Aces in the hole: QHS graduate O’Brien makes holes-in-one during consecutive rounds on Carroll University’s spring break trip

WAUKESHA, Wis. — Maddie O’Brien figures she better start saving her dollar bills now.

Come August, her Carroll University women’s golf teammates expect her to spend them freely.

That’s when the Quincy High School graduate turns 21 years old and can legally partake in one of the game’s unwritten but widely embraced rules. If you make a hole-in-one, you buy a round of drinks for everyone.

After what took place on the Pioneers’ spring break trip to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama, O’Brien is on the hook for two rounds. The sophomore made a hole-in-one on different courses on back-to-back days, bringing home incredible memories, some souvenirs and an IOU from the trip.

“Considering I’m not 21 yet, I couldn’t buy the drinks, but I did offer,” said O’Brien, who is an exercise science major with plans to become a physical therapist. “I said if someone bought the drinks I’d pay for them.”

Her coaches and teammates were happy to wait.

“I told them when I turn 21, I’ll buy everyone two rounds,” she said.

That happens in August, about the time the Pioneers return to campus to begin their preseason preparations.

“My teammates were talking about going out the first weekend before tryouts and then the weekend after tryouts,” O’Brien said. “It’s going to break my bank a little bit.”

Reliving what took place a couple of weeks ago along the famous golf trail will be well worth it.

The Pioneers began their spring break trip playing the three courses at the Grand National site in Auburn, Ala., before moving on to the Capitol Hill site in Prattville, Ala. That’s where magic happened twice.

On the Judge Course, a 7,100-yard layout, O’Brien and her playing partners couldn’t see where her shot landed on the par-3, 179-yard 12th hole that forces you to carry the water to reach the green. Her shot felt good coming off the 8-iron and looked like it was headed for the middle of the putting surface.

When the foursome reached the green, there was no ball in sight.

“We pull up and I’m like, ‘Where’s my ball? You have to be kidding me,’” O’Brien said. “I thought then I flew it over the green and I was going, ‘Gosh, darn it, I’m going to have to chip.’”

Before O’Brien grew too disappointed, one of her playing partners asked if she had looked in the hole.

“So she goes over and looks in the hole and is like, ‘You’re kidding me,’” O’Brien said. “There it was.”

Less than 24 hours later, she did it again.

Playing the Legislature Course on the final day of the trip, O’Brien and her partners reached the 16th hole with interest waning. She said no one was watching when she teed off — none of her playing partners and none of the golfers standing on the tee box about 15 yards from the green. Luckily, she kept her eyes on the ball.

“I’m the only one who sees it go in,” O’Brien said. “It bounced and went straight in. I turned and looked at the girls in my group and they were like, ‘You’re joking, aren’t you?’”

This wasn’t a joke.

“We drive up to the green, I jump out and run up to the hole, and I scream ‘I got another one,’” O’Brien said.

The feeling was surreal.

“I can’t even name the feeling, but I was so excited,” O’Brien said. “It was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I did this again. Everyone talks about the dream as a golfer to have a hole-in-one, and when you get it, it truly is an amazing feeling. You understand why people want one so bad.”

She now has three, having made one during tryouts her freshman season at Carroll.

Her latest two will be showcased in a shadow box with the balls, the scoreboards and commemorative plaques she was able to order through each of the courses where they occurred. It will forever be a reminder of a spring break that truly was unforgettable.

“I never imagined anything like this,” O’Brien said. “This was special.”