Tony Broeker was shocked to find his ball nestled in the cup, his first hole in one. But a bigger surprise came moments later.

“I was walking off the green and my uncle called and said, ‘you won’t believe it,’” Broeker said.

Broeker had just finished the 13th hole at The Oaks in Mexico. Across town, in league play at Arthur Hills Golf Course, Gary Moran and his playing partner were a stroke down. He teed off on the 6th hole and watched his ball sail toward the pin.

“I figured it went over the green,” he admitted. “But one of the guys on the other team said ‘there’s a ball in the hole.’ “

Two holes in one on two different courses by two relatives at almost the same moment. And for both it was their first ace.

“It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes apart,” Moran said. “It might have been exactly the same time. The odds? I don’t know.”

Researchers thought to calculate the odds for a golfer hitting one in his or her playing career. That’s 12,500 to 1. And because two California golfers playing in a foursome aced the same hole minutes apart earlier this year, the PGA assessed the possibility of that recurring at 17 million to 1.

But two relatives on separate courses in one town at nearly the same time? That might defy the odds makers.

When Broeker and Moran recorded their holes in one last Thursday there were plenty of witnesses.

“His friends were in the background hooting and hollering,” Broeker said of the phone call from his uncle.

Moran was playing alongside Tim Kelsey against Derek Hall and Jim Page. “I was running around hugging everybody,” Moran said. “I was pretty happy.”

Broeker was in a casual game with Vince Simler, Jason Moore, Randy Robley and Chad Rosenstengel. After the celebration died down, he teed up on the next hole – a par five – and put everything into it.

“I was pumped up,” Broeker recalled. “I sent that thing out of bounds into somebody’s yard.”

As he watched the shot veer off course, he heard one of his playing partners chide him for not stashing the ball away as a souvenir.

“I’m sure he kept his,” Broeker said of his uncle.

But Moran set his hole in one ball on the tee at 7 and took a swing. In almost a repeat of Broeker’s miscue, the ball bounded into the woods.

“We had to circle around a few times, but we found it,” Moran reported.

He quickly signed the ball and stowed it in his bag.

The local community of golfers are still talking about the rare feat.

“I’m walking through Walmart and people will say ‘congratulations,” Broeker said.

“I’m happy to talk about it,” Moran said with obvious delight. “Give me a call and we can talk about it some more.”