When One Ace Isn’t Enough

Alex Oda has earned one ace on every par 3 at Oakhurst

By Tom Lang

Many golfers wait a lifetime to get a hole-in-one, and most never do.

Alex Oda got his first at age 6 – the same age as Tiger Wood’s first.

Oda then got another, then another, then another and then another.

What’s more tantalizing than getting five aces by age 21 – is the fact that the last four completed the ‘Oda Slam’ at Oakhurst Country Club in Rochester. He now has a hole-in-one at each of the four par 3s on the course: holes 4, 8, 12 and 14. The most recent came on May 15 on the 8th hole with a 6-iron.

“I feel lucky and grateful; I’m happy about it because I know how rare it is (to get one),” Oda told me. “I feel like it’s luck, but I feel like I get bad luck 90 percent of the time on the course in a normal round, then you get just one shot that makes up for it all year. But the most recent two I feel like I visualized the shot really well. That’s not a secret to getting holes in one, but I think that’s the secret to hit any good golf shot.”

Oda played high school golf at Clarkston, then tried two years at Division III LaGrange College in Georgia, but has since transferred to Michigan State to focus only on studies. His short-term goals are to play golf in local amateur events but otherwise take a break.

“I felt like I worked very hard the whole time I was there (down south), felt I had a good work ethic and what it takes to be good at something,” he said. “The experience taught me to work hard, but I didn’t see the results,” despite earning a team award for being the hardest worker.

“Honestly, I need a break from golf,” he said. “I also learned that I probably tried too hard, and put too much effort and thought into it, my coach saw it too. It just wasn’t enjoyable, and I need a break just from golf,” adding that he might try working in the golf business after graduation.