It’s no secret that golf can be a challenging and at times frustrating sport, but it’s also true that sometimes it just takes one perfect shot to keep you returning to the links eager for more.
Isle of Palms resident Mic Smith experienced this equivalent of golf euphoria when he started off 2026 the right way by acing a hole-in-one on the Links Course at Wild Dunes on New Year’s Day.
Smith, owner of Mic Smith Photography, is used to capturing other people’s life milestones and unforgettable moments behind his lens, but this frame-worthy highlight belonged to him.
Wild Dunes, where he hit a hole-in-one on New Year’s Day.
Smith was playing a free round of golf he had won at an auction with three of his buddies from the Post and Courier who have played together for 25-plus years: deputy sports editor Fred Rindge, circulation director Steve Wagenlander and assistant circulation director Ben Morgan.
“I wasn’t playing that well,” admitted Smith, who previously worked 14 years as a photographer at the Post and Courier. But that changed when the group reached hole 4, par-3 at the Links. Using an 8 iron, Smith stepped up and struck the shot from 140 yards out. “I could tell I hit it really well,” he recalled.
Due to the pin placement over the hill, they couldn’t tell whether it went in at first, but it seemed like it had a chance. As the foursome walked up the hill, they couldn’t see the ball on the green. When they ultimately confirmed it had indeed dropped in the cup, Smith erupted into a full Phil Mickelson celebration with both arms raised in the air in rapture. Rindge took out his camera and documented the moment on video.
It was an amazing day overall for the 1990 graduate of Indiana University. Not only did he sink his first-ever hole-inone, but his Hoosiers later pummeled the Alabama Crimson Tide 38-3 in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal. His beloved Hoosiers went on to win the program’s first-ever National Championship in school history. “That was a great day to be a Hoosier,” Smith reflected.
Interestingly enough, his golfing group had decided to play a team game on this particular day where you don’t keep score. Except for marking a one at hole 4, Smith’s score card was blank. For Smith it was fitting that his hole-in-one feat happened with these three players, who try to golf together once a month when their work schedules allow, and refer to themselves as ‘the four horsemen.’
Smith acknowledged that for him playing the game is mostly about the social aspect and good-natured ribbing. He described himself as “terrible at golf,” and is happy if he shoots in the high 80s. “I’m not good.”
To put it in perspective, you’re more likely to be struck by lightning in your lifetime than to make a hole-in-one. The odds are astronomical: 1 in 12,500 per shot on a par-3. Many golfers play their whole lives and never get one; some lucky souls get multiple.
“It just takes one good shot to get you back on the course after 20 bad ones,” Smith added.
By Colin McCandless
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