Make that 14 career holes-in-one for Cold Spring Country Club's Jane Sirmons

It was only a little before 8 on this bright Sunday morning at Cold Spring Country Club. But Jane Sirmons was up and out on the pristine green land in Huntington with her 11-year-old playing partner and about to do something great that she had done a lucky 13 times before.

Sirmons took out a pitching wedge to tee off at No. 3 and stood 125 yards away on the par-3 hole. She’s a former LPGA player who’s the club’s Director of Instruction, and Jacob Shaber has been her student since age 6.

They were just golfing together on this day. Yet she again showed him how it’s done. Her shot sailed to the middle of the green, landing about 15 feet from the pin on the back right. The ball started rolling slowly. It went up a little ridge, then over.

“I thought it stopped,” Sirmons said. “He was like, ‘No, no, it’s going in the hole. It’s going in the hole.’ ”

And then they watched it roll down to the edge and drop in the cup — her 14th hole-in-one.

“Oh, I was excited,” Sirmons said. “I was excited.”

So was Shaber, who also had witnessed one by a teammate last year.

“I thought it was crazy,” he said. "I think that’s probably one of the biggest achievements in golf.”

Most of Sirmons’ aces were achieved in tournaments. Her first one came during a junior event in Miami when she was 13. Now she’s 62 and owns a big number.

“Hole-in-ones to me are lucky anyhow,” Sirmons said, sitting in a golf cart by the driving range one afternoon recently, telling the story of June 11. “I mean, how many people just hit the flag and they bounce out or whatever?

“Whether they’re in a tournament or they’re not, they’re all special.”

Her journey began in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she was born and raised. Her late dad, Ray Sirmons, a former college golfer who played for 90 of his 98 years, taught her the game.

After starting to play at around 10 and going on to the junior ranks, she competed for Florida International University.

Then it was on to the Tampa Bay Mini Tour, followed by the Futures Tour and ultimately the LPGA Tour in 1984. She was 23 at the time. Her second tournament was the Sarasota Classic. She fired a fourth-round 65 and finished 10th.

But something happened at the Boston Five Classic in June of that rookie year. It changed everything.

“I was teeing off and I just felt like somebody stabbed a knife in my back,” Sirmons said.

She injured a sciatic nerve.

“I didn’t take enough time off,” Sirmons said. “I should’ve gotten a medical extension, and I didn’t. I tried to come out and play and never got it back again, never got the game back to where I needed it.”

That would be her only year on the LPGA Tour. She still played mostly on the Futures Tour for several years, but that became expensive.

So she went into golf instruction.

Sirmons has worked at Longboat Key Club in Longboat Key, Florida, for a little more than 30 years, beginning as an assistant professional and eventually becoming a teaching professional.

In 2008, she added Cold Spring Country Club to her work world, coming as an assistant pro. She wanted to work in the PGA’s Met section. Sirmons received her Director of Instruction title about six years ago.

Her Florida life goes from November to mid-March, although she tried to retire from Longboat last winter. She missed it and will be returning.

Her Huntington life runs from April through September, and she lives at the club with her partner and their two dogs.

“I kind of regret, of course, getting hurt because I felt like I had the world by the tail,” Sirmons said. “Then again, I love what I’m doing now. I probably never would’ve done this. I wouldn’t be up here, and this is beautiful. The people up here are great.”

The feeling is very mutual.

“She’s the sweetest, nicest [person], doesn’t have a bad bone in her body,” Cold Spring Country Club Director of Golf Jim Weiss said. “She’s just the happy glue that keeps us all together.”

Besides teaching adults and kids there, she helps run the women’s tournaments and coaches the club’s 16-member PGA Jr. League team. Her boys and girls, who are 7-13, have clinched their division title.

Shaber, a Melville kid with a dream of being on the PGA Tour, is on her team. He knows she’s a good teacher.

“Because she’s nice to the kids and she helps us with how to swing and how to putt and helps us become better golfers,” he said. “She has so many different putting games, so it makes it fun to learn to putt.”

His mom sees someone who cares about these young players.

“She relates to kids very well,” Alissa Shaber said. “… Not many are good at something and then can come down to the level of a beginner and speak to them on that level.”

Sirmons loves this sport. It can be even more rewarding teaching it than making a hole-in-one.

“It’s just so special sharing my love and trying to instill that in other people that are learning the game,” Sirmons said. “It is great. I just have such a respect for the game itself and the challenges in it.”