Golfer lands hole-in-one, and a car

Mark Shulman didn't know how lucky he was Friday when he strolled up to the 17th tee at Arrowhead Golf Course.

Shulman hadn't played the Wheaton Park District course for at least five years. But it was a clear day, fairly breezy, and he was the last of a group of six to line up his shot.

He had his read.

He chose a seven iron for the par 3, 161-yard hole.

"I hit it right," Shulman said. "I knew it was going to go the right distance."

His ball bounced wide to the left of the pin and kicked right, rolling, rolling … plunk. It was a hole-in-one.

Back at the tee, Shulman simply grinned at his first-ever hole-in-one as the members of his group jumped up and down by the pin. Shulman knew it was a great shot but didn't know why everyone was so jubilant.

Shulman was playing as part of a St. Francis High School alumni golf outing. For the past 18 years, Webb Chevy of Oak Lawn had sponsored a hole, donating a new car if a golfer sank a hole-in-one.

The Bloomingdale resident isn't even an alumnus of St. Francis -- he was simply a guest of an alum. Yet he'd just won a new Chevy Equinox LT, which sells for about $28,000 at the Webb Chevy dealership.

"I didn't even know I'd won anything until I got down to the hole and they told me," Shulman said. "I couldn't believe it. It still hasn't set in."

The tournament was in shotgun format. The 17th was an early hole for Shulman, but his group reported his round to be the best -- and most productive -- of all six members.

Shulman didn't get to keep the ball. He wasn't even using his own seven iron to hit the shot. But he'll forever have his scorecard with a smiley face above the penciled-in "1" for the 17th hole at Arrowhead.

"What can I say?" Shulman said. "It was a lucky shot."