What do aliens, Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, Jacqueline Gagne's 16 holes-in-one scored in 6 months, UFOs, Crop Circles, Ghosts, The Bermuda Triangle, Weeping and/or Bleeding Religious Statues, and Elvis Presley is still alive all have in common?

How about a warm up to get your juices flowing before you read on? A one question quiz.
Choose the best three out of the 10 answers from the list provided:
DEFINING “HOAX” AS “AN ACTION OR EVENT INTENDED TO DECEIVE OR TRICK,” WHICH THREE BEST DESCRIBES A HOAX:
1. Aliens
2. Bigfoot
3. Loch Ness Monster
4. Jacqueline Gagne’s 16 Holes-in-One Scored in 6 Months
5. UFOs
6. Crop Circles
7. Ghosts
8. The Bermuda Triangle
9. Weeping (and/or Bleeding) Religious Statues
10. Elvis Presley Is Still Alive

The answers are created with parity in mind.
I think Jacqueline Gagne has been caught with her skirt down! Evidence points to a hoax regarding her claims that she’s scored 16 holes-in-one in a period of six months—a string of miracle shots that allegedly began on January 23, 2007 and ended on July 13, 2007. GolfNews Magazine’s article authored by me in the June ‘07 issue entitled “Desert Golfer Does The Impossible” was written as if Gagne truly achieved the accomplishments she claimed to have achieved.

Now, after delving much deeper into the facts and re-thinking the logic of all she has claimed, it is my firm opinion at the date of this writing that she did not do the “impossible”! I once believed her. I don’t believe her anymore. I fell for the hoax and, for that dear readers, I apologize. However, this is my chance to clean up the mess. “Lying is done with words, and also with silence,” says author Adrieene Rich. I refuse to be silent. I refuse to be a liar.

The Test of Plausibility
One way to figure out if something is real or not is to analyze its plausibility (plausible can be defined as “seemingly or apparently valid, likely, or acceptable; credible). That’s my goal in this essay when it comes to Jacqueline Gagne’s claim of knocking in 16 holes-in-one in 6 months. The odds alone of what she claims she has done makes her claims suspect, to say the least.
Dave Kindred, in his now highly read and highly regarded Golf Digest article entitled: “Do You Believe Her?” (November 2007 issue and available on-line), reports the odds Harvard Ph.D. math expert David Boyum has calculated for Gagne to have achieved what she says she has achieved—1 out of 2,253,649,101,066,840,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 chances (a number so long that I dare the average person to even come close to pronouncing it correctly)!
Plus no one in the history of golf including the greatest players of all time—Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, Kathy Whitworth, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Else, V.J. Singh, to name only a few—have come even close to accomplishing what Gagne professes to have accomplished. Is she a better golfer than all these greats? Is she luckier than all of them? You decide.
There is evidence pointing to a hoax.

Episodes of Either Cheating, Omission or Carelessness
When it comes to honor—cheating, omission and carelessness can be interpreted as similar, if not synonymous. Cheating usually implies premeditation and intent; that’s why so many writers stay away from using the term. It’s downright difficult to prove. So, as we discuss Jacqueline Gagne’s previous experiences with scorecards, posting scores and substantiating claims, I’ll take the “safe way” and give her the benefit of the doubt and not call her a cheater, but veer over to the “omission,” “carelessness” categories.
The following is testimony by a Mission Hills CC member exclusively offered for this story who played with Jacqueline (Jackie) in a club tournament, identified as Source #1 due to the person’s request not to be named: “I was playing golf with Jackie and I wanted to watch her swing. She had a slice swing. Jackie sliced one of her shots into the trees. She took a 9 and wrote down a 7. I’m positive she made 9. It was the first hole of the tournament. On the second hole, she putts. Pulls the putt. The ball hasn’t even stopped moving yet and she scrapes the ball and putter along the ground into the hole and takes a 5. This went on all day long. She actually took 21 strokes on the 4th hole and put down a 7.
“At the middle of the round, she started playing with Sam Sampson’s (fictitious name to protect the identity of Source #1) golf clubs.… I did not sign her scorecard. I did not attest her scorecard. She won money. She took second gross that week. I took third gross and shot 30 or 40 shots lower than her.” Cheating, omission, carelessness on the part of Gagne? You decide.
“Let’s go forward to the Revolta [Editor’s note: The Revolta is the annual match play tournament at Mission Hills that honors the beloved former Mission Hills instructor and 1935 PGA Champion Johnny Revolta.] No master card…Jackie never turned in a master scorecard. On her scorecard, I saw scores that were erased and re-written. Jackie, [her playing partner] Barbara, Wendy, and Linda [the two others that Jackie was playing with] were disqualified because of no master card. The is a serious breach of the rules.” Cheating, omission, carelessness? You decide.
Another episode of scorecard omission occurred in connection to Gagne’s alleged eighth hole-in-one. We pick up the text from Dave Kindred’s article: “I began my reporting with her first hole-in-one on the road [Editor’s note: her previous alleged seven holes-in-one took place at Mission Hills CC, her home course at the time; she’s no longer a member.]. Her eighth of the year. It came at a member-guest event at La Quinta’s Mountain View Country Club. ‘She shot two under par that day,’ club pro Dan Brand says, ‘and she asked for the scorecard.’
“A souvenir of the hole-in-one? ‘There was no 1 on the card.’ He [Brand] learned about it in a newspaper article. ‘Gagne’s been telling this cockamamie story about how one of our members came to her in the parking lot after the round. She says the lady insisted that Gagne had made a hole-in-one at the 17th. The lady supposedly saw a maintenance worker take Gagne’s ball out of the hole before she got to the green and toss it off to the side.’ Brand was steamed then. ‘It wasn’t on her card, she didn’t sign it, and I don’t believe it.’ He is steamed now. ‘I don’t think she understands the history of the game, the honor, all those things.’”

