The golfer, the car buyer,
and the wonderful drive

Gregory Young of Livonia was wondering exactly how he was going to pay his daughter's college bills. He'd recently given up his dental practice to start a temporary dental help agency, and that was tying up his cash.

Rackeline Hoff of Birmingham was nearly at wit's end trying to find the new car she wanted, a 1994 Buick Park Avenue, polo green. She loved her '88 Park Avenue, but it had 95,000 miles on it.

Her husband had always bought their cars, but they'd separated, and now the public-relations consultant was finding the process most frustrating. She was going from dealer to dealer, but none had what she wanted. And it seemed salesmen treated her with less respect than they would a man.

Knowing that many of his dental clients would be there, Young, 45, signed up in June for a golf outing in Ypsilanti to raise money for Alpha Omega, a Jewish dental fraternity.

When the day came, he was stuck in a foursome with men he didn't know, all much better golfers, and he spent most of his time trying, without success, not to embarrass himself.

On the fourth hole, about 160 yards with a trap in front of the elevated green, he chose a six iron.

His drive felt good, and he watched the ball hit the green and roll. He'd barely pulled up his tee when the others, already at the green, shouted excitedly.

He found it hard enough to believe he'd hit a hole in one, nevermind that he'd also won a new car.

But what's the driver of a BMW 525i to do with a Buick Park Avenue?

Hoff, unsatisfied with the trade-in allownances dealers were offering her, was at home one evening looking in the classified ads under Buick and wondering how much she should ask for her '88.

When she saw Young's ad—Park Avenue, 1994, brand new, never driven, won as a prize, green/tan leather—she nearly fainted.

She test-drove the car and loved it, but another buyer outbid her by $500. Such a cruel roller coaster life can be. But then that buyer backed out—his wife nixed the deal—and left a note of apology in Young's mailbox, with $100 for the trouble.

Young phoned Hoff, and Hoff jumped for joy.

This is how Hoff, last month, got her dream car—sticker price $26,295—for only $22,000. And how Nicole Young, a freshman at Madonna University, will pay the bill this year. Life's funny sometimes.

This story originally appeared in The Detroit Free Press and has been published here for portfolio purposes only. The photo is not the original photo.