Jeff Mazzaro has had an ace up his sleeve for the past few weeks.
Four of them as a matter of fact. And two in a four-hole span.
“It’s been quite a run,” he said Wednesday afternoon about his hole-on-one barrage.
The TPC Treviso Bay member started his streak with a hole-in-one on No. 3 at the course on December 13 with a 6 iron from 145 yards into the wind.
That was great. What came next was even greater.
And in a match in the club championship no less.
On Sunday, January 23, the 59-year-old Mazzaro was facing Mike O’Neil in a match. They started on the back nine and he already was 3-up when they came to the par-3 14th.
“The pin was up front and I hit a 5-rescue 170 yards into the wind,” he said. “The ball landed on the front of the green and dropped right in the hole. We could all see it.”
The two halved No. 15, and O’Neil won No. 16 to go to 3 down. On the par-3 17th, O’Neil stuck his approach to a couple of feet.
“I’m sure in his mind he thought he could get to 2 down,” Mazzaro said.
Naples’ Jeff Mazzaro poses with the ball after making an ace on No. 14 at TPC Treviso Bay on Sunday, January 23, 2022. He went on to make another hole-in-one three holes later. Mazzaro has made four since December 13.
That didn’t happen.
“Then if I didn’t knock it right in on top of him,” said Mazzaro, who used a 6-iron from 140 yards. “That thing landed about five yards short and bounced right in the cup.”
Mazzaro had used the same ball for both aces, and he still didn’t take it out of play. That nearly cost him on the next hole when he put his approach shot in the water.
“It hit the bank and trickled in so I was able to fish it out,” he said.
Mazzaro went on to win the match on the fourth hole on the front nine. Then he finally put the ball in his bag and continued on to win his second straight men’s club championship and third overall.
So that was over, but Mazzaro’s streak wasn’t.
Naples’ Jeff Mazzaro poses with the ball after making a hole-in-one on No. 16 at Royal Palm Golf Club on Tuesday, February 8, 2022. It was his fourth hole-in-one — including two in the same round — since December 13.
On Tuesday, he played Royal Palm Golf Club after being invited by some friends and got to the par-3 16th. Yes, it happened again.
“I hit an 8-iron just short of the pin and it took a couple of bounces and went right in the cup,” he said.
Mazzaro, who now has seven total aces, is a sales representative for a company called Dooney and Bourke. And he also owns a golf course, Stillmeadow Country Club, in Cincinnati. He was a caddie there as a youngster, and after the club went into bankruptcy in 2009, he bought it a couple of years later.
“We’ve turned that into a family operation,” said Mazzaro, who works at the club with his wife and two sons, one of whom is the course superintendent. “I’m doing everything from mowing fairways to cleaning bathrooms.”
Mazzaro doesn’t get to play all that much at his course especially during the summer when it’s busy, but when October rolls around, he heads down to Naples. He played at Cypress Woods from 2003-15 and then discovered TPC Treviso Bay.
“There’s a lot of good players at Treviso and they kind of have inspired me,” he said. “We play in a pretty competitive group. They push you to get better.”
Peter Meurer, 64, is one of the top players at the club and tied for 22nd in last year’s State Senior Amateur Championship. Rob Myhill, 74, was playing a different match with Mazzaro in his club championship group when Mazzaro made the two aces and has been a mentor.
“There’s a lot of guys like that,” he said. “That makes me feel good too that I can keep doing this and get better.”
Mazzaro has been thrilled with this stretch, but there’s a piece he’d like to add at some point.
“You’re not expecting the ball to go in,” he said. “It’s hard to get one, let alone what’s happened with this.
“No. 7 on Treviso, if somehow I’d get that, it’d be nice to have the Treviso Slam (an ace on each of the club’s par-3s). That usually doesn’t work out that well when you’re thinking about it.”
Greg Hardwig is a sports reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @NDN_Ghardwig, email him at ghardwig@naplesnews.com. Support local journalism with this special subscription offer at https://cm.naplesnews.com/specialoffer/