Fourth career hole-in-one sunk

For those who despair over their golfing game, Gene Perry holds out hope.

Gene Perry has made four hole-in-ones in his retirement.

“The older I’ve gotten the better I’ve gotten,” he said. “After I turned 70, my golf game really took off.”

Although he claims his golfing skills are only average, Perry recently recorded his fourth career hole-in-one. The Ocala Palm resident was golfing his home course when he used a #7 iron  to hit the ball 112 yards for the hole-in-one on Hole #6. Bob Dolan and Bob Fitzgerald were witnesses to the shot.

The once fire chief of the Miami Dade Fire Department, Perry and his wife Mimi moved to Clear Lake in the Ocala National in 1992. He started golfing the Ocala Palms course after a friend from Miami moved into the community.

After making the 50-plus miles round-trip several times a week to play golf with his buddy, the couple decided to move to Ocala Palms. That was 11 years ago.

In his retirement, Perry golfs an average of three times a week. Before retiring, he only had a chance to golf once a week. Saturdays would find him in a foursome at the county-owned course on Key Biscayne in Miami.

Perry figures he’s golfed 25 to 30 years but has accomplished much in recent years on the Ocala Palms course.

In 2000, Perry said he had his first hole in one on Hole 12. He was then 66.

There was another hole-in-one when he was 73 and his third one came at age 74. The third one was also made at Hole 12.

And his fourth, but probably not his last one, was made at age 76.