Verifiable proof: Haxel uses FaceTime call to find witness for his unique hole-in-one

QUINCY — Caylin Haxel missed the chance Wednesday to witness one of the more unique moments in her husband’s highlight-filled golf career.

So George Schrage got the call instead.

After using his driver to clear the trees that create a right dogleg on the par-4 13th hole at Westview Golf Course, Blaise Haxel figured his ball had a chance to be on the green. When he approached the putting surface and didn’t see a ball sitting anywhere close, a search began.

For anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes, Haxel looked in the bunker and the rough and everywhere imaginable. He even walked back to the tree line, wondering if his ball clipped a branch and came straight down without him hearing it.

“I looked behind the hole because it was playing downwind and I know if I hit the driver good there’s chance I could be over,” said Haxel, who played golf at Quincy Notre Dame and Quincy University and won the Quincy men’s city championship in 2011. “I’m looking in the back trees and it wasn’t there.

“So I went in front and it wasn’t there. So I went back around the back and then back around the front. It wasn’t anywhere.”

There was one last place to look.

In the hole.

Since he was playing alone with no one in sight to serve as a witness if he indeed hit a hole-in-one, Haxel decided he better FaceTime someone so they could verify it. The first call went to his wife, and it went unanswered.

“She didn’t answer because she was at work,” Haxel said. “So I had to call somebody.”

Schrage, the assistant pro at Westview, was working in his office inside the clubhouse when his phone rang. He answered the FaceTime call as Haxel walked onto the green and prepared to look in the hole.

In the bottom of the cup, there rested a yellow Titelist, giving Haxel a hole-in-one, a double eagle and quite a story.

“(Schrage) was probably more shocked than I was,” Haxel said. “He was going, ‘No way. No way.’ I flipped the phone over so he could see it and he just started laughing. I don’t know what else you do. It’s just wild.”

Had it not been for a smartphone with video call capabilities, no one likely would have believed Haxel’s story.

“I had played my own ball all the way out every hole right up until then thankfully,” Haxel said after his second career hole-in-one on a par-4 hole and third ace overall. “Had I taken three or four shots on every hole, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal as it is now. I would still say, ‘Hey, I hit a hole-in-one off the drive from 360 yards,’ but I wouldn’t have written it down on the scorecard.

“The fact I was actually playing a round and it happened the way it did is something incredible.”

The shot came after Haxel opened the back nine with three consecutive bogeys and helped mph shoot an even-par 71 despite less-than-ideal conditions. Winds were gusting in the 30 mph range, making the 55-degree temperatures feel much cooler.

Haxel even thought about calling it a day after nine holes.

“I wanted to get a little bit of exercise so I played the front nine and walked the whole nine,” said the 32-year-old Haxel, who owns Port’s Place nightclub. “With the wind blowing the way it was, I thought I could go just do something at the bar or go home and finish laundry or do something. But I decided to pay another $10 for a cart for the back nine, and I was really regretting my decision until that hole.”

That’s when an almost unbelievable moment occurred.

“It was shock more than anything,” Haxel said. “It was crazy.”

But he admitted it wasn’t as scintillating as aces tend to be.

“It’s a lot less exciting over the phone than it is in person,” Haxel said with a laugh.