Quail Creek couple’s remarkable ace count reaches 11

Most duffers rarely get the chance to pull even one ace from the cup, but Quail Creek’s Davey and Mary Cambell-Jones have pulled a remarkable 11 between them since they took up the game eighteen years ago.

The California couple bought a condo on a golf course in La Quinta in 1990, took a few group lessons, and only a few months after taking up their new pastime, Mary aced a 110-yard par three with a 7-iron, adding a second hole-in-one a mere three weeks later.

Since then, she’s run off a total of eight, just missing her ninth a few days ago at Quail Creek Country Club, where she carries a 20 handicap and has already aced Nos. 8 and 17.

“Actually, I got mine first,” husband Davey playfully reminds her.

The former LAPD narcotics detective holed out a wedge about three months before her first, but acknowledges that his three don’t compare to her eight — and almost nine.

Mary picked up the first five, averaging about a year or a little more apart, then got No. 6 two-and-a-half years after, then waited 10 years for the seventh in 2006, within one day of the same date, adding the eighth on Nov. 6 on the 145-yard No. 17 with a 3-wood over the water and bunkers guarding the green.

She only played off and on the first two years after taking up the game, as she was so busy as a Pacific Bell facilities engineer that she couldn’t devote the time to it she wanted to — although she was breaking 100 by then, managing to maintain an 18 handicap.

Neither one had much athletic experience to speak of, though Davey, who still retains his Birmingham, England accent, did play some soccer, and Mary played a little tennis.

The couple discovered this area while he was doing research for “Nogales Crossing,” one of his two published novels about police work, happy to find a retirement home centered around their mutual love of golf, although they’ve both jumped into a lot of other pursuits with both feet.

Mary, a former “Red Hat” queen, volunteers at Friends inDeed, and they’re two of the founders of the Quail Creek Performing Arts Guild, helping to create their own productions in musical variety, one-act plays, and dinner theatre for residents.

Davey also writes plays for Amado Inn Mysteries, where they have both acted, as well. The couple does a lot of hiking, traveling, and entertaining at their aptly named “Hole-in-the-Wall” pub, carved into the center of their house where they can display their holes-in-one rack between the party signs.

They play together on Sundays, and Mary is taking regular lessons now with pro Marvol Barnard to get back to an 18 and improve her short game and mental focus.

“We’re always talking about other stuff,” Mary says of her regular ladies group, “so it’s hard for me to keep focused.”

Like many couples, they keep their games separate, Davey pledging that he wouldn’t attempt to give her any tips.

“He promised me years ago he would never tell me what to do on the course,” she said, though he added that he wouldn’t try even if she asked him to.

“I’d kill to swing the club as well as she does,” he admitted.

What’s her secret?

“Hey,” she said, smiling, “I’m swinging for the pin, because I’m not the greatest putter.”

Mike Touzeau is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News.