Scorecarditis: A Golfer’s Disease
Gagne apparently suffers from scorecarditis. Scorecarditis is a disease some golfers have with primary symptoms as follows: the urge, from time-to-time not necessarily in every case, to restrain from recording correct scores on scorecards and/or the compulsion to change scores on scorecards to fulfill certain goals inconsistent with the actual execution of the shots. In severity, it goes beyond the personality flaw identified as sandbagging but is less intensive than the malady called schizophrenic golf syndrome (SGS) characterized by amateurs having flights of fantasy about turning pro, beating Tiger Woods, and winning millions of dollars on Tour permitting the purchase of ten homes (including one in Prague, Southern France, and Monaco) and ten automobiles (including a Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche), along with marrying the most beautiful spouse on earth (Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, depending on your sexual preference), having three gorgeous children—living happily ever after.
Unfortunately, Gagne is not alone in suffering from scorecarditis. Other golfers (the guess is 10 to 20% of the golfing population) suffer from the illness, however, not to the notoriety Gagne has achieved.
Here are examples of three more separate cases of unusual hole-in-one reporting by Gagne; these instances were at Desert Willow Golf Resort, SilverRock Resort, and Hideaway Golf Club. Gagne’s alleged ninth ace supposedly took place at Desert Willow’s Firecliff course. However, director of sales and marketing Mike Osgood, who always goes out of his way to accommodate patrons on and off the course, said no one ever saw her at the resort. Kindred quotes Osgood: “She called, after she’d allegedly played, and asked, ‘Do you produce a plague for people who make holes-in-one?’ Well, there is no record of her playing here.’”
More the same with Gagne’s alleged tenth and eleventh aces supposedly made in the same round at SilverRock Resort’s eighth and 14th holes. Kindred quotes SilverRock’s general manager Randy Duncan. “I took a full day to check our tee sheets from January through June,” says Duncan. “Nothing. Not her name, not the names of her friends. I spent two months trying to verify the two holes-in-one. I’ve quit. I’m not saying she didn’t do it. But I need proof.” This writer says she didn’t do it unless she can provide definite proof beyond a reasonable doubt; then I will humbly apologize to her and hand her a check for $10,000 as proof that I’m sorry. However, she and any supposed witnesses to the hole-in-one that somehow magically surface will have to take lie-detector tests before I hand over the money. I don’t expect that she will hand me a check for $10,000 if she is not able to prove it.
The same month, Gagne reported a hole-in-one at Hideaway Golf Club. Kindred writes that the pro Cody Shining said Gagne reported the hole-in-one later by phone. (Editor’s comment: How convenient! Why in the hell would you report a hole-in-one by phone?) “I wouldn’t verify it,” says Shining. Club member Ann Pinto, who was playing with Gagne, said, “When she [Gagne] was with me, there was no hole-in-one. To say she had a hole-in-one if she didn’t is an insult to everyone who believes in the game.” Cheating, omission, carelessness? You decide.

