Novato man getting his first aces later in life
Novato’s Gearing, 86, cards first 2 holes-in-one at Indian Valley
“I waited a long time for that first hole in one. I guess I was more patient than I thought I was.”
— Art Gearing, 86, of Novato.
Art Gearing considers himself a very lucky man.
He points to his close relationship with his sons, Dan and Vince, who he calls his best friends, as well as his 50-year marriage to his late wife, Geraldine, as reasons he feels so fortunate.
He could also point to the two hole-in-ones he’s hit at Indian Valley Golf Course since turning 85 about a year and a half ago. Gearing, now 86, has been golfing since his early 20s but the aces he hit on No. 8 in November 2019 and No. 17 last Thursday were the first he’s carded in his decadeslong amateur golfing career.
“I waited a long time for that first hole in one,” said Gearing, a Novato resident and self-described bogey golfer. “I guess I was more patient than I thought I was.”
Because of the uphill setup of the No. 8 green at Indian Valley, Gearing never saw his first hole-in-one actually drop in the hole on Nov. 29, 2019. But there it was sitting in the cup when he and his sons, playing in a tournament, got up to the pin.
He was more fortunate his second time around last week.
“One of the guys who hit ahead of me hit his ball within 15 feet of
the pin and I just thought ‘Oh, I’ll just try to get inside his ball,’” recalled Gearing, a retired high-voltage lineman for PG&E. “So I landed it on the green and it just started rolling and rolling. One of the guys I was with shouted ‘I think it went in!’ We could see it but thought it had rolled behind the flag or something.”
But once again, there it was, resting at the bottom of the cup.
Gearing said he actually prefers softball over golf but his days as a pitcher have been on hold since the pandemic hit last year. He said he’s golfing two days a week now at Indian Valley, which is just a short drive from his home.
Gearing also said that he’s come close to a few hole-inones in his 60-plus years of golfing but they always seemed to evade him. Now luck has finally been on his side not just once but twice.
“It’s just a lucky shot. Really, a lucky shot,” he said. “You’re always striving for it but I don’t know how many hundreds of times I’ve been there on the same spot and never made one before. You’re always trying to do it.”