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Nelson was golfing with fellow pastors Jeff Bergman and Jim McCalmant during men's league on Thursday, July 11. The liturgical threesome all hit good shots on the hole, but it was so bright that they couldn't see exactly where the balls went.

When they got to the green they saw two balls on the green. They looked on all sides of the green to find the missing third ball, and the last place they looked was in the hole, which is where Nelson's ball was.

Nelson is the third person to hit a hole-in-one on #7 since it was added during the course expansion in 1997. Dorothy Martinson hit the first hole-in-one on #7 in 1998, and Jim Loomis hit the second in November of 2001.

This is Nelson's first hole-in-one. He'd hit a ball within a foot of the pin before, had his ball roll by the hole, and had his ball hit the pin and bounce out, he said, but it had never ended up in the cup on the first shot.

Nelson has been golfing since he was a kid, but only in the last two years has he played regularly.

Hole #7 is a 203-yard, par three. Nelson used a seven wood during men's league.

If indeed Nelson received divine intervention that day, it certainly wasn't with him for his entire round. "I was really struggling with my woods." said Nelson of his play before his ace. On the previous hole, he shanked a ball that hit a golf cart and ricocheted into the water.