Fifteen-year-old Jacob Otwell was enjoying an ordinary round of golf with his father, Adam, Monday morning at Duncan Park when all of a sudden the day turned extraordinary.

Amidst the light breeze and vast sunshine, Jacob took one big swing on Hole 6. He needed not to swing again after making the first hole-in-one of his life.

“When I hit it off the tee I realized it was going close, but I didn’t know it was going to be that close,” Otwell said. “It was one of the better ones I’ve seen. I just knew it was going to be close.”

As his ball came down toward the green, Otwell said, he wasn’t exactly sure where it had landed.

“I saw it disappear,” he said. “I was wondering if it went in or if it went off toward where I couldn’t see it. I didn’t know what happened.”

Otwell and his father then made their way down the fairway.

“There it was in the hole,” Otwell said. “I was pretty excited.”

Though Otwell has only been playing golf for three years, he said he wants to continue for as long as he can. He should have no problem, either, after growing up learning how to push through a variety of obstacles.

“I was born with a birth defect where my right leg was shorter than the other one,” Otwell said. “When I was 3, they had to go in and amputate my foot.”

Otwell now wears a prosthetic, allowing him to walk, and of course, play golf.

“My (right) femur isn’t very long, so my knee is much higher,” he said. “My leg is a good six inches shorter, but I grew up with it. I play golf, baseball and even played football for a while.

“I really don’t think about it anymore. I’m just a normal everyday person.”

Otwell lives during the year with his mother in Deville, Louisiana, and plays golf on his high school team the Buckeye Panthers.

During the summer, he gets the chance to spend time with his father in Natchez, where he hopes one day to make another hole-in-one.

“It’s a hope thing, but you never know,” he said.

No matter what happens, Otwell’s father said he will always be proud.

“I was amazed,” Adam Otwell said. “It bounced one time, right in the hole. He was screaming.

“He’s got a lot of potential.”