The Thrill(er) of Accomplishment

Had he not met an untimely death, today would have been Michael Jackson's 53rd birthday.

Whether you are a fan or not, professionally he was an extremely accomplished individual with many achievements to his name:

Billboard

• Most #1 Hits by a Male Artist - 13
• Three albums debuted at #1 - Bad, Dangerous, HIStory
• The most chart #1 hits by an artist in a decade, 80's - 28
• First group to have four consecutive #1 singles - Jackson Five
• First person to enter the singles chart at #1, "You Are Not Alone"
• First artist to simultaneous hold #1 on 4 charts, 1983 - Rock Album, Rock Single, R&B Album, R&B Single

Guinness Book Of World Records

• Largest Contract, Sony Music - $890 Million
• Most Grammy Awards in One Year, 1984 - 8 Grammies
• Highest Grossing Concert Tour, Bad, 1987-88 - $124 Million
• Biggest Selling Album Of All Time, "Thriller" - 109 Million units
• Greatest Audience, Super Bowl 27, 1993 - 133.4 Million viewers
• Most Successful Concert Series, Summer 1988 - total audience of 504,000
• Highest-Paid Commercial Spokesperson, Pepsi - $12 Million for 4 television commercials

Do you keep a list of your accomplishments? You should!

Fore!

I had a customer come in yesterday, wanting to purchase an award to celebrate his friend's golf accomplishment of a Double Eagle (also known as an albatross). For those unfamiliar with golf, that is getting the ball in the hole three strokes less than the hole's "par;" in this case, a hole-in-one on a Par 4 hole.

In the course of conversation, we began discussing the odds of such a feat. Being curious, I did some research, and this is what the "experts" say.

Although all sources say there is no way to exactly calculate the odds of this golf accomplishment, the commonly accepted figure for a Double Eagle is one-in-a-million.

By comparison, the odds for a Par 3 hole-in-one are about 13,000-to-1 for the average golfer.

Approximately 40,000 hole-in-one shots are achieved each year in the United States, compared to only a couple hundred Double Eagles.

Either way, we figure these accomplishments are definitely worthy of congratulations.

And, if you're curious, you can check out our golf, Hole-In-One, or eagle-themed awards.