Believe It .... or Not? Woman Claims 10 Aces in Four Months

by Mulligan Stu on May 4, 2007 7:09 PM EDT Comment 0 comments

A 46-year-old woman in Palm Springs, Calif., named Jacqueline Gagne claims that since Jan. 23 of this year she has made 10 holes-in-one ... including the most recent one, which she (and witnesses) says bounced off a tree and into the cup.

Believe it ... or not? We know from our recent Q&A with "King of Aces" Mancil Davis that something that sounds improbable (such as Mancil's 51 career aces) can be completely believable once you know a little bit about the person, and find out how well-documented his aces have been.

The Palm Springs newspaper first wrote about Gagne after her eighth ace of this year was called in to the paper a couple weeks ago. Everyone in the paper's Sports department was skeptical, but Gagne's story appeared to check out. In a note that accompanied the paper's first article on Gagne, the Desert Sun sports editor wrote:

Believe me, to say that we didn't believe Jacqueline Gagne's hole in one claims is an understatement. I believe the phrase "That crazy woman just e-mailed again with another hole in one" was uttered more than a couple times around the office.

But after golf writer Larry Bohannan talked to her and started to believe, so did we.
Every one of her aces was witnessed and her character appears unassailable. We tried to poke holes in her story, and we couldn't. So in short, we believe in miracles.

But since that article was written, Gagne has made two more aces, bringing her total this year up to 10. Included in the two most recent was the one that bounced off a tree. Another article was written, accompanied by another editor's note, this one a bit more skeptical:

I know what you're thinking, "This is getting ridiculous."

Word of each hole in one is met with the same reaction here in the office, a roll of the eyes, an exasperated "No way" and a round of calls to the witnesses and course managers to try to verify the story's validity. We've done it 10 times, and 10 times it's checked out.

Short of setting up a spy camera in her golf bag, we've gone to every length to ensure the validity of Jacqueline Gagne's claims.

Until something changes, we still believe but it's getting harder.

Is it fair of the sports editor - with that "it's getting harder" comment - to cast doubt on Gagne's feats when the editor's note appears next to an article that says her story checks out?

Sure, making 10 aces in four months sounds crazy. But as the paper has written in two articles now, the story checks out. The witnesses are diverse, Gagne herself is an individual of good repute.

I'm a believer, and I hope nothing happens to change that belief. I also hope that Gagne won't let skeptics prevent her from reporting No. 11 if it should happen.