Lanny Oliver with grandsons Kyle Feltis and Andrew Sullivan. (courtesy photo)
Some superb golfers go their entire lifetime without achieving a hole in one. The extended Oliver family have registered 25 aces and counting.
“We just play a lot of golf,” Chris Feltis said.
“When you play as much as we do, your odds are better,” Kyle Feltis said.
The late Lanny Oliver sank three aces and his wife Joanne one. Their two daughters Brenda Feltis and LeeAnn Sullivan have scored one each. Brenda’s son Kyle has five, and son Ryan two. Lanny’s nephew Leon Oliver has registered three aces, and his grandson Malcolm two. Another nephew Tommy Burnham has five and his son Cory Burnham has one to bring the family total to 25 aces. The last in the family to achieve the milestone was Brenda’s husband, Chris Feltis, in 2022.
Two family members have won Maine high school state championships, Kyle Feltis and Malcolm Oliver. At least four played collegiate golf, and two have turned pro, father and son duo Leon and Malcom Oliver.
Four members of the family have been inducted into the Lincoln Academy Sports Hall of fame, including Leon Oliver ’82, Malcolm Oliver ’12, Kyle Feltis ’89, and LeeAnn Oliver ’82 (basketball).
Lanny Oliver
The most notable of Lanny Oliver’s three holes in one came during a Maine State Golf Association tournament at Samoset Golf Course in Rockland.
Lanny Oliver’s grandson Ryan Feltis said his grandfather’s hole in one at Samoset was his favorite. At the time anyone who registered a hole in one at Samoset had to buy drinks for everyone. Ryan said his grandfather hid in the car after finishing.
“He got out of there fast,” Joann Oliver said.
“Back in those days the MSGA tournaments were huge,” Kyle Feltis said.
Joann Oliver
Joann Oliver played golf until the age of 86. She was a mainstay in the women’s league at Wawenock. She scored her ace while wintering in Florida 10 years ago. “It was a par three,” Joann’s grandson Ryan Feltis said. “I didn’t even see the ball go in. The men standing nearby were cheering. They were hooting and hollering,”
Brenda (Oliver) Feltis
Brenda (Oliver) Feltis started playing golf at age 14 after her parents moved to a house near Wawenock Golf Course in Walpole. Her ace came on the eighth hole at Wawenock in the early 2000s. She chose a three wood, but her husband, Chris Feltis, told her it “was too much wood” and suggested she use her seven club. Brenda took her husband’s suggestion and nailed her ace. Brenda won the Wawenock club championship in 2001.
LeeAnn (Oliver) Sullivan
LeeAnn (Oliver) Sullivan sank her ace in 2013 on her home course at Tekoa Country Club in Westfield, Mass. She registered the hole in one on a par 3, third hole with a pitching wedge. Sullivan played on the boys golf team at Lincoln Academy with her first cousin Leon Oliver. She still plays for fun, and still enjoys the competition. Her two sons, Andrew and Zachary, also play golf. Andrew played collegiate golf at Elms University.
Kyle Feltis
Kyle Feltis registered three holes in one by the time he reached the age of 18. All three were witnessed. His next two aces came at Wawencock and Bath, but were not witnessed.
He registered his first ace at the age of 15 at a Midcoast Junior Golf League tournament at Samoset on the 120 yard, 11th hole. “I used a lob wedge,” he said. “The ball went past the pin, spun backwards and went in.
“He brought that divot home and kept it alive in the sink for awhile,” his father Chris Feltis said.
His second and most notable ace came on a par 4, sixth hole at Wawenock when he was 16. He was golfing with R.J. Ochs, Walker Kinney, and Wayne Russell. He was waiting for players to clear the green, but he was waved on as “they did not think I could hit the green” on the par 4, 297 yard shot, that crossed a brook and pond. Kyle Feltis did not play it safe. Rather he hit the ball over a tree and onto the green and in.
“We were losing big, and then I hit the hole in one and we went ahead,” he said.
“A par 4 hole in one is really rare,” his proud father Chris Feltis said.
Like his mother, Kyle won a Wawencok club championship.
At age 18, Kyle Feltis sank his hat trick while on college break in April on the eighth hole at Wawenock. The ace was witnessed by Patrick Howell.
Kyle Feltis won the state Class B schoolboy golf championship in 2021, his sophomore year at Lincoln Academy. He blew up on the front nine with a 41. His father told him at the break that he “could have stayed home and played lousy golf and now he was watching it.”
