Craig Daily Press

Photo by John Vandelinder

Men’s Club secretary treasurer Don Roth presents Rick Holford his winnings Tuesday in front of the fourth hole. Holford retired the ball he used on his hole-in-one, but he said he’ll never retire from golf

Steamboat Springs — Golf ball: $2.

Round at Yampa Valley Golf Course: $17.

Callaway clubs: More than $1,000.

The hole-in-one Rick Holford hit on Yampa’s par-3 fourth hole Monday: Priceless.

The check Holford earned for one swing of his club will be paying for his golf, golf balls and clubs for quite some time.

Holford was paired with buddy Ken Harjes on Monday morning for the duo’s regular weekday golf round.

The morning was like any other, until they teed off the fourth hole, where about 165-yards separated the tee from the green.

Holford grabbed his trusty 5-iron and swung away.

“It was totally by accident,” Holford said. “I was just trying to get it over the bunker. Once it was over, I couldn’t see it, but man, I heard it.”

The ball took two bounces and went directly in the hole.

Ace.

Hole-in-one.

And the shot of a lifetime.

Holford has done it before, just not as part of Yampa Valley’s Men’s Club.

For four years, Men’s Club members pay $10 for the chance at a high payday for a hole-in-one.

Nobody had claimed the pot, so when Holford collected his check today from Men’s Club Secretary Treasurer Don Roth, he was in shock.

The payday for one swing of the club was $4,210.

“I walked up to the green, and I couldn’t see my ball,” Holford said. “Harjes was on the left side of the green, and he didn’t even look at his ball. He walked straight to the cup, and there it was.

“He was more excited than I was.”

And for good reason.

Harjes aced the par-3 seventh hole two years ago — his trusty golf partner Holford was there to witness it — but there was a problem:

Harjes hadn’t paid his $10.

The then pot of $1,400 eluded Harjes and continued to grow.

And grow.

“Man, I wish I paid that 10 bucks back then,” Harjes said. “If I did, (Holford) wouldn’t have won so much money.”

The duo laughed when talking about the glory they have accomplished together on Yampa’s links.

Both have made a hole-in-one, but Holford’s will stand as the most impressive, if not because of the shot, because of the payday.

“I never won any money on my first one,” Holford said of his ace more than 20 years ago when Yampa Valley was a nine-hole course. “It was different back then. There was no Men’s Club, so all you got was a handshake and a pat on the back. I’d rather have the check.”

Holford has been golfing since he was 13 years old, but said he didn’t get good at the sport until 1982.

“That’s when I got divorced,” he said. “And, I could play as much as I wanted then.”

He’s been a regular member at Yampa Valley for as long as he can remember and has been playing with Harjes for about four years.

He said he may have a couple more aces up his sleeve.

“I just am going to keep hitting it and hope,” he said. “If it goes in again, I’m going to do what I did this time.

“Act casual, like I meant to do it.”