EVANSTON — Making a hole in one is a feat most amateur golfers can only dream of accomplishing. As it turns out, hitting a small, white ball into a hole the size of your fist is no easy task. Some of the greatest golfers in the world will never make an ace in their lifetime.

Yet during one golf season, Evanston resident and math teacher Michelle Biddulph can claim making not one but two hole-in-one shots. As a statistics teacher at the high school, Biddulph was interested in the odds of a hole-in-one. 

The odds of an average player making an ace is 12,500 to 1 but to make two of them is another story. The approximate chance of achieving this is rare indeed. Around 14% of golfers who hit a hole-in-one will go on to get a second hole-in-one after their first. Biddulph accomplished this in one season. It is no wonder then that this is a celebrated achievement.

Understanding this, Biddulph laughed and said her friends are telling her she should go buy a lottery ticket. “I felt elated. It was on my bucket list.”

She was worried when she did get a hole in one it would be when she was by herself. She said, “It meant a lot to me that my friends were there when I did it. It was extra special that my husband saw the second hole-in-one.” 

Her first hole-in-one was on hole 15 of the Purple Sage golf course but she did not see it go in right away. Once she realized what had happened, she said, “I started jumping up and down and then we all went to the club house and celebrated.”

On the second hole-in-one her friends were there again along with her husband, Jeff Biddulph. Laughing, Biddulph said, “The second time was special because my husband was there. He gave me a big hug and then took the ball so it wouldn’t get lost.”

Biddulph said her second shot was on hole 17 where the pin flag is visible, and she knew it was a good shot. She said, “It landed at the front of the green and started slowly rolling. We were all standing there watching it and suddenly, we see it drop in.”

Biddulph’s close friends Britany Erickson and Jonathan Ackerman were there both times she got the hole-in-one. Her friend Liz Thompson saw the second shot. 

Biddulph said, “The fact that everybody knew I had just gotten my first hole-in-one and then to see the second one was so amazing.”

She hopes the golf course will start a picture board in the club house of those who get an ace.

Purple Sage golf pro, Scott Ehlers has certificates at the shop that are signed by witnesses attesting to both of the hole-in-one shots. He said, “There are signed cards by those who saw the shots. It’s official now.”