Kelly Spitz is an emergency room nurse and a frontline hero during these challenging times.
So when local golf courses started to open up recently, you couldn’t blame her if she wanted to get away from all the hardships she’s been seeing at the hospital, get outside and be one of the first to swing the clubs, even if she is very new to the game.
And as they say, good things happen to good people … so of course, she got a hole-in-one.
“I always kind of believed in karma, so maybe this is part of that, some good among all the tough times we see at the hospital every day,” Spitz said. “I don’t know if I deserved to get this because of what I do, it’s mostly pure luck, but it was nice. Certainly, something to enjoy with all that is going on.”
In only the third time she had played golf “for real,” Spitz got the hole-in-one at Cedar Creek Golf Club in Battle Creek on Tuesday. Spitz, who lives just outside Olivet and works at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, became a member at Cedar Creek Golf Club this spring with her friend, Kenny Sult, who lives in the Battle Creek area.
Using a driver on the 125-yard No. 16 hole, Spitz had one of her best swings of the day, saw the ball bounce off the cart path and onto the green.
Sult, her playing partner who had turned away and missed the shot, heard all the yelling and was excited for Spitz as well.
“She is so new to it, I’m not sure she realized right away what she had done or what it meant,” Sult said. “It’s definitely crazy. I’m happy for her. Being a nurse, and we were playing with a friend of ours who is also a nurse, they are getting a little stir crazy considering what they are going through at the hospital. So this is a cool thing to happen.”
Over the last several weeks, there has been some debate around the state as to whether golf courses should be open during the pandemic. Cris Vocke, owner and operator of Cedar Creek Golf Club, is happy people are now enjoying golf for a lot of reasons, but especially for moments like the one Spitz had.
“I think in this time, we can all use a little good news. In the midst of all the issues we face in today’s world, it was great to see her get that hole-in-one. Considering she just learned the game, she definitely beat the odds,” Vocke said. “Like everyone, we know how terrible it is out there right now. But I think we all could use some type of relief from it all at times and a lot of experts have recommended getting out and getting exercise.
“I think in Michigan, we are blessed with some of the best golf courses to be able to do that at. From day one, I have been an advocate, that as long as we consider social distancing and everyone is trying to be safe, then golf can be a good thing to be doing these days.”
Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter @billbroderick.