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Earlier this month, a young North Bay golfer accomplished a feat so rare that most amateur golfers never experience it in their lifetimes. And the 14-year-old did it twice.

Jakoby Gershman of Corte Madera made two holes-in-one over the span of three days.

The odds of making a hole-in-one in golf for the average golfer are about 12,000 to 1, according to the National Hole-in-One Registry. The chance of making two holes-in-one within days of each other seems nearly impossible, but don’t tell that to Gershman. 

He made his first-ever hole-in-one on Sept. 15 at McInnis Park Golf Center, then on Sept. 17 made another at Peacock Gap Golf Club, both in San Rafael.

“I must be the luckiest kid on Earth for making two in a row,” Gershman said he thought after picking his ball up out of the hole. “I was at a loss for words.”

Gershman said he wished he could share the feat with his late grandfather, who inspired him to play the game. 

“I was like, ‘Why don’t I just call Papa Marc,’” Gershman told J. 

His first ace came on the eighth hole, a 90-yard par-3, at McInnis, a short golf course located near San Pablo Bay.

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Gershman, who hit a pitching wedge, saw the ball land on the front fringe but couldn’t see where it finished because the green is elevated. From the tee box, he jumped to try to catch a glimpse but still couldn’t see it. He began to feel that tinge of excitement that golfers get when they suspect their ball may be in the hole. He pulled out his phone and began to record a video. 

“I think I just hit a hole-in-one,” he says in the video, then repeats “Oh my God” three times, followed by a final confirmation upon seeing his ball in the hole: “I hit a hole-in-one!”

Golfers on the next tee box came over to the green to record a second video of Gershman addressing the camera. He displayed the ball proudly between his fingers then clasped it with both hands.

Gershman’s second ace came on Sept. 17 on Peacock Gap’s sixth hole, a 148-yard par-3 that plays over water. Gershman cut a 5-wood that bounced once, hit the flagstick and then dropped straight into the cup. Gershman wasn’t playing alone this time, so he immediately shared his joy with other golfers by his side.   

“We started high-fiving and everything,” he said. “It was crazy.”

He pulled out his phone and started recording again, later describing the feeling as “calming,” perhaps because he was in such a state of disbelief.

In addition to celebrating the wonders informally, his family recorded them on the National Hole-in-One Registry.

Gershman, an eighth-grader, competes on the golf team at Hall Middle School in Larkspur. He picked up the game about four years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic when his parents wanted him to find a new hobby. He decided on golf because it was an outside sport that could be played safely during the pandemic and because his grandfather loved the game.

Another thing he’s done twice: He had two bar mitzvah services, one at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and a second at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. 

He doesn’t yet know where he’ll attend high school but hopes to continue competing on the golf course.  

Said Gershman, “I have aspirations of playing varsity high school golf.”