Mancil Davis Podcast- Part Two

Part Two: I interviewed Mancil Davis, The King of Aces for Hole-in-OneNews.com. This was shortly before Mancil recorded his 51st hole-in-one. Mancil talks about how he got started and most importantly, how he goes about getting hole-in-ones. Enjoy!

To hear the podcast, click here:

http://eaccountable.com/hio/mancil_davis_041307-002.mp3

“And not one person answered, “The hole.” The typical response was, “The grain.” or “I’m trying to miss the bunker.” or “I’m trying to get it over the water.” But most of them said, “The grain.” or “I’m just going for the center.” It was amazing that not one person said, “I’m trying to make it.” So I do believe there is something to it.

Ben Hogan. This is an incredible story. Ben Hogan, and I have a hard time saying this, Mr. Hogan and always will be. I had the honor of meeting him several times throughout my career and I was actually the director of golf at the only golf course Mr. Hogan ever designed right there in the Dallas area, the Rowan Oak and the Trophy Club but I had been told by every source out there that Ben Hogan had never made a hole-in-one. And I would laugh and say, arguably, at that time the greatest ball striker in the world never made one and at the time I had 35 or 36 or whatever. I said, “It doesn’t seem fair or right.”

Well, I found out that just before he died, about two years before he died, Golf Digest was doing an article again on golfers who made holes-in-one and somebody elected to double check the Hogan story. And he said, “That’s not true.” He said, “I’ve had two.” And what followed was a comment that I thought was incredible. He didn’t say, “I might have had more.” or “I should have had more.” and “Maybe I would…” He said, “I would have had more holes-in-one but I rarely aimed at the flag. I aimed at a position on the green affording the best birdie opportunity.” 

Thank God, Mr. Hogan was a practical soul or he would have the record. [Laughter] But what a great story. Maybe he would have had more and he was very sincere with it.

Durk Price: I mean the stories about him with his caddy were, he moves my foot or two and the guy sits there and the balls just drop in his pocket basically. He is a legend and they were true.

Mancil Davis: Well, I got to watch some of that at Shady Oaks. There is a golf professional you might be familiar there in Dallas, Robert Hoyt.

Durk Price: Oh sure, yeah.

Mancil Davis: Robert shagged for Mr. Hogan at Shady Oaks early as a youngster and there was an assistant pro there by the name of Bill West who actually gave me one of my first golf lessons way long time ago. Years ago in Odessa and he was working at Shady Oaks. One time I got to visit and he took us out and introduced to Mr. Hogan and Robert was shagging. And it was just an incredible opportunity to watch Mr. Hogan.

Durk Price: Wow.

Mancil Davis: And Robert didn’t have to move much. Of course, as tall as he was, he could move one step and it was about 10 yards.

Durk Price: [Laughs] So maybe that’s where all the tension came from. Robert was doing all his shagging for him.

Mancil Davis: One of Hoyt’s step was about a club, okay. We might just have dispelled the rumor.

Durk Price: That’s right. Let’s just say it started here anyway. [Laughter] I wish you had some interesting stories to tell. This would make a fun interview if we did.

Mancil Davis: Oh, oh. I’ll tell you what. We don’t have enough time. That’s what so neat Durk. I mean, literally. I do the King of Aces outings for corporate and charity groups. We are on a par 3 hitting a shot with each group and we do photographs. It’s kind of just a neat little thing.   

If I hit a good one, they play mine. If they are inside of me they win King of Aces golf balls. If they make a one I give $10,000.00 and then when we finish the round where everybody is around the score board and having their soft drink or beer and they are posting the scores, and we take the four golfers who happen to be closest to the hole on the four par 3’s and we waltz them out into the fairway. They are on 9 or 18 or whatever green happens to be close to the score board. Everybody gathers around and these four guys or gals get to take a swing from a 150 yards and if they make it, the win a million dollars. 

Durk Price: Wow.

Mancil Davis: Then we conclude the day of golf with whoever is closest among those four trying a 50 foot putt. If they make that, they win $10,000.00. So it’s kind of a unique addition but I get to make a living going to places that I’ve never had the opportunity to be and hanging around golfers. And as you are so well aware, golfers throughout the world are such a unique bunch of people. I literally kind of pinch myself everyday.

I know last year I was laughing on a Monday and Tuesday. I am doing the King of Aces out in the island of Lanai over in Hawaii for a New Jersey pharmaceutical group. [Laughter] And on Thursday, I am doing a King of Aces outing in Muleshoe, Texas. I had a ball in both spots. I mean, you can’t imagine a larger extreme! I mean from one of the most beautiful islands and I was staying in a hotel room on Lanai that literally per night cost more than my house does for a month. 

I’m going, “This is like putting perfume on a pig.” [Laughter] That is what is so neat about it. I have a great time. I am not going to get rich doing it. But if I would start counting wealth and friends and acquaintances and such. “Move over Bill Gates,” is all I can tell you.

Durk Price: Yeah. Well you got a pretty good looking web site. Now, do you keep everybody up to speed on what your schedule is?

Mancil Davis: I try to.

Durk Price: Do you come out and watch even if they not playing?

Mancil Davis: Oh yeah absolutely. I try to update the web site and I do need to actually. So, if anybody goes there, those pictures are about two years old. So, I need to get those updated but I try to keep everybody alert as to where I am going to be. 

Whether it would be for one of just local King of Aces outing for a charity or corporate group or one of the big million dollar Hole-in-One shootouts which is where I really get the chance to meet more of the people around the country. The million dollar shootouts are a four-day Hole-in-One contest that we do literally around the United States where golfers come out. It’s a driving range event. For four days they come out and for a dollar a shot they try and qualify. Money goes to a local charity. It’s probably amateur golf’s most exciting event.

