Golfer, 81, has 2 aces in 6 holes
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — Chuck Miller is the most famous man in Hot Springs Village these days.
On a humid, sunny afternoon Tuesday, the 81-yearold, whitehaired man with glasses relaxed on the back patio at the
Cortez Golf
Club’s clubhouse, when multiple fellow golfers greeted him as if he was Arnold Palmer in the flesh.
“Hello, most famous man in the Village,” an approaching friend said.
“Just send money,” Miller said with a laugh.
Another man came up to Miller to pay his respects.
“Congratulations, Chuck.”
Later, another of Miller’s friends, Bill Butterworth, peeked through a nearby window, raised both of his thumbs and smiled. All Miller could do was chuckle.
Cortez pro shop manager Lloyd Little walked up to Miller and extended his hand.
“Let me get the keys to your car so I can put your clubs in the back of [it],” Little said.
Miller, who’s now retired after working in sales and business for over 30 years, isn’t the sporting icon Palmer was, or a movie star like Jack Nicholson or some ex-senator.
It’s just that he hit a hole-in-one — twice — in the same round of golf last week, a mind-boggling feat for anyone who’s ever played the game. The odds of such an occurrence happening are 67 million to 1, according to the the National Hole-In-One Registry.
“It’s an overwhelming experience,” said Miller, who’s received numerous media requests for an interview.
“You talk about your 15 minutes of fame — well this has been going on for a week.”
On June 18, Miller, a 20-handicapper, was playing in a scramble with three fellow church members — Daryl Taylor, Don Stokes and Jerry Guest. It was a typical warm, picturesque day in Hot Springs Village. Miller was a substitute in the church’s weekly game.
But, a few hours later, Miller became ingrained into the Village’s lore.
His group came to the par3 12th hole, its green slightly elevated with a front-middle pin location guarded by three bunkers. Two split pine trees prevailed like a goal post in the background.
Miller flushed a 6-iron from 135 yards, the ball tracking toward the flag stick. It landed right over the front middle bunker before taking two bounces and rolling into the cup.
It had been 45 years since Miller’s previous hole-in-one, but he hadn’t been able to watch it due to the green’s elevation. It was 1974 at the Boulder Creek Golf and Country Club in California, an hour southwest of San Jose.
This one, though, he watched every second intensively. The foursome ahead, who had just walked off the green, watched Miller’s holein-one, too, and celebrated.
“It was unbelievable,” Miller said. “You don’t anticipate that you’re gonna have that.”
Five holes later, though, at the par-3 17th — Cortez’s signature hole which is short in length and has an elevated tee box so high that one can see the Ouachita Mountains pervading beyond the tree line — Miller did the unthinkable.
Standing on the tee with an 8-iron, some 140 yards away, the left-hander’s tee shot was nothing like the one at No. 12. He bladed the ball off the club’s heel, much to his disapproval. The ball traveled a mere few feet above the ground before landing halfway and skipping down the hill.
“It was awful,” Miller said. Miller’s ball missed the left greenside bunker by a few feet before it finally rolled onto the green and headed toward the center-located pin. Somehow, it was still on line.
“That ball’s going in the hole,” Stokes said.
Miller’s ball, against all odds, found the bottom of the cup. His first hole-in-one of the day had left him and his playing partners in jubilation. The second, though, triggered pure disbelief.
“I think we were so stunned,” Miller said.
After the round, Miller and his playing partners paid a visit to the clubhouse. It’s customary in golf that when someone makes a hole-in-one that the player buys drinks for everyone in the clubhouse. Miller racked up a $45 bill.
“The entire clubhouse was celebrating,” Taylor said. “It was kind of like we were all just one big happy family. We were all hooting and hollering and raising our glasses to Chuck.”
Miller’s story, as remarkable as it is on the surface, is even more peculiar when you consider his background.
Miller traveled the country in 2012 playing golf in all 50 states, writing articles about his endeavors at each stop. He played 141 courses. He chronicled his stories in a book, Golfing the U.S.: Reflections on a 50-Week, 50-State Golf Odyssey, which was published in June 2016. He’s traveled the world as a writer for multiple publications, visiting 92 countries and all seven continents.
Miller has lived in Hot Springs Village for seven years, after spending a majority of his life in California. Hot Springs Village was one of the stops on Miller’s golf tour in 2012, and he loved it so much he decided to retire for good there.
He’s a passionate, avid golfer and estimates he’s logged some 500 rounds in Hot Springs Village alone. Even at 81, Miller still plays at least twice a week.
And, for the time being, he’s become the area’s most famous man with the most improbable story.
“Somebody told me, ‘You know, you make a hole-inone, you can brag for a week — you make two holes-in-one on the same round, you can brag forever,’ ” Miller said. “But that’s not gonna be my style. If somebody asks, I’ll be happy to tell them.”