When a golfer shoots three shots below par on a single hole, it’s known as the “double eagle” (sometimes also known as an “albatross”) — and it’s an extremely rare occurrence. It’s also an achievement Patrick MacQueen, co-founder of MacQueen & Gottlieb, is proud to have accomplished. But, while he appreciates this victory, he also remains humble about his golf game.

“People have asked me in the past, ‘How many holes-in-one have you had?’” MacQueen says, “And I explain, ‘Well, I don’t have any, but I have a double eagle.’ And people respond with ‘What’s that?’ Or, ‘That’s not that big of a deal.’ But, if you look at the odds, getting a double eagle is much rarer than a hole in one.”

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If you’re wondering exactly how rare, the odds of scoring a double eagle is approximately 6 million to 1 compared with 5,000 to 1 for a hole-in-one (as a low-handicapper).

For MacQueen, who actually recorded his first hole in one earlier this year, the game of golf isn’t so much about recording aces and birdies as it is about doing something he loves, carrying on a family tradition and satisfying his competitive side.

“I saw my dad play golf, and he wasn’t competitive at all,” MacQueen says, “But, I also saw my grandfather play and he was competitive. Playing with them was an opportunity to get out there and check it out.”

It didn’t take long for MacQueen to adopt his grandfather’s competitive nature, and by age 13 he, too, was playing golf competitively. Something he has now passed along to his two young boys (ages 6 and 8, one of whom played a tournament at Pinehurst last summer).

“What I really like seeing is that my kids are fearless,” MacQueen says. “I get on a tee box and I see a trap and I’m like, ‘I got to hit it over there.’ And my boys come back with, ‘Just hit it over the trap, Dad,’ or, ‘Hit it over the water; who cares?’”

Fearlessness is something MacQueen has also come to appreciate in his own life — on and off the fairway. “I don’t really fear anything on the golf course,” he says, attributing his confidence largely in part to the demands of his profession.

“I actually think being an attorney makes me a better golfer,” MacQueen explains. “There’s a lot of pressure in real estate law. You want to do well for your clients. You want to perform at a high level if you’re going to court. And that type of pressure translates well onto the golf course.”

Another parallel that MacQueen identifies between his putting and professional lives is the value of continued learning and eventual mastery.

“If you want to be good at either one of them — your job or golf — you have to master the fundamentals,” says MacQueen, who hopes to take trip overseas to play golf at St. Andrews in Scotland. “And to me, that’s getting in your repetitions, getting in your practice and learning from others.”