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SYDNEY — If a hole-in-one is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, somebody might want to check local golfer Kenny Peters’ birth certificate.

The 66-year-old retired firefighter from Mira Road has achieved the feat an astounding 10 times, including twice this year in May and September.

While he’s Cape Breton’s reigning king of aces, Peters is humble when it comes to his proclivity for hitting the ball directly from tee to cup, boiling it down to one thing.

“Just practice. Practice is probably the big thing,” he told the Cape Breton Post. “Play a lot and practice, I guess.”

Peters first picked up the sport in 1973 but didn’t hit his first hole-in-one until 20 years later when he aced the par-three, 167-yard No. 13 hole at Lingan Golf Club, his home course. A former club champion, he’s carded six ones at that layout over the years, including twice on No. 13 and twice on No. 17. He’s also scored two holes-in-one on the No. 14 hole at Seaview Golf and Country Club in North Sydney.

Peters, who figures he plays about 100 rounds each year, celebrates each ace by buying drinks at the clubhouse for his playing partners, and has amassed a hefty bar tab over the years.

“Kind of works in reverse, doesn’t it?” he said with a laugh. “Worth it, I suppose, in the long run.”

He also commemorates each new hole-in-one by mounting the ball — eight are Titleist — to a plaque he keeps in the rec room of the Tower Heights home he shares with his wife Brenda, who hit her own hole-in-one in 2010. The couple has two adult sons, Kent and Brad.

When Peters made the plaque after he hit his fourth ace in 2006, he figured the four balls on their tees, with a small inscription indicating the date, course and hole, would fit nicely across the wooden panel. However, it’s been a bit of a squeeze in recent years, and the balls alone are now mounted wherever there’s space.

“I’ve been adding to it — it’s pretty well plugged up now,” said Peters, who also has four of the golden putters that Lingan gives out to members during its annual hole-in-one banquet; he’ll receive two more during the dinner this fall.

Calculating the odds of someone scoring 10 holes-in-one is a complicated matter, so the Post turned to American Hole ‘n One, a company based out of Buford, Ga., that is the world’s largest provider of hole-in-one insurance.

Chief sales officer Rick Ruiz explained that American Hole ‘n One and its sister company the National Hole-in-One Registry provide coverage for clubs and tournament organizers who offer large prizes to golfers who score a hole-in-one.

“So, you go onto a golf course and you go up to the eighth hole and there’s a Cadillac sitting there, and it says ‘Hey, if somebody hits a hole-in-one, you get to win that Cadillac. Well, the dealer is not giving you that car, or the tournament is not giving you that car — they bought insurance that says if somebody actually makes this, we want somebody else to pay for the car. That’s what we do. And we do it 25,000 times a year in the U.S. and anther 5,000 in the U.K., so we do a lot of them.”

Ruiz said the chances of an amateur golfer hitting a hole-in-one are about one in 12,000 shots, although that number can change for a variety of different factors.

He jokingly said Peters wouldn’t be allowed to take part in any of the events his company covers.

“Yeah, we’re going to blacklist him. He can’t play at our events. If he’s made 10 of them, he’s out.”

For all his aces, Peters says he’s most proud of an albatross.

He completed a par-5 in just two shots at Lingan a number of years ago — referred to in golfing circles as an albatross.

“They’re probably rarer than holes-in-one, actually,” he said, “but you don’t get as much recognition.

“Holes-in-one are the thing.”

Kenny Peters

Age: 66

From: Mira Road

Family: Wife Brenda; sons Kent and Brad

Career: Retired firefighter

Home course: Lingan Golf Club

Handicap: “Four or five”

Good luck charm: In addition to his 10 holes-in-one, Peters has witnessed a few holes-in-one, most notably in 2006, when friend and playing partner Dave Pyke aced No. 6 and No. 17 holes during the same round at Lingan.

news@cbpost