When Festus senior Collin Weinhaus woke up on April 5, he was ready for the excitement of his 18th birthday.
What he didn’t know was just how memorable it would be.
Weinhaus and his teammates on the Tiger golf team were set to play a tri-match that afternoon with Jefferson County Activities Association rivals De Soto and St. Pius X at Crystal Highlands. So Weinhaus went to the refurbished course south of Festus at 11 a.m. to hit some range balls.
The early practice must have helped. On his last shot of the match, using a pitching wedge on the 150-yard 11th hole, he lofted the ball straight to the green. It hit the flagpole and fell into the cup for the second hole-in-one of his young career.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t drive (it) well and the wind brought it back. It dunked off the flag and went right in,” said Weinhaus, who plans to attend Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis on a golf scholarship. “The kids from Pius and Ethan McClinton (the defending JCAA individual champion from
De Soto) were there. I hit it and one of the kids from Pius said, ‘That’s right on.’”
Not only did Weinhaus get his hole-in-one during a high school match – his first ace came at Joachim Golf Course playing on his own in 2020 – his parents were there to see it. He said his father, Jacob Weinhaus, has yet to pull off the feat.
“They were like, ‘Oh my gosh, a hole-in-one on your birthday,’” he said.
For his nine-hole round of 41, Weinhaus had seven bogeys. But on the par-four 14th hole, he drove to the green and sank a long putt for an eagle, using a new putter he had received as an early birthday present. That alone would have made the day special.
“I made about a 50- or 60-foot putt, it was crazy,” Weinhaus said.
Festus won the JCAA team title last year, with Weinhaus firing an 88 for third place. He and senior Cole Rickermann are the only returning members from that team. At the 2021 Class 4 District 1 tournament in Farmington, Weinhaus missed the sectional cut by three strokes.
Weinhaus and Rickermann also played basketball together, helping Festus win 21 games this past season and coming within one shot of winning a district championship.