Warren’s Hole-In-One

April 29, 2013

It was a warm, slightly windy, mid-March day and the sun was shining bright like a spotlight on the 15th tee box at Quarry Pines Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz. To Warren Habluetzel, it seemed just like any other great golf day.

As he watched the three other golfers in his group aim and tee off from the 100-foot elevated spot, Warren was hoping to simply avoid overshooting the target green that was surrounded by rubble, rocks and bushes. He contemplated hitting a 9-iron, but with the wind that could send his ball sailing. He settled on a wedge, teed it up and let it rip.

Warren’s ball flew through the air, bounced onto the green and then – in what seemed like slow motion – rolled directly into the cup. After more than 40 years of playing golf, Warren had just hit his first hole-in-one.

“They were all high-fiving me and giving me hugs,” Warren said of his golf group. “They all signed my scorecard to witness it so my golf buddies back home wouldn’t think I was lying.”

That day and that round would become one of Warren’s most-treasured golf memories. And, what made it even better, he says, was that he’d gotten the round for free from GolfNow.

After hearing about GolfNow.com while watching Golf Channel last year, the Stevenson, Wash.-based golfer began using the site to research and book tee times at different courses for his annual Tucson golfing trip and for local golf rounds at home. He’d known about Quarry Pines having driven by the golf club entrance before, but never realized that the back nine holes were so unique – the course was built in an old sand and gravel quarry – until reading about it on GolfNow.com.

Before long, Warren had booked enough rounds on GolfNow.com to become a GolfNow Rewards member and started earning discounts, including free golf.

He qualified for a free round the day before he and his wife left for Arizona last month, and decided to see if there were any openings at Quarry Pines. As fate would have it, there was an 11:30 a.m. slot available for his final day in Tucson, so he booked the tee time for free.

Warren said he’ll definitely continue using GolfNow to book his tee times because he enjoys the benefits and discounts the site offers him when he’s looking for new courses to play when traveling.

“That being my last day in Tucson, plus I got a free round and then a hole in one – it just doesn’t get any better than that.”

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