By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
At the intersection of Chance, Luck and Skill resides the hole-in-one.
Local golfer Charles Gillispie, who has knocked his tee shot into the cup 15 times in a colorful career that’s spanned the globe, credits sheer good fortune.
“Just luck,” the 75-year-old Gillispie said with a laugh. “Hit it and hope.”
People who have seen Gillispie strike golf balls with precision and power over the years say he’s being way too modest.
This guy’s good. He had people rushing him once so he took his hack off the tee in a disgusted hurry. The ball went in the hole.
He still beats his age some days ó 71 at Foxwood recently ó even after a knee replacement and with his vision fading.
It can be argued that any human who plays often enough can get a favorable bounce and make a hole-in-one at some point in his or her life on a routine par 3. There are confirmed cases of incredible aces being registered on freakish, fortuitous shots that banked off birds, trees or vehicles.
Blind golfers have recorded aces. There was a retired lady in California who holed a remarkable 14 aces in a four-month span. There was a fellow in El Paso, Texas, who racked up five in a span of six days.
There was a sixth-grader who holed the third tee shot of his career. There was a 66-year-old who made two aces in one round after trying for 50 years to make his first. There’s a Long Beach golfer named Norman Manley who is credited with a whopping 59 career aces.
Companies who insure the prize money doled out for the occasional hole-in-one made at tournament fundraisers estimate the odds of an amateur making a hole-in-one on a given swing are 12,500 to 1.
But skill also comes into play and reduces the odds considerably. Jack Nicklaus has recorded at least 20 aces. Arnold Palmer, who will turn 80 this fall, made his 18th as a 74-year-old. Tiger Woods registered his first ace at age 6. Woods had boosted his total to 18 at last count.
Slammin’ Sam Snead made 34 aces and nailed one with every club in his bag except the putter. As Lee Trevino used to say, pros aim at the stick, not the green. They’re not shocked to make an occasional ace.
Gillispie isn’t a pro, but he’s always shot at the stick and always will.
He goes way back. He was raised in segregated Salisbury in the 1940s. His introduction to golf came from caddying at the Country Club for legends such as A.D. Dorsett and Harry Welch.
“I caddied Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays,” Gillispie said. “Caddies got to play on Mondays. We played from sunup to sundown. A.D. would let me use his clubs.”
Gillispie was an exceptional athlete as a youth. J.C. Price’s Hall of Fame football coach S. W. “Prof” Lancaster spotted him.
“I was still over at the Monroe Street school when Prof came by to see me,” Gillispie said. “He told me to come over and watch Price practice, that I was going to be his quarterback in a few years.”
Gillispie was part of Price’s golden era as a 130-pound QB. The Red Devils’ only loss in his fine 1950 season came against Raleigh Washington in the state championship game.
“We weren’t big, but we were tough, and Prof got more out of us than we knew we had,” Gillispie said. “Slackers didn’t last long with him. It was do what he said or go.”
Price historian Rufus Little remembers Gillispie’s playing days and lauded him when Gillispie was inducted into Price’s Hall of Fame not long ago.
“He had such great peripheral vision he was impossible to defend, “Little said. “He’d look left and throw right. Then he’d look right and throw left. He drove defenses crazy.”
Gillispie took up boxing, fought in Golden Gloves tournaments and proved he could take a punch. In March, 1952, he enlisted in the Navy. The Korean War was hot. He was stationed on carriers in the Pacific.
“Every 18 days, we’d make that run to Korea,” Gillispie said.
He liked the Navy, though, and the discipline made him a better person.
“I had an awful temper when I was young,” Gillispie said. “Prof and the Navy took that out of me.”
His first hole-in-one came out of the blue when he was stationed in Guam. Hole No. 17. He was 20. It was 100 degrees in the shade.
“I didn’t see the ball go in the hole, and it’s been that way on all but two of the ones I’ve had,” Gillispie said. “The thing I remember most wasn’t the shot, it’s that it cost me a lot more than I had.”
