Former Pine-Richland golfer Kremer nets 1st ace at Sewickley Heights

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, July 20, 2018 | 11:06 PM

For most of his life, recently graduated Pine-Richland golfer Jack Kremer has been cutting his teeth on his home course, Sewickley Heights Golf Club.

For all that time, he always had his eye on hole No. 7, a short par 3 that typically measures around 150-155 yards from tee to pin.

“In the past, every time I would see the pin placement on the front of the green, I would think about how cool it would be to see someone get a hole-in-one on it,” Kremer said.

“Little did I know, the first one I’d see do it would be me.”

Kremer, who played golf at Pine-Richland from 2015-18, notched his first-ever ace with a 9-iron on that hole last month. The shot measured in at 152 yards.

Coincidentally, Kremer said he was not planning on golfing on that day. Since his varsity career with the Rams has come to an end, golf has taken a more leisurely tone in his life until the fall, when he hopes to play club golf as a freshman at Pitt.

But that morning at Sewickley Heights Golf Club, a member who couldn’t attend a pre-planned friendly competitive event got in touch with Kremer and asked him to fill in as a substitute for him. Kremer obliged, and the rest of the story will be a memory he won’t soon forget.

“To start the round, I was hitting them OK. I hit a couple of good shots, but I had a few bad ones, too. I hit a long par putt on hole No. 6, so I was feeling pretty good walking up to hole No. 7,” Kremer said.

“I walked up to the tee on seven, and the pin was placed at the front of the green. I pulled out my 9-iron, and it was the right length so I didn’t have to swing too hard. I hit a nice, high draw and it landed 2 feet past the hole, and maybe 1 foot to the right of it. It hit the green, spun diagonally and went right back into the hole.”

For Kremer, the friendly roll that put his ball into the cup was a shocker.

The former WPIAL Class AAA individual qualifier said he had imagined a moment like this for quite a while but still struggled to wrap his mind around it when the time came.

“It was pure disbelief. It didn’t really click to me that it went in. I had to keep asking the guys I was golfing with if it really went in,” Kremer said.

“I guess I had a really stoic reaction. I just kind of threw my arms up and went, ‘oh, cool.’ It took until after the round was over for it to set in.”

Kremer plans to major in engineering at Pitt in the fall.

Kevin Lohman is a freelance writer.