Golfer resigns from club after admitting to fake hole-in-oneESPNMultiple AuthorsAug 10, 2026, 04:12 PM ET
tamil yogi
An amateur golfer has resigned from his membership at a St. Louis-area club after admitting to a now-viral cheating scandal in which he faked making a hole-in-one.
Zach Holland, a former college golfer who now reportedly is a 2 handicap, told ESPN Radio in St. Louis that he placed his golf ball in the cup at the par-3 fourth hole before the start of a membership event at WingHaven Country Club, located in O’Fallon, Missouri.
Holland then lied about acing the hole during the tournament and offered the ball as proof of a hole-in-one to his playing partners.
“You do something as dumb as I did, there are consequences for that,” Holland stated Friday during an interview with “The Morning After” show on 101 ESPN St. Louis.
Nathan Charnes, the acting PGA of America president and general manager at WingHaven, validated the incident in a statement to GOLF.com, adding that the club “promptly addressed the matter.”
“WingHaven Country Club is aware of the recent attention surrounding an incident involving a former member during a Club event,” Charnes told GOLF.com. “The Club promptly addressed the matter.
“We care deeply about the integrity of the game and the experience we provide for our members and guests. Because this situation involved the actions of an individual and has been resolved, we consider it closed and have no further comment.”
The member-member tournament at WingHaven includes a hole-in-one prize pot, according to Holland, who was in the event’s first group.
Holland told ESPN Radio that he completed the first three holes with his group before telling his playing partners that he needed to take a personal phone call, allegedly regarding his mortally ill grandmother, while they played the fourth hole. In order to keep up with pace of play, Holland told the group that he would tee off on No. 4 ahead of them and meet them later on the green.
When he reunited with his group, Holland stated he told his partners that he “thinned” his tee shot but did not see where the ball ended up. The group then found the ball in the cup, assumed Holland made a hole-in-one and celebrated before contacting a superintendent.
According to Holland, however, security footage reviewed by WingHaven staff showed Holland driving near the fourth green well before his scheduled tee time. Holland stated he ultimately admitted to club officials that he faked the hole-in-one and resigned his membership.
“There’s no excuse for what I did, and I was completely in the wrong,” Holland stated. “There’s really no motivation. Just complete stupidity, and we were giving two shots back to the field and that’s not an excuse. There’s no excuse for what happened.”
Holland stated during the interview that he and his family have received online threats and, despite the scandal, insisted that he is “not a cheater on the golf course.”
“I made a bad decision, and I have to suffer the consequences,” he stated. “I’m trying to move forward as best I can and it’s been rough.”
Holland added that he wishes his critics “would tread lightly on my family,” saying his wife and two young children don’t deserve the online vitriol directed at them.
“I made a terrible mistake,” he stated. “The lack of moral character — I can take the banter and the chatter and the heat because I deserve that from a golf perspective.
“What I am most worried about is my family. … It’s not fair to them for me to put them in that situation where when they walk through a room, there is a stigma there that your dad is a [cheater]. So questions that they may get asked or be getting asked down the road, that’s the worst part. The golf is secondary.”
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