Blind Golfer Sinks Hole-In-One

For an ordinary golfer, the odds of hitting a hole-in-one are more than 12,000 to 1.

But that's nothing compared with the astronomical odds against one golfer in eastern Pennsylvania.

No matter, Sheila Drummond beat them anyway.

She didn't need to see her hole-in-one. She heard it.

Drummond, blinded by diabetes 26 years ago, experienced the highlight of her golfing career Sunday, recording an ace on the 144-yard, par-three fourth hole at Mahoning Valley Country Club, near Lehighton, Pa.

Playing with her husband and coach, Keith, and two friends in a steady drizzle, and using her signature pink ball, the 53-year-old Drummond hit a driver on the hole. The shot cleared a water hazard, flew between traps and landed on the green, where it hit the flagstick before dropping into the hole.

Drummond told Liz Keptner of CBS station KYW-TV in Philadelphia that Keith said, " 'It split the bunkers. It's heading toward the hole.' He goes, 'It's going in! I said, 'Are you sure?' We hear it hit the pin, and he goes, 'It's in!' I said, 'Are you sure?' I thought, 'Can he see that, that well, you know?' I said, 'You'd better check.' He jumps in the cart, drives over and says, 'It's in.' "

She says she hits the links three times a week.

"Everybody tells me, you know, they say, 'Sheila, you are an inspiration! People see what you do and they're amazed. I just do what I have to do!"

In her 15 years golfing, Drummond told Keptner, she's played that course hundreds of times, and she's always had problems on the fourth hole. So, what happened?

"I think I got lucky!" she laughed.

Drummond is a member of the board of directors of the United States Blind Golfers Association, which believes she is the first totally blind female to record a hole-in-one.

"We've looked everywhere, and haven't been able to find anyone else," she said.

Drummond took up golf about 15 years ago, and three years later qualified as the first female member of the USGBA.

"I just try to do the best I can," said Drummond, who carries a 48 handicap with the USGBA. "I get nervous. But I wasn't nervous (Sunday); I just don't like playing in the rain."

Drummond's hole-in-one was first reported on the Web site of The Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pa.