Tandem Holes in One at The Loop
By Tom Lang
Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to get a hole in one – unless you are part of the Rochester Adams’ golf program annual reunion. That group was treated to multiple rounds of drinks after two of their brethren – Connor Patterson and Eric Busa – drained back-to-back holes-in-one in early August at The Loop at Forest Dunes.
Patterson scored the first one on the 17th hole of the Red Course as the last player in his group. Then after they stepped to the 18th tee, Busa was first up in his group and dropped an ace as well. Not only did they lose a ton of money at the Forest Dunes bar that night, but they also had to split the $40 pot for closest to the pin – yet another financial loss.
“Yes, I ran up quite the tab,” Busa said. “I opened a tab inside, and then one at the outdoor bar at the Forest Dunes short course. Having 20 people there wasn’t ideal (for the checkbook) but if I had to do it every time it’s worth it, the hole in one is something I’ll never forget.”
Busa earned first-team All-State in high school in 2013. This was his first-ever hole in one, at 178 yards with an 8-iron. The guys in Patterson’s group told him later it bounced maybe 15 steps short on an up slope, kicked onto the flat area near the pin and then it slowed down and rolled in like a putt.
“I saw it disappear and thought maybe it just went over the green,” Busa said. “Those guys on 18 tee went wild, and at first I thought maybe they were just messing with me. But I found it in the hole. It was amazing.”
Patterson’s ace was his career fifth, and third just in 2021. He hit a 50-degree wedge from 160. The other two this year have been at Indianwood in Lake Orion, where he’s a member.
“Everything out there was firm, and we were down wind a little, so I tried to bounce it up there and see what happens,” he said about The Loop ace. “I hit one and thought it was over the green but soon after I found it in the hole. So, I picked up the closest to the pin marker because the others said there’s no chance that could be topped, and sure enough Eric did it right after me.”
Both players indicated that thunderstorms in the area stopped play earlier for about 40 minutes, but they are glad they went back out to finish the round.
The Ryder Cup-style event is planned each year by Adam’s head coach Dan Picot. Prior years they would go south in the wintertime but more recently he moved the reunion event back to Michigan to get more participants. Picot works at Forest Dunes in the summer and is in his final year of coaching high school.
