This is definitely one for Jennifer Weitz’s scrapbooks.
The Westfield resident appeared on “Holey Moley,” an ABC TV show featuring miniature golf lovers in a challenge against seven other contestants.
Weitz was watching the show in the summer of 2019 during its first season and saw information about how to apply.
“I’ve played mini-golf my whole life and I had a picture from my 10th birthday party,” she said. “I have a son and daughter and growing up it was a nice activity you could do as a family. It didn’t matter age or gender, so when we would go on vacation, we would always play mini-golf, and we were quite competitive as a family. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed, so I thought it would be fun to try and be on the show.”
So, she submitted an application.
“I just kept making it through from the next round to the next round,” she said.
Weitz was selected and went to Los Angeles to film the episode, which was the second episode of Season 2. It was broadcast in June and was rerun July 23. It is available on Hulu and YouTube.
The winner from each show competes for a grand prize of $250,000.
“I won the first round and got knocked out in the second round,” Weitz said. “I got the first hole-in-one in the show’s history (on Putter Ducky), which was fantastic. The second hole the distraction was the Thunder From Down Under dancers (appearing shirtless).”
Weitz lost to a trash collector from southern Indiana. She got the first hole-in-one of the season on the first hole.
“It was so fun,” she said. “They just wanted everyone to have fun and make a great show.”
The episode was titled “That’s One for the Scrapbooks!” which was taken from Weitz saying scrapbooking was a hobby. A Before moving to Westfield in 2017, Weitz, who was born in Boston, lived in Carmel for nine years. Her children, Molly O’Connor and Danny O’Connor, are Carmel High School graduates. Molly, a recent Ball State University graduate, is an event planner for the city of Carmel, and Danny is going to be an Indiana State junior in the fall.
Weitz’s friends Sharon Martin and Benita Hutt, both Carmel residents, went to Los Angeles with her for the filming.
“Sharon made us hot pink golf ball earrings and we matched T-shirts that said ‘Team Jen,’” Weitz said.
The first episode was filmed on a Thursday. The second round was filmed on a Saturday night. Molly flew out to join her mother for the second round of filming. Weitz’s sister, Debbie Otto, who lives in San Diego, attended with her daughter, Chloe.
“It had a good cheering section,” Weitz said.
Weitz called it one of the best experiences of her life.
“It was great to around like-minded people who loved mini-golf and be on set and see how they did it behind the scenes,” she said.
It was fun to be a part of the something you don’t get to do every day, said Weitz, a product owner for American Speciality Health.
To get her mini-golf fix, Weitz said she has been playing at Birdies in Westfield. Another favorite is Pirate’s Quest, formerly called Pirate’s Cove before a name change in 2019, in northeast Indianapolis.
