VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.- The odds of hitting a hole-in-one on a golf course are about 1 in 12,500.
Last week, Virginia Beach National saw an even more remarkable feat.
Many siblings share common bonds.
For Mark and Bob Kuehn, that activity is golf.
"Golf has brought us together like nothing has our whole life," Bob noted. "It's just been a great time to get to know my brother through this game."
"He was always the better golfer, to me, and he was somebody who I was trying to compete with," added Mark. "[He] made my game step up, so now we're kind of even."
Last Wednesday, Mark stepped into the tee box of the par three No. 7 hole at Virginia Beach National. As he always does, he teed up his golf ball and took a swing.
"I bent down to pick up my tee and heard Greg yelling 'get in the hole! Get in the hole!,'" he recalled. "The guys on the eighth tee box started yelling and I looked up and the ball was gone."
Mark had struck his first hole-in-one, coming away with the ace. However, his success on the seventh hole is only half of the story.
"I came out here knowing that he had just done it the day before, thinking that, in the back of my mind, it would be nice to do the same thing," Bob smiled.
It was the very next day, Thursday, on the same hole of the same course. The younger Kuehn stepped into the same tee box and gave the ball a ride.
"I saw it hit the green and roll like 30 feet," he remembered. "The whole time, I was leaning forward into it. I just couldn't believe it disappeared and went into the hole."
It was double aces, two holes-in-one in two days for the brothers. They accomplished their golf rarities in flip flops, their preferred footwear on the course, as opposed to traditional golf shoes. Now they're the talk of the clubhouse and even have the pin from the seventh hole. Mark did not realize his brother repeated his effort until that evening and awaited his arrival in the clubhouse.
"I waited for him to come in," he said. "He came around the corner. As soon as we looked at each other he just busted over laughing because he just topped me."
"He didn't even get to brag to me," said Bob, who didn't learn of his sibling's ace until he woke up that Thursday morning. "I saw him from across the course driving by and just said 'hey, what's up, brother? Congratulations.'"
The question every golfer will be asking—what's their secret?
"Never give up," laughed Bob. "That's the only secret. You've just got to keep doing it, keep going for it. It happens so rarely, you just have to keep trying for it."
"I just tee it up and, hope and a prayer, swing and a prayer," Mark added.
The duo's game has come a long way. Bob noted that the two used to give each other competitive jabs, but now it's more about playing on the same team and cheering each other on. The holes-in-one mark the latest chapter in a story that will continue for many years to come.
"Some elation, hole-in-one, to words that shouldn't be uttered on TV," Mark said of the game. "It's very frustrating and very exciting at the same time."
"We realize it's not too crazy to be nice to each other," chuckled Bob. "So we started being nice to each other. That's where we're at right now. We've come a long way."
Last week's ace marked Bob's second hole-in-one. He had one back in 2006 as well.