Kyle responded with a 33 on the back nine, including sinking an eagle on a par 5, to win state gold. The Eagle was the first of his career for Kyle Feltis.
He went on to play collegiate golf at the University of Maine Farmington where he was named North Atlantic Conference First Team All Conference his senior year. He was UMF’s number two golfer, but at the conference championships played in Boothbay, he talked his coach into letting him golf at number three so he could play against his cousin Andrew Sullian, who was playing number three for Elms. Almost the entire Oliver and Feltis family came out for the match.
Kyle Feltis’ 9-year-old son Parker looks to follow in his father’s footsteps, with three holes in one in miniature golf. Kyle’s daughter Aubrey also plays the game.
Ryan Feltis
Ryan Feltis, who began playing golf at Wawenock as a 4-year-old, has sunk two holes in one. His first ace came in a Wawenock Golf Club championship match against his cousin Tommy Burnham on the 17th hole. Burnham won the championship.
“I am the Dan Marino of Wawenock Country Club,” Ryan Feltis said. “I am the greatest player to have never won anything.”
Feltis, who has a 2-3 handicap hit his second ace came on a “lazy Sunday afternoon” at Wawenock in the same year as his first.
Chris Feltis
Chris Feltis took the brunt of family jokes, as he was the last member of the Feltis family to score a hole in one. He married into the Oliver golfing family and took up the game in 1980 after meeting his wife Brenda.
His magical shot came on New Year’s Day in 2022 at Sheepscot Links in a closest to the pin match. He was partnered with Chris McKenney and they were behind after 16. The two joked that if they both hit a hole in one, they could win the match. Chris Feltis tee’d off and finally joined the rest of the family in aces.
“We used to say come on Dad, Mom even has one,” Kyle Feltis said.
“I got my second before Dad,” Ryan Feltis said. “We still kid him that his did not count, because they had not put the tee markers out yet.”
“I got the first hole in one of the year,” Chris Feltis said. “I don’t know how many I have witnessed. Everyone thought I was always going to be the bridesmaid.”
Not only did his family tease him about being the last holdout, the Chipmunk Chatter column in The Lincoln County News regularly stated that “Chris Feltis still does not have a hole in one,” his son Ryan said.
Leon Oliver
Golf pro and owner of Sheepscot Links in Whitefield, Leon Oliver has sunk three holes in one in his long career. His first came on a par 3, 175 yard shot on No. 14 at Gasparilla Inn in Florida. “I did not see it go in,” he said. “It went over a bunker and in.”
His second came on hole number 11 at Bath Golf Club with a 149 yard shot. His third came at Sheepscot Links during a Thursday Night Scramble in a round he first refused to play. He started on seven, came a half inch away from an ace on No.8 and then drilled the second hole for his third career hole in one.
He qualified for states three out of four years while playing golf for Lincoln Academy. At age 15 he became the youngest golfer to win the Wawenock Golf Club championship. He won three other Wawenock Club titles before turning pro at age 20. He broke course records on five courses, including at Gasparillo Inn, Lemon Bay, Wawenock, Bath, and Sheepscot Links.
Leon Oliver has won two Maine Chapter Golf Championships in 1998 & 1999, two Maine Pro Championships in 1994 & 2004, was named Maine Chapter Player of the Year in 2017, and has won three Pro Senior Championships.
Malcolm Oliver
Malcolm Oliver has registered two holes in one, one at Falmouth Country Club (165 yards) and one at Rose Hill Golf Club (138 yards).
He won the 2013 State Class B schoolboy golf championship while a senior at Lincoln Academy. He went on to play at Bentley College where he won six individual tournaments, two Ping Division II All East Region titles, and was named Northeast 10 Men’s Golfer of the Week seven times. He was featured in Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd after successfully defending his North East Intercollegiate title his senior year. He broke Bentley records for lowest scoring average, highest national ranking (D2), and most wins in a single season.
Tommy Burnham
Oliver family cousin Tommy Burnham has made five holes in one. His first came on the 200 yard, 17th hole at Ridglea Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. He reached the cup in one on the 125 yard, 13th at the Bath Country Club; on the 135 yard eighth hole at Wawenock; and twice on the 150 yard 17th hole at Sheepscot Links.
Tommy’s son Cory registered a hole in one at Wawenock a couple of years ago on hole number 12.
