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Mike Sonoda’s strokes of luck at 91
Courtesy: Karen Kalil-Weiss

Mike Sonoda’s strokes of luck at 91

LOS ANGELES — Golf. It’s a game that calls for a combination of both luck and skill – and golfer Mike Sonoda has both. Want proof?  Let’s start with luck …

This year, on Jan. 3, Mike made a hole in one at his beloved “home away from home,” Westchester Golf Course. But he didn’t stop there. A week and a half later, on Jan. 14, he sunk a second hole in one. And, just for good measure, he made a third a mere five days later! (Incidentally, to his credit, Mike has also made two additional holes in one in the last decade.)

Courtesy: Karen Kalil-Weiss

To put Mike’s feat in perspective, according to the National Hole in One Registry, the odds of making one hole in one is 1:3500, which puts the odds of making three at, well let’s just say, near impossible.

Oh, and by the way, Mike is 91 years of age. So what’s Mike’s secret? A big part of it is, in fact, skill. Mike, a Kauai, Hawaii, native, has been “practicing” for over 70 years.

As Mike recalls, “In 1951, my friend Jack and I both went into the Army. And while I got sent to Korea, Jack was stationed in Honolulu and took up golf. When we were discharged, Jack wanted me to learn the sport so he’d have someone to play with. I was reluctant at first, but Jack was persistent and I eventually gave in, learned the game and never looked back!”

After attending school in Chicago, in 1958 Mike and his wife moved to SoCal where they had two kids and Mike worked as a lab assistant at Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo. But it was the opening of the Westchester Golf Course in 1965 that changed his life.

“I became a regular at Westchester and have been a fixture there ever since,” says Mike. “These days I play the course three days a week and support golfers as a course Ambassador two days a week. I also like to spend a day practicing my chipping and pitching. And on Saturday, I rest.” (Did we mention he’s 91?)

And by rest, Mike means working on his vegetable garden, playing the harmonica (that his mother taught him as a boy) and spending time with his daughter Melanie and granddaughter Nicole.

When asked his favorite part of the game, Mike gleefully responds, “Golf has given me the opportunity to make so many wonderful friends throughout the years. Funny, people always ask to shake my hand in the hopes that I will bring them bring them luck on the course. Ironically, I believe it is these friends who truly make me a lucky man!”

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