We get people who aren’t even golfers. They’ve just been to a driving range from time to time. I keep it very, very simple. They are only hitting a shot of about 120 yards to qualify over the four days and it gets them into the semi-finals if they hit it into a big 6 foot circle. On the last day, which is typically Sunday, we have a closest to the hole contest among our qualifiers and 25-40, depending on where we are make it to the final. It’s almost hard to describe. 

In the finals, each of those players get one swing from a 150 yards but the green has 19 flags on it.[Laughter] I mean, it has so many holes it looks like a piece of Swiss cheese up there. You got the million dollar cup in the middle of the green which obviously they are aiming at but we have 18 jackpot hole –we call them–scattered around the green that are worth $10,000.00 or new cars or Rolexes and it’s just an incredible event. That’s where I get the chance to spend four days in one town or one location.

We generally get a 1,000 or 1,500 or maybe 2,000 people coming out over the four days and it’s almost verifies what you said early on. Our average ace maker, our average person hitting a hole-in-one is about a 17 handy cap.

Durk Price: Wow.

Mancil Davis: I mean, to me that’s fascinating. That makes it so much more possible, practical, enjoyable. It’s just fascinating. I was doing an interview with one of the magazines recently and we’d just talk out. I get people when I’m on an airplane or in an event. If they’ve had a hole-in-one, if somebody’s had a hole-in-one, it’s almost like them telling you about their child or grandchild.[Laughter] They have this glee. 

Durk Price: I can imagine that.

But you know, I’ve heard every hole-in-one story in the world and I love them. Everybody’s got to tell me about their ace and as they are telling the stories Durk, I mean, their eyes light up. I mean, it’s just an incredible moment. I think that’s what’s special.

The average golfer cannot literally sit on their couch and be out there hitting balls and being really thinking consciously that they can go out and win the Master’s or the U.S. Open or the Byron Nelson or whatever. But they know, they know in their hearts and minds and souls that they can possibly, that one moment, that one swing, the right bounce. You know, whatever happens to be in place, they are capable of hitting one shot that even the greatest player, Tiger Woods or even Mr. Hogan that can’t be beaten. That’s what’s kind of unique about this crazy game we play.

 Durk Price: One swing is all it takes.

Mancil Davis: The numbers can probably say whatever you want them to but the hole-in-one is still an incredible feat. I mean, if a golfer 25 times a year on a regulation course with four par 3’s. There’s still, theoretically looking at about a hundred years to make an ace when you look at the numbers and the odds. So, it is fascinating. I will never complain of about bad luck. Enough of my aces have found the bottom of the cup and they probably shouldn’t have. I can’t complain with one hits a tree and goes left or right or whatever.

Durk Price: Well, this has been incredible fun and I’d really like to make a commitment that you and I do this a couple of times a year and keep you up to date on what’s going on in Hole-in-One News. We are going to add a place where people can register their hole-in-ones and I am almost positive we haven’t put together all the information but we are going to end up some kind of prize at the end of the year for the longest one, the shortest one, the funniest one. 

Whatever we can dream up and we are also going to do on Hole-in-One News golf videos. You post it on YouTube and send us your link to your video and we are going to vote on who puts together the funniest video over this year with good prizes to go behind. So, I’ll kind of keep you up-to-date on what we’re doing and likewise. If you get any good stories, I want to hear from you.          

Mancil Davis: I’ll be checking that site daily. I’m looking forward to us talking again and hopefully some of our folks that log on might have need of my services for one of their corporate or charity events. I’m easily located.

Durk Price: Just from what I’ve listening, it would be a lot of fun to have you there. I had the opportunity to play a lot of tournaments in the past and I actually was at a tournament that Sam Sneed did –what you are doing–and Sam, gosh, he had to have been in his late 70s at the time and, rest his soul, he had a few words of wisdom that can’t be published here.

[Laughter]

Mancil Davis: Sam was always had some adjectives that always managed to find their way into his statements but it was always entertaining. You never get tired of. But the one thing, and you just hit on it. Like right here, I live at the Woodlands just outside of Houston and there are comfortably 2,500 or 3,000 corporate or charity events a year within a 60 or 80 mile radius. And so they are all competing with so many times for the same sponsored dollar and, in some cases, the same contestants. 

The sponsors or the organizers, they need to do something to make their unique, memorable and exciting. For people to leave that parking lot going, “You know, that fun!” And that’s kind of what I feel like or hope I can bring to the table when a group hires me and I think very reasonable as far as appearance fee and I come in there and I have a good time.

My vision is to entertain the golfers in the event and make sure they have a good time also. We have been blessed to see some great shots, several aces. I’ve had to pick up the phone and call our good friend Doug Bernhard at National Hole-in-One and say, “Doug hold the check book up because we just gave away some more of your money.” 

Mancil Davis: But he always pays quickly and with a smile and they’ve won over 50 million dollars.

Durk Price: Just saw a press release just recently.

Mancil Davis: I was with him when they wrote the very first policy. It’s an incredible group and Doug has just done an outstanding job in National Hole-in-One. I’m going to keep abreast of the blog and the site and will look forward to our next visit my friend.

Durk Price: We will do it and that’s all today from Hole-in-One News!

           

Listen to Mancil Davis- The King of Aces- Podcast- Part Two

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 12:49 pm and is filed under National Hole-In-One Association, Hole-in-One, Mancil Davis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.