It's a great feeling to finally get my first hole-in-one. I have witnessed five by playing partners, and I was one of the few in my golf group without a hole-in-one.

It happened on a sunny, late Sunday morning, at the 16th hole of the 1757 golf course in Dulles, Virginia.

I had 144 yards to the pin that was planted on the narrow, right side of the green. Below, and in front of the green was a large bunker that blocks the lower portion of the pin.

I used my 8-iron. The shot tracked the pin on a picture perfect trajectory. My partners and I knew it was a good shot. We saw the ball land on the top of the bunker and bounced. I thought it had bounced backwards into the bunker while another partner thought the ball bounced forward and possibly caught the down-slope and rolled off the back of the green. I searched in the bunker while another partner searched behind the green. We could not find the ball.

A partner decided to look in the hole. To his surprise, and, indeed, to mine, a ball was resting at the base of the cup. I pulled it out. It was my Titleist, pro V1, ball - the ball that always delivers.

We celebrated at the 17th tee box with a 17-year old Belvenie Double Wood.