Beam-Me-Up Scotty Star Trek Syndrome (BMUSSTS)
Apparently, in addition to scorecarditis, Gagne suffers from Beam-Me-Up Scotty Star Trek Syndrome (BMUSSTS). No record of her playing or even being at some of the golf courses the day she claims she shot holes-in-one on those golf courses points to BMUSSTS. This disorder can be very serious. This rarest of diseases is characterized with the individual believing that she or he can decompose and recompose to another location at will.
The few golfers that have this illness try to generate the fictitious power to disappear and reappear usually in the following situations, when they: (1) three-putt; (2) whiff the ball; (3) offer to buy all the drinks after the round and discover they have no money; (4) hit into the foursome in front causing players to look back with anger and fists flying in the air; (5) coming home to the spouse or significant other after 7:30 P.M. when you were supposed to be home at 5; and (6) quite rare but known to happen, want to see what the locker room of the opposite sex looks like. Gagne’s use of the power to appear and reappear to claim holes-in-one doesn’t fit the normal criteria.
On the TV show “What’s My Line?”, at least the mystery guest always showed up. Gagne could show a little class and at least show up when she makes her holes-in-one!

More Reports By Gagne That Are Hard to Believe
The straw that broke the camel’s back for many who were still hanging in there believing that Gagne’s string of hole-in-ones were for real is when she reported shooting 61 on the full-length championship Eagle Falls golf course. Kindred quotes Robb Mihelic, the Eagle Falls pro: “We had just punched the greens, and I couldn’t make a 10-foot that day. But she came right into the shop and said she’d shot 61.” Mihelic then asked her if she had played her ball down, or elect to play winter rules. “What’s that?” she replied. Learning the difference, she claimed she never touched the ball when it was off the green.
Mihelic decided he wouldn’t legitimize the round and he didn’t post the 61. Apparently, Gagne didn’t object because shortly thereafter, the 61 was never posted at her home course and to this day and to my knowledge, it has not been posted. You’d think that if you shot the round of a lifetime—the lowest round in recorded history for 999,999,999,999,999,999.99999999999% out of a total pool of amateurs and professionals alike that have existed, currently exist, and will ever exist in the future— you’d want the score posted. Plus, if you are following USGA rules that require the posting of all scores, you would insist upon it. Cheating, omission, carelessness? You decide.
We’ve all either seen or heard of holes-in-one going in the hole without the player seeing the ball actually go in the hole. It’s not that unusual to happen once or twice or even three times, but how about 14 out of 17 times and by the same player? (One legitimate excuse would be if the player was legally blind, but there’s no indication that Gagne suffers from this malady.) Kindred, when communicating with Gagne for the story he was writing, said to her, “It’s all strange. I’d just like to talk to one person who has seen a ball actually go in the hole.” And Gagne responded, “I’ve only seen three myself, out of 17.” What are the odds of knocking in 17 holes in one—all on Par 3 holes from the Ladies tees—and only see three of those shots actually go in the hole? Dr. Boyum from Harvard, answer that one.
In the June ’07 issue of GolfNews Magazine, based on about a 45-minute telephone conversation I had with Jacqueline Gagne, I wrote: “There are a lot of delightful people you meet in golf; Jacqueline Gagne is one of them. With all her impressive golfing skill and talent and the fame she has attracted; she is humble, approachable, and has a great sense of humor. The desert golfing community is very fortunate to be able to call her one of our own.” I recant this statement replacing it with the following:
—Beginning of New Statement—
Jacqueline Gagne is apparently delightful in the eyes of a few close friends that defend her hole-in-one claims. Her golfing skill and talent is not commensurate with the hole-in-one claims she has reported or tried to report, or the 61 she claims to have shot on a regulation 18-hole championship golf course. The fame she has attracted is going through a metamorphosis. Describing her as “famous” is in transition; a better adjective is probably “infamous”. By hiring a PR agency to get out the word to the media and pursue monetary “gigs” for her alleged hole-in-ones, obviously she is not humble. She is approachable by those that agree with her, and has been obstinate toward those that don’t. Regarding her humor: if she thinks her hoax is funny, it’s not funny anymore. Many in the desert golf community are angry and some even embarrassed that she has perpetuated her outlandish claims for as long as she has and they want her to stop. ———End of New Statement—

There are many more issues to discuss in relationship to the credibility of Gagne’s claims of making 16 holes-in-one within a 6 month period of time. In the next issue of GolfNews Magazine, I will continue this expose; a cleansing necessary for my professional self-esteem and for the good of the game. Besides, I’m a believer in what Ralph Waldo Emerson said 173 years ago: “Whenever the truth is injured, defend it.”

Dan Poppers, editor-in-chief & publisher of GolfNews Magazine, with Masters degrees from UCLA and San Francisco State University, is a Golf Writers Association of America national award winning writer and president of the International Golf Travel Writers Association.