Luther Minor has enjoyed many unforgettable afternoons of golf at the Harlan Country Club going back to 1969, stretching through parts of three decades in his years as the golf pro at the course, followed by multiple trips back to Harlan in the quarter century since he left.

You can be sure he won’t forget his latest trip back to Harlan for a day of golf Saturday in honor of a long-time friend. Minor had a hole in one on the seventh hole of the Rodney Wilson Memorial Golf Scramble. Wilson was club president while Minor was in Harlan and later served as the club’s golf pro from 1991 until 2007. He died on June 22, and 36 golfers on nine teams turned out to honor him at the tournament.

“I think he was looking down on us when I hit it. I wouldn’t have missed that tournament,” said Minor, who at 78 is retired and lives in Duffield, Va., with his wife, Leona. “Rodney and I have been awful close through the years. He was a good person. He was a past president of the club while I was there and did so much for the club.”

“It was the best day that golf course had seen in long time,” said Kellie Wilson, a Harlan attorney and Wilson’s daughter. “It was almost like turning back the time to the early 90s when Dad was the pro and everyone was enjoying the game. I know my dad was there Saturday. I could not stop smiling. Everyone could feel it.”

Minor was on a team Saturday with Bill Douglas (a former Harlan Invitational champion who now lives in London) and Harlan businessmen Rick Fox and Jeff Doss, all golfers who Minor said were also close to Wilson.

“They went wild when I hit the shot and so did Kevin Hatfield and Andrew Forester (also a former Harlan Invitational champion), who were watching from the next tee,” said Minor, who noted that he hit the shot from 110 yards with an “easy 8 iron.”

“I’ve lost a lot of distance at 78,” Minor said.

Minor’s hole-in-one was one of two on the day at the tournament. Chris Selvey had the other on the third hole.

“My dad loved young golfers when he was the pro and he loved Chris Selvey most of all,” Wilson said. “Chris drove in from Frankfort to play in the scramble and left his wife at home with a rented U-haul because they were supposed to be moving that day.”

Wilson recalled a visit Minor had with her father just before his death.

“Luther was one of Dad’s oldest friends and came to see him the day before he died,” she said. “Dad could no longer talk at that point, but he was still cognitively sharp. Luther and Dad and a couple other friends relived just about every hole they had played together.”

Wilson said she and her family will remember the tournament for many years.

“It was the most emotional, beautiful, unbelievable day I have ever experienced,” she said. “I never believed in people who have died having any impact on the lives of the living, but something was strange that day. To have two golfers out of 36 get holes in ones is unreal. I can’t even fathom what the statistics for that happening would be, and for it to happen to those two was amazing.”