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27 Aces for El Paso's Gray, and Counting
29 Dec 2004
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(photograph by Perla Parra, BIT student)
(photograph by Perla Parra, BIT student)

El Paso, TX – The odds are stacked against you. In fact, those odds are 40,000 to 1. Are we talking about a player shooting par? Shooting their age? Close, but not exactly.

These are the odds for a player carding a hole-in-one during a given round. For most golfers, recording one “ace” is a journey taking a lifetime of rounds. For others, the shot combining great skill and some admitted luck comes a little easier.

Take my sister, for example. A recreational player 20 years ago put away the golf clubs in the 1980s. Not that she didn’t love the game, but family and other interests took precedent with her free time. Playing roughly 15 rounds of golf in her career, the “golf gods” were with her back in 1981 when she garnered the accomplishment.

For others, playing the game for over 25 years may not produce the perfect shot. But for one Sun Country Member, one hole-in-one wasn’t enough. In fact 20 holes-in-one haven’t been enough. The accomplishment has reached 27 times and counting!

For Doris Gray the most recent hole-in-one occurred October 17 at Emerald Springs GC in Horizon, TX. It was hole number 16, a par 3 measuring 116 yards. Gray teed up her Precept Lady Ball, addressed her Callaway “Divine Nine” wood, made a stroke and picked her ball out of the cup.

"He started me in golf, but for quite some time, I was disappointed."

“I don’t think I have another one in me,” said Gray. Funny, but that same comment was made in the 1980s at Oak Cliff CC in Dallas, long before she approached her current mark.

Gray, who has been a Sun Country Amateur Golf Association member since the Association was founded in 1976, thanks her husband for getting her involved in the game. “He started me in golf, but for quite some time I was disappointed.”

Her first ace came August 5, 1980 after playing the game for nearly a decade. She recorded 15 holes-in-one in 1982 alone and continued the trend with seven holes-in-one in 1983 and 1984. Following the 1984 season, Gray had recorded 25 holes-in-one, which is a verified record for a woman.

She took a break from recording the perfect shot for six years following 1984, carding her 26th hole in one March 21 of 2000. That also came at 16th hole at Emerald Springs.

According to the Hole-in-One Association, based in Texas, Mancil Davis of Houston holds the record with 52 holes-in-one for his career. The record for most holes in one during a year is 28 by Scott Palmer in 1983.

Don’t expect her hole-in-one count to sit at 27. A bona-fide 14 handicapper during the 1980s, Gray still plays to a competitive 27 index at Emerald Springs. She is very active with the Emerald Springs Women’s golf group.

So how does all this add up? With Gray’s love and interest in the game, expect the keepers of the game to shine upon her again soon.

* Story courtesy Sun Country Golf Association *

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