'Everything was perfect': Rookie golfer sinks hole-in-one at Inuvik course
‘I went down low, just screaming … It was unbelievable,’ says Elton Ruben
If you were at the Roads End Golf Club in Inuvik, N.W.T., last week, you may have heard quite the commotion.
That's because a man from Paulatuk scored a hole-in-one — a feat he described as "impossible."
"A lot of us guys have been talking about, you know, it's been quite a while since somebody [got] a hole-in-one," said Elton Ruben, who recently moved to Inuvik with his wife.
"[We] constantly talk about it ... I was the last shooter, so, you know, I took the shot, ball got close, started rolling into the hole, and the celebration was crazy."
Apparently, the last person to get a hole-in-one at the golf course did it back in 2007.
Ruben's went down at the course's sixth hole — a par 3.
He said the green there is elevated, so he was looking down a hill at his target. The elevation means the ball often has a hard time sticking to the green, and just rolls, he explained.
"It's very hard."
When he took his shot, the ball bounced and began to roll, but then turned toward the hole.
Everybody could hear us screaming.- Elton Ruben
"I went down low, just screaming, getting low. And when it did land … [we were] like four kids just jumping around. It was unbelievable," said Ruben.
He said he and his friends caused so much of a ruckus that they turned the heads of nearby golfers.
"The guys near us … near the other holes, they weren't too far, so everybody could hear us screaming. And if you're screaming up there, your first thought is somebody got a hole-in-one," Ruben said.
"After 10 minutes of it, we had to calm ourselves down to continue the game."
'Everything was perfect'
What's more, Ruben hasn't been playing golf for very long.
He says he picked up the sport three years ago, after a couple of friends got him into the game.
He's been hooked ever since, and goes out regularly to play on weekends with his buddies. His secret to success?
"I just, you know, try and keep it all consistent," he said. "The wind, everything, it was perfect."
With files from Joanne Stassen and Lawrence Nayally