Police Outing Witnesses Lake County Sheriff’s Office Detective Achieving a Hole-in-One

Sep. 19—Dominic Hren fell in love with the game of golf a little later in life than most, but he is now an an enthusiastic, consistent player and fan of the sport.

Until Aug. 25, he had never even seriously dreamed of most golfer’s fantasy of making a hole-in-one.

And as a golfer, if you are going to get a hole-in-one, you might as well do it in front of people that will back up your story.

Lake County Sheriff Frank Leonbruno — who Hren works for as a detective in the department — would certainly qualify as a credible witness.

Using his 9-iron, Hren aced the ninth hole at Black Brook Golf Course in Mentor at the Eastlake Police Department outing. He was part of a foursome that included Leonbruno, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Robert Izzo and Lieutenant Bryan Bowen.

“I like to play golf, maybe one or two times a week if I have time to get out, and I certainly don’t consider myself a good golfer, so to make my first hole-in-one at that outing was a lot of fun,” Hren said.

“When I hit it, the shot felt good, but you never expect that, and we all thought it went off the back of the green. Then when we got out of the cart, we all kind of just looked around and I thought, ‘Where is it?’ Oh, it is in the hole!”

The 32-year-old is a graduate of Mentor High School who played basketball for veteran coach Bob Krizancic but did not play golf in high school. He lives by Black Brook Golf Course and has played the 140-yard ninth hole plenty of times but never recorded a hole-in-one.

For his accomplishment, he earned $1,200 in gear from Junction Auto, which sponsored the par 3 holes.

“It has been a lot of fun since the sheriff posted it on Facebook. I have even had neighbors come out and out of nowhere say ‘Congratulations on the hole-in-one’. And we played pretty well as a team that day and to make that shot in that foursome, with some pretty credible witnesses, that felt great,” Hren said. “Now when I go out golfing with some friends who are pretty good golfers, better than me, they tease me and ask when the next hole-in-one coming? It is all pretty cool.”