh no — it’s absolute skill,’” he laughs.
It took Aldinger more than a decade to achieve his distinction as Lakewood’s king of aces. He shot his first hole-in-one in 1984 on the 12th green. The next two took place in 1987 on holes five and 14. The third was particularly tricky because Aldinger shot it during a bad weather.
“The fog was so bad we couldn’t see the green, but we know the direction the green is because we play there all the time,” Aldinger says.
“Obviously, it’s mental telepathy, too,” he teases.
His fourth ace was the temporary hole in 1990, and his fifth was the seventh green in 1994. And now that he has aced every single par three, he has started to repeat them. Aldinger’s most recent hole-in-one happened last fall, again on the fifth green.
“The anomaly about it is I’ve never repeated a hole until this year,” he says.
And Aldinger says he has “never even sniffed” a hole-in-one outside of Dallas’ city limits. It’s only on Lakewood Country Club’s course, where Aldinger plays twice a week, that the stars align.
Though the clubhouse is Aldinger’s bragging turf, it’s his wife, Nancy, who buys the trophies. She was elated after learning about his first hole-in-one, and immediately ordered a “No. 1” trophy with a spot for the aced golf ball on top. The second one surprised her just as much, Aldinger says, but four aces later, it’s become old hat.
“Now she just kind of rolls her eyes and says, ‘Give me the ball. I’ll take it down to the trophy shop and get it mounted,’” he says. “For the last one, she made me pick up the trophy.”
The trophies, each engraved with the date, hole and distance, sit in Aldinger’s office.
“Probably my grandkids will take those balls out of the trophies and hit them over the fence and into the creek,” he quips.
