Are you kidding me? Golfer Curt Hocker draws five aces

You may have heard by now that 22-year-old Illinois golfer Curt Hocker recently recorded five aces in one week, including two during a single round. But it gets even better: Of his seven aces this year, five are on par-4s, and he also recorded two double eagles.

The odds of making a hole-in-one during a round, according to Golf Digest, range from 3,000 to 1 for a tour player to 12,000 to 1 for an average player. But that’s just one ace, not five in a week. The odds of making two aces in a round are 67 million to one, and Hocker has did that, too, during the same week he had five.

Hocker is either extremely good or extremely lucky or both. I’m figuring on the last one because while the course he plays and works at - El Paso Golf Club in Kappa, Ill., is only 6,100 yards long - the odds against this may not be computable. At the very least, Hocker has to be hitting consistently good golf shots to be giving himself a chance.

“I don’t know what to think,” Hocker was quoted in a story by The Associated Press. “After each one I say it’s over, and it keeps happening.”

Whenever I hear something like this, I can’t help but wonder: If this guy can get five in a week, why can’t I have one in the more than 20 years I’ve been playing golf regularly. A friend of mine used to ask the same question and then out of nowhere, he recorded three in two months. I saw every one of them.

Actually, I’m not that bummed out about it. If I never get an ace, it won’t leave a void in my life, but I wouldn’t turn it down - especially if it came at a charity scramble on a car hole. A Lexus would work just fine.