Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2015 - 42

(backspin
)
King of Aces
Minnesota golfer Chip Knoll loves drivable par 4s,
especially when he aces them.
By Mark Craig
S
ome guys got it rough. Take poor Chip Knoll, for example.
The 50-year-old controller at Spectro Alloys in
Rosemount has a job that lives in harmony with a golf
game that reaches 168 rounds in a Minnesota season.
" The [Spectro] CFO is probably
the best guy you'll ever meet, "
Knoll says. " The owner is probably
the second-nicest guy you'll
ever meet. They know I'll get the
work done. "
As for Knoll's wife? Well, Karen
doesn't play golf, but she understands
her husband's passion.
" She's a saint, " Knoll says. " And I
always try to make Saturday night
our date night. You got to do that
or she'll cut me down. "
There is one glitch, however.
" I want my next hole-in-one to
come on a par 3, " Knoll says. " I
want my buddies and me to celebrate
when you can actually see
the ball go in the hole. "
You've heard of the reachable
par 4? In Chip's world, it's called
the sinkable par 4. Knoll has four
career holes-in-one, but has seen
the ball drop only once because
the last three aces have come on
par 4s. On July 18, he aced the
288-yard 10th hole at Gopher
Hills Golf Course for the second
time in seven years. In 2010,
he aced Gopher Hills' 323-yard
15th hole.
" I swing the club a lot, " says
Classic Cannon Valley League for Hastings and Hampton for 24
years. When he retired from baseball in 2006, he thought about
fi lling the void with more rounds of golf.
Mission accomplished. " Three, four years ago in the middle
of March, I think we had 80-degree
weather, " Knoll says. " That's
the year I put up my 168 [rounds].
Normally, it's 150 to 155. "
Knoll loves watching PGA Tour
Chip Knoll
" My fi rst reaction when I
didn't see the ball was to
look long. When it wasn't
behind the green, I went
right to the hole. It was a
yellow ball glaring like a
beacon. "
Knoll, who plays to a 7.0 index.
Knoll used his driver on July 18 to a blue fl ag he says was playing
about 270. He hit his usual high draw, and the ball curled
around three big oaks that guard the left side, about 30 yards
short of the green. " When I hit it, I knew it was tracking right
in, " Knoll says. " My fi rst reaction when I didn't see the ball on the
green was to look long. When it wasn't behind the green, I went
right to the hole. It was a yellow ball glaring like a beacon. "
Knoll played and managed amateur town baseball in the
40
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2015
events that include reachable par
4s. He appreciates that the USGA
now makes that an annual storyline
at the U.S. Open, and that the
Old Course at St. Andrews once
again provided similar opportunities
at this year's British Open.
And, like the rest of us, Knoll enjoys
the excitement that No. 14
at Hazeltine National Golf Club
provides as a risk-reward par 4 in
major competition.
" I like playing them enough
times that I know the exact sight
line, " Knoll says. " No. 15 at Gopher
Hills is a big dogleg, but I'm on that
green maybe 60, 70 percent of the
time. " No. 15 is listed at 323 yards.
But if you hit a ball high enough to
clear the trees and cut the dogleg,
it's considerably shorter and less
daunting. For a completely blind
shot, of course.
The one hole-in-one that Knoll
did see go in came in 2007 with
his son, Justin, at Gopher Hills.
" It bounced three times before
it reached the green, " Knoll says.
" Then it rolled in. "
Unfortunately, poor Chip hasn't actually seen an ace drop in
eight years now. " I'm not very good on par 3s, " he says. " I got a
lot of work to do on my short game if I want to get a hole-in-one
on a par 3. "
Mark Craig is the NFL/Vikings columnist and a golf writer for
the Star Tribune.
www.mngolf.org
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2015

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