Mahwah Golfer Is New King Of Aces With 17
By Libby McMillan, CliffsLiving.com
A New Jersey man has floored his friends and acquaintances – and even himself - by making an astounding total of 17 holes-in-one in the past 15 years. Dan DeCando, who splits his time between Mahwah, N.J., and The Cliffs golf communities in the western Carolinas, has an undeniable magic touch.
“I started playing at 23, after I graduated from college,” says the affable DeCando. “The first thirty-plus years, I had zero holes-in-one. Now I’ve had seventeen.” All of DeCando’s aces have had witnesses. His oh-so-thrilling first was landed at High Mountain Golf Course in Franklin Lakes, in the year 2000.
That was followed by 12 years of golf not unlike the first few decades - hundreds of rounds with no incidents of note, and plenty of large scores. One would expect results like this after speaking with DeCando, who freely admits his inconsistencies, and says, “I’ve had no practice, no coach, no lessons to speak of . . . I just took one once. I just go and hit the ball.”
When 2012 rolled around, however, an amazing turn of events began to unfold. DeCando was responsible for three of seven club-wide holes-in-one at High Mountain for the year. Then, in a 12-month period beginning October of 2013, DeCando watched his tee shot roll into the cup a total of eight times.
We’re giving you a minute to actually process that information, and then, perhaps, to give yourself a break for not having made your own ace yet. DeCando may have made your share as well as his own. Seven of the eight were at Darlington in Mahwah, New Jersey. The eighth was at The Cliffs at Mountain Park in Travelers Rest, S.C., a links-style course which just made Golfweek’s list of Top 100 Best Modern Courses for 2015.
Decando’s record as an amateur golfer is odds-defying. The odds of hitting a hole-in-one are 12,500 to 1, according to actuaries who sell insurance for special golf events like charity shoot-outs. Decando’s multiplication of that feat - something you’d expect only a pro to manage – is truly boggling, but he takes it all in stride.
“I’m lucky in everything,” he says. “It’s spooky. Contests, parking places.” DeCando steadfastly attributes his aces to being a very lucky person, dispelling any notion of special skills. “If you’re a scratch golfer, the ball goes wherever you want it to go. When you play like I do,” he says, “well, two days ago I played at (The Cliffs) Valley, and I shot 100.” The impish smile reappears, the hands go up in the air, and you can’t help but genuinely like this guy, even though you might want to hate him for being so ridiculously lucky.
DeCando isn’t loyal to any brand of clubs. In fact, he switches it up often, having made his aces using “Calloways, Mizzunos, PINGs, stiffs and regular shafts.”
The real secret to DeCando’s remarkable success may be his relaxed state, an art he seems to have perfected. Whether in sales mode at Totowa’s Media Data Services where he’s a partner, or on the golf course, DeCando is calm and happy. “I light up a cigar when I walk onto the golf course, and I forget all the bad things going on around the world,” he says. “Your only worry is that little white ball. You smell the freshly-cut grass. You play with good friends and have a drink afterwards.”
Word of DeCando’s record has made its way into the office, naturally. “Customers have called me, asking for a meeting without saying why,” he says, “and I wonder, ‘Is it something that one of my employees said to them?’ Then they ask me to write down six numbers for the lottery.”
His biggest joy was hitting his sixteenth ace in front of a Special Olympics competitor, who asked if he could have the ball for his trophy room. That young man went home with a signed ball, and DeCando’s face lights up at the telling of the story.
It’s a much furrier face which lights up when New Jersey’s golf magician walks through the door – that of Ruby, DeCando’s French bulldog. He explains, “She goes crazy when I come home from golf, because she loves golf balls.”
Dr. Al Kuchler, long-time member of the NJSGA Tournament Committee, has played regularly with DeCando in northern New Jersey, particularly at High Mountain which closed in 2014.
“By sheer numbers , I knew Dan was going to get one, but when happened to him, it was like a deluge. He’s a very good ball striker off the tee. When someone plays that much, aces can happen.
“Looking at the odds, you would say it’s just not feasible. I believe him. It’s all happened these last few years. I have no reason to question him. I trust him implicitly. The stats say it can’t happen, but they’ve all been substantiated. There’s no reason to say otherwise,” Kuchler said.
