SI's Steve Rushin...Ignorant Man of Golf

“PLEASE KILL ME NOW
Recreational golfer Tom Kenney took a mulligan after he was unable to find his tee shot on the 370-yard 18th hole at Batavia (N.Y.) Country Club, thus wiping out the hole in one he had just scored.”

Rushin needs to speak with colleagues Gary Van Sickle and Alan Shipnuck (Heck, even Rick Reilly will do) after blowing the call on this one. Everyone knows that, once a ball is holed, it is holed. The playing of a mulligan would be nullified by the ball’s prior entrance into the hole (as pornographic as it sounds.)

I’ve played Batavia (30 minutes from Buffalo) and, believe you me, the 18th isn’t nearly as difficult as Mr. Kenney made it seem. In fact, here’s the funny story behind Batavia: the front nine plays 3800 yards, and was built in the 1960s. Funny length for the era of wooden heads and metal shafts, you say? Yes, indeed. The measuring wheel used to lay out the first nine was off by ten percent…therefore, the nine was meant to be about 3450, and ended up ten percent longer. They were just ahead of their time!