AUGUST 19 • 2021 | 39

busy with projects.
“I’ve only played golf in the
B’nai B’rith league this year,”
he said.
Baker’s hole-in-one was
shot July 15.
The previous week in
league play, he left a tee shot
about a foot and a half from
the hole on a par-3 hole on
the West course at the Links
of Novi, which has three
nine-hole courses.
“That was the closest I’d
come to shooting a hole-in-
one until I actually shot one,”
Baker said. “I’d never even
seen someone shoot a hole-
in-one until I shot mine.”
There were no early indi-
cations that Baker was going
to shoot an ace the week
after his close call. He had to
scramble to shoot bogey on
the first two holes.
“I consider myself a bogey
golfer, but I wasn’t exactly
on fire at that point of the
round,” he said.
The pin on hole No. 3 was
only about 5 feet behind a
sand trap on the left side of
the green.
Conventional wisdom said
it was best to send a shot to
the middle of the green and
avoid the bunker.

But Baker’s shot went
straight for the pin, landed
below the cup, rolled a cou-
ple feet and dropped into the
hole.
He remembers saying
“Clear the bunker,” then he
saw the ball disappear, fig-
ured it went into the hole,
and he started yelling.
So did everyone else in his
four-golfer group, includ-
ing league teammate Josh
Harvith, “my best friend
since second grade,” Baker
said.
“What was amazing about
my hole-in-one shot is there
was such a small window
to land the ball between the
bunker and the pin,” Baker
said.
Besides the ball he used
for his hole-in-one and his
scorecard from the round,
Baker has another memento
from his memorable day.
“I got a hat from the golf
course,” he said.
This is Baker’s third year in
the B’nai B’rith Golf League.
He’s been teammates with
Harvith, a Novi resident, all
three years.

Please send sports news to

stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

League.
Weekly play will begin
Aug. 24 and continue
through Nov. 3, with a six-
week regular season, two
weeks of playoffs, and
time off for Jewish holi-
days.
Games will have 20-min-
ute halves and paid offi-
cials. Michigan high school
rules will apply.
A prayer service will be
held before and after each
night’s games, with play
beginning at 7 p.m. and
continuing until 10 p.m.
Concessions will be

available with profits split
between the scorekeeper
for games and Farber.
“My goal is for the
Synagogue League
to have 10 teams,”
Shamayev said last week.
“Realistically, I’m looking at
six or eight.”
Interested in join-
ing the Synagogue
League? Wondering
about team fees? Send
an email to Shamayev at
Danielrshamayev@gmail.
com.

continued on page 40

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