A 105-Year-Old Club, a Hole-in-One… and a Whisper From Heaven By Mike Phillips⛳️🌈♥️

 Every golf trip has its memorable shots, its iconic views, and its historic venues — but every once in a while, something happens that reminds us the game is so much bigger than golf.

On our recent BMGA journey to Scotland, 20 -27 September, we experienced one of those rare moments.

A Friendship Forged in Service

Traveling with us was Tom (Tommy) DiSilverio — a lifelong golfer of more than 45 years and a senior United States Air Force veteran. His love of the game was deeply shared with his wife of over 40 years, Laura.

He was joined by Mike Phillips, BMGA President and one of Tommy’s closest friends for nearly 45 years — a bond that began in high school and continued across three decades of service together as U.S. Air Force colonels and intelligence officers deployed around the world. Laura, too, served as a senior USAF intelligence officer, making this a lifelong friendship built on service, sacrifice, and shared mission.

The BMGA Travel Party

This Scotland journey was a special one — a shared experience among friends. Representing the BMGA were:

• Mike & Iva Phillips

• Jim & Joyce Knodell

• Jeff Pon

• Doug Holmburg

• Shervin Gerami

Along with 10 additional golfers and friends and family of Mike's from clubs around the United States— from Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, New York, and Arizona — each joining our Belmont group for a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the birthplace of the game.

A Promise and a Pilgrimage

Before this trip, heartbreak struck. Laura passed away after a brief illness. It was both sudden and a heartbreaking loss for Tommy D and his two girls. Before she left this world, she looked to Mike and said:

“Mike, promise me....Make sure Tommy goes to Scotland with you. It’s always been his dream.”

She knew this was more than a trip —

it was a journey of healing.

The First Round — History Meets Heart

Our opening tee time was at Kingarrock Hickory Golf Course, where golf is played exactly as it was 100 years ago — hickory-shafted clubs, hand-cut fairways, and Scottish golf in its purest form.

On the par-3 7th hole, Tommy stepped up with a 105-year-old club in hand.

He swung.

The ball bounced once…

then twice…

…and fell into the cup. And every member of the group was positioned to see the hole in one. Coincidence? Maybe....but my guess it was Laura's doing to have our entire group in a position on the course to observe and witness this special moment. 

✅ His first ever hole-in-one at a hole that had never seen a hole in one in its past

✅ On day one of his Scotland journey

✅ With a century-old club

✅ On the course where the game still lives in its original form

At that exact moment, we had a brief rain shower and a rainbow formed over the green.

Mike quietly turned to Tommy D and said:

“Tommy, she’s here.”

Everyone felt it. Laura's presence was among us and guiding Tommy D's moment. There was not a dry eye among us as the entire story unfolded to our group.

A Gift From a Different Time

Moved by the moment, the Kingarrock staff gifted Tommy the actual 105-year-old hickory club he used for the ace — an irreplaceable artifact now made personal and eternal.

The group raised a dram of whisky and toasted not just a shot —

but a love still walking beside him.

Why We Play

Golf is often called a game of inches…

but sometimes, it is a game of eternity.

This was not about a score.

It was about devotion, memory, and presence.

Some shots don’t just find the cup —

they find the heart.

On that hillside in Fife,

golf became something sacred:

Connection.

Remembrance.

Grace.

A whisper from heaven carried by a hickory shaft.

A tear shed.

There are golfing gods…

And sometimes —

they let the ones we love walk the fairway with us.

⛳️🌈🥃