MAY 30 • 2024 | 33
J
N

H

ayden Dean is 17. He’s been 
playing golf for 10 years. He has 
two holes-in-one.
His latest ace was shot May 1 at 
Knollwood Country Club in West 
Bloomfield. Playing in a match for the 
Frankel Jewish Academy boys golf team 
against Grosse Pointe University Liggett, 
Dean knocked it in the cup on the 186-
yard No. 6 hole with a 5-iron.
Nearly three years previously, Dean 
was playing a round with his father 
at Twin Beach Country Club in West 
Bloomfield Township. He shot a hole-in-
one on the 156-yard No. 4 hole.
He also used a 5-iron for that ace, but 
it wasn’t the same club he used May 1 for 
his hole-in-one.
The date of Dean’s first hole-in-one 
was June 5, 2021. That’s an emotional 
day for the Dean family. Harold Dean, 
Hayden’s grandfather, died June 5, 2003, 
at age 66.
“That was crazy that I got a hole-

in-one on that day,” Hayden said. “I 
remember I put a good strike on the 
ball, but I didn’t see the ball go in the 
hole. I couldn’t find the ball on the 
green. It was in the hole.”
Hayden also didn’t see the ball go in 
the hole in his latest ace.
His two playing partners, Frankel 
sophomore Robbie Feldman and 
Liggett’s Charlie Cooksey, didn’t see the 
ball go in the hole but they were certain 
Heyden shot a hole-in-one.
Their thoughts were confirmed when 
Hayden retrieved his golf ball from the 
hole.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Feldman said. “I 
was surprised. Not a lot of kids our age 
shoot a hole-in-one.”
Frankel coach Brian Cohen was 
elsewhere on the course and didn’t see 
Hayden’s hole-in-one. Liggett coach 
Dan Sullivan said he arrived at the hole 
“literally just in time to see Hayden tee 
off.
“The two kids playing with him 
thought his shot went in the hole. With 
my 70-year-old eyes, I wasn’t 100% sure. 
I knew it was close, though. That’s a long 
hole for a par-3, and the pin was placed 
in the back of the green on the left side. 
This hole-in-one was no fluke.”
Sullivan said he was happy to be 
among the witnesses for Hayden’s ace.
“The young man was ecstatic, of 
course, but humble,” Sullivan said. “He 
told me that was his second hole-in-
one. Wow. He’s a better golfer than me, I 
guess.”
Hayden ended up shooting 6-over-par 
42 for his nine-hole round. He had a par 
5 on No. 7, a triple-bogey 6 on the par-3 
No. 8, and a bogey 5 on the par-4 No. 9 
to finish his round.
The Frankel junior had a premonition 
a few days earlier that he was going to 

shoot a hole-in-one.
During a family vacation in Florida, he 
said, he asked his father out of the blue 
if he thought he was ever going to get a 
second hole-in-one.
“My dad said probably not because 
it’s so tough to do,” Hayden said. “Three 
days later, I shot the hole-in-one at 
Knollwood.”
Shooting a hole-in-one in a high 
school golf match isn’t very common. 
Hayden is the first Frankel golfer to do 
it.
The Michigan High School Athletic 
Association doesn’t keep a record of aces 
shot during a regular-season match, but 
it has kept track of aces shot in the state 
tournaments in recent years.
Only four boys and one girl have 
scored an ace at state since 2018.
Hayden also is a tennis player at 
Frankel. He’s worked his way up from 
No. 4 singles to No. 3 singles to No. 2 
singles in his three years on the team, 
which has qualified for the Division 4 
state tournament eight times in 10 years.
He likes tennis, but golf has a special 
place in his heart. Why? He comes from 
a family of golfers. And there’s more.
“Golf is relaxing,” he said. “It’s not so 
tough on your body as tennis. And it’s 
easy to socialize when you’re playing. I 
like that.”
Does Hayden see more holes-in-one in 
his future? Maybe.
“I have a lot of time to do it,” he said.
Steve and Jill Dean are Hayden’s 
parents. 
Hayden lives with his parents in West 
Bloomfield. He has three older siblings, 
Josh, 31, Sammy, 29, and Nicki, 26. His 
brother lives in Huntington Woods and 
his sisters live in New York. 

Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

Frankel Jewish Academy junior golfer Hayden 
Dean shoots a hole-in-one during a Frankel match, 
giving him two aces in his 10 years of playing golf.

Twice is Nice

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

SPORTS

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Hayden Dean returned 
to Knollwood County 
Club to show off the 
golf ball he used for 
his hole-in-one there.