That’s because a golfer who makes a hole-in-one traditionally buys a round of drinks for everyone in sight. The club sent the young sailor a bill. It’s one he didn’t mind paying.
The ace in Guam was the start of something. He made his second hole-in-one during a Naval stint in rainy Seattle. He remembers the sun didn’t shine for 21 days.
Seattle also provided his favorite sports moment, and it had nothing to do with golf. He was playing sandlot football with other sailors.
“I ran a kickoff back 99 yards for a touchdown,” Gillispie said. “Six people missed me. It sounds crazy, but I’ll never forget running through everybody.”
Gillispie didn’t like being on submarines ó “way too close” ó but he liked duty on surface ships.
He remained in the Navy 21 years ó from Korea to Vietnam. He served on the U.S.S. Enterprise, U.S.S. Cape Esperance and U.S.S. Independence.
When he was stationed stateside near golf courses in Virginia and Maryland, his hole-in-one tally rose steadily. A tournament in Little Creek, Va., provided one of his memorable aces. His tournament scorecards read 67-68-91. Yes, 91.
“Now that’s a 91 with a hole-in-one,” Gillispie said with a chuckle. “You’re wondering how can anyone shoot a 91 with a hole-in-one, but it happened. That day, I just lost it. I tapped my ball accidentally for a penalty when I was getting ready to putt from 15 feet for an eagle. It all went downhill from there.”
Discharged from the Navy in 1973, Gillispie returned home and made an impact on local golf, winning “just about everything” for a couple of years.
He won major tournaments at Corbin Hills and McCanless, including the 1975 Four-Ball event. He was a pioneer for black golfers in the Labor Day Four-Ball event at the Country Club of Salisbury where he’d once caddied.
Then he went to work in Virginia. He stayed 22 years, returning to Salisbury after his mother got sick. He’s been a regular on the local golf scene the last decade or so, and retirement gives him a chance to play almost daily at one of the area courses.
He’s made two aces at Lexington Golf Club. He’s recorded three on the No. 6 hole at McCanless.
“I play all the courses,” Gillispie. “I told my wife before we got married, ‘Some fellas get married and their wife doesn’t like them to go, but I’ve got to play golf.’
“My wife took up the game. She’s good. She plays with me.”
In 1998, Gillispie made a pair of aces less than a month apart.
In 2002, when he was 68, he shot 68. He was part of another McCanless Four-Ball championship in 2004.
In 2005, he enjoyed one of those golden moments that validated his career. It’s possible to get blind-lucky and make a hole-in-one, but you can’t get lucky and make a double eagle.
A double eagle requires two outstanding shots back-to-back on a par 5. Double eagles are known as albatrosses because albatrosses are rare birds, far more scarce than aces.
Gillispie nailed an albatross ó at age 71 ó when he sank a 5-iron shot from 165 yards on the No. 3 hole at McCanless.
“I heard Jim Earnhardt up there at the green yelling,” Gillispie said. “I hollered, ‘What are you so excited about?’ He said, ‘Charlie, that ball went in the hole.’ I thought he was kidding.”
Earnhardt wasn’t.
Gillispie recorded the 14th hole-in-one of his career on No. 12 at McCanless early in 2008. Shortly after that, he underwent surgery for a knee replacement.
His golfing buddies teased him he was headed downhill, and he privately doubted he’d ever again feel the exhilaration that comes with an ace.
But on May 20, 2008, while playing in a Tuesday Scramble at McCanless, he struck the ball from the white tees on the 135-yard No. 3 hole and heard people screaming.
It was in the hole ó his 15th ace.
Scott Perry, McCanless club pro, said his course yields an average of one ace per month. Gillispie may have a few more left in him. Some people refer to him as Rowan’s “Mr. Hole-In-One.”
Gillispie insists he’s not a celebrity, just an easy-going guy who likes to laugh, watch sports on TV and play a little golf.
“Ronnie Eidson’s the best golfer around,” Gillispie said. “I’m just me. I’m nothing special at all.”
Some people would argue with him.