From the Distortions-Happen Department: An amateur golfer, Jacqueline Gagne, claims to have hit sixteen, count ’em, sixteen holes-in-one this year, according to a report in Golf Digest — but after investigating, the reporter doesn’t seem to be buying it. One intriguing aspect of the story is how many “witnesses,” allegedly endorsers of Gagne’s claims, on closer questioning turn out never to have seen a ball go into the hole, or in some cases even onto the green:
Those nine gave her 16 holes-in-one in six months, which, as measure of the story’s breathtaking nature, is two more holes-in-one than Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson made in their lifetimes, combined.
Quickly, let’s account for those 16. To start, subtract three because there’s no hard evidence she played at those places. Then drop two more because there’s record of only one witness and she would not agree to an interview.
Now we’re at 11. On two of those, two witnesses reported Gagne’s shots rolling toward the hole, disappearing behind swales, and being found in the cup.
On the remaining nine, I talked to eight witnesses. They agreed on four things: (1) They never saw a Gagne shot hit a green, (2) never saw her ball roll on the green, (3) never saw a ball go in the hole, and (4) someone always found Gagne’s ball in the hole.
The last quoted paragraph should be no surprise to any experienced litigator: That which everyone tells you a witness will say, often turns out to be quite different than what they actually do say.
(Hat tip: Wall Street Journal.)
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