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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

After 45 years of trying, woman gets hole-in-one

Some golfers spend a lifetime – or in many cases, longer – in pursuit of that ultimate stroke that results in a hole-in-one.

Virginia Lemmer, as it turned out, spent only a little over 45 years on such a noble quest – which might not seem that unusual, until one factors in the fact that she didn’t take up the sport until her early 40s.

Then suddenly, the ace the 86-year-old Lemmer recorded Monday morning on the 109-yard fourth hole at Painted Hills Golf Course, becomes, well, in her own words:

“Unbelievable.”

Lemmer, who still plays nearly every week in the Painted Hills’ Ladies Morning League, laced a 5-wood into the cup for the first hole-in-one of her life. And she figured at her age, she was entitled to alter – albeit it ever so slightly – the tradition of buying everyone in the club house a beer or hard drink in celebration of such a rare golf shot.

“The women in there today got Coke,” said Lemmer, who first started golfing with her late husband. “But we still had a lot of fun talking about it.”

Lemmer admitted, however, there was a downside to her achievement.

“I have macular degeneration,” she explained, “so I didn’t get to see it. Fortunately, I have a friend – who was with me, of course – who helps me see my ball.

“She told me, ‘I heard it hit the pin, and I’m sure it went in.’ ”

Which was, indeed, the case.

“It was really exciting,” Lemmer said of walking onto the green and finding her ball in the hole. “I might even have to take an extra pill to sleep tonight.”

And as far as considering giving up the sport of golf, now that she had hit the ultimate golf shot, Lemmer added: “No way.”

“I won’t give it up until I can’t get around the course anymore.”