Get to Know: Bill Johnsa Aces on the Links

Bill Johnsa is no Tiger Woods, but he owns a distinction even the world's most prominent golfer might not.

Johnsa, Lilburn's city manager, is a recreational golfer with 25 hole-in-ones. It's a distinction that garnered a commemorative certificate of recognition from the Georgia State Golf Association.

"I agree it's pretty unusual," Johnsa said of reluctance to tell his rather unbelievable story. "I usually don't even tell people because it sounds pretty incredible."

Johnsa, a juvenile probation officer in Gwinnett and a Dawson County manager before coming to Lilburn, is himself somewhat bewildered by his luck on the links, particularly because he came to the sport somewhat belatedly.

He caddied for his late father, Richard, who golfed at Atlanta's Roosevelt High and the Air Force Academy, but cared more for baseball and football through adolescence and North Gwinnett High in the late 1970s.

It wasn't until after a year of baseball at Mercer University that he began playing golf more recreationally, and eventually, with his dad on most weekends.

As for landing hole-in-ones, those began at roughly age 22. Johnsa recalls his first at the old Windy Hill course in Lawrenceville, while playing with his dad. Actually, the younger Johnsa considered it a poor shot that inexplicably hit the flag stick and dropped straight down into the hole. The most lasting memory, however, was his father's big, blue, wide-eyed wonderment, then loving grumbling about having only two in some 50 years of golf.

Realize, at 49 years old, Johnsa's 25 aces have come at an average of nearly one a year. Furthermore, he said he's had four others, but those weren't witnessed by anyone who could sign his round card to submit to the GSGA. More remarkably still, Johnsa claims to have landed two on consecutive days.

"That's many more holes-in-one than much better golfers than I am," Johnsa said. "Even the best players might go through life and have only one or a couple. I'm sure there are many tour players and amateurs who might not have any. There's no real explanation for it."

Johnsa's landmark 25th came on the 167-yard, par-3 eighth hole at Sugar Hill Golf Course last fall with friends Richard Evans and David Strickland and cousin Rodney Dodd. But that didn't shock Strickland.

"Bill's always been a great irons player, so the odds of his having one are pretty good," said Strickland, owner of five hole-in-ones. "Bill's a freak of nature."

And like fable of Babe Ruth pointing to center field then hitting a home run there, Evans recalls Johnsa occasionally calling second and third shots.

"One time at Sugar Hill, Bill said, 'I think I can knock this in,' and sure enough, he did," remembered Evans, owner of a single hole-in-one. "I've seen him knock in three eagles -- and ones that weren't easy either. He has knack for doing some odd things on the golf course."

Sugar Hill City Councilman Steve Edwards, Johnsa's long-time friend who also has a hole-in-one, said fortune couldn't come to a more deserving guy.

"Bill's just the nicest guy," Edwards said. "He's definitely a dude's dude. He's someone you want as a friend. He'll do anything for you."

Flattery aside, Johnsa insists he's no different than the average weekend player, though he perhaps better envisions making shots.

"I don't have all that great a golf swing," Johnsa said, "but when I play a hole, I see it. I see a positive result. I just can visualize it for some reason. It just clicks for me. Well, it used to, anyway."

Johnsa said he's gone from an 18 handicap to a 1, though work increasingly keeps him from playing as often as he'd like. Golf remains his outlet from a city manager job he considers sometimes trying amid public scrutiny. Golf remains his opportunity to unwind with friends, those he cares most about, next to wife Lisa and sons Mitch and Patrick.

Yet not every shot has gone so straight. Amid the exhilaration has been frustration, particularly as a young player. One day in his 20s, Johnsa recalls shanking a close putt and throwing his putter hard at his golf bag lying next to the green. When he got to the next hole, he discovered several clubs damaged within.

"Some days it's a struggle, but that's just the nature of golf," Johnsa said. "Some days, the club fits naturally in your hand. Other days, it feels like a snake."