Long Island Man Back On The Links After Suffering Heart Attack During Round Of Golf

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island man is lucky to be alive after suffering a heart attack during a round of golf.

As CBS2's Jessica Borg reported, friends and complete strangers on the course jumped into action to save his life.

"Gotta get God when he's in a good mood," 66-year-old Dan Lennon said. "He's usually in a pretty good mood."

These days, so is Lennon. He survived a heart attack at the Rockville Links Club in Rockville Centre, Long Island thanks to the quick actions of fellow golfers.

"I was just playing golf, hit a shot, walked up to the green and collapsed," Lennon said.

It was terrifying to the group of guys he was playing with.

"None of us knew how to do CPR," Lennon's friend John Tellekamp said.

Tellekamp was screaming for help on the course's 17th hole. A nearby golfer on the 11th hole -- coincidentally trained on CPR just a few days beforehand -- came running over.

"He was out, not breathing, no heartbeat, he was dead," Rockville Centre resident Rod McWalters said.

McWalters started doing compressions and mouth-to-mouth while caddie Kevin Flynn grabbed a defibrillator recently donated to the club.

Flynn is an Army veteran with combat life-saving skills.

"Shocked him two or three times and he took a nice, deep breath," the caddie said.

The heart attack happened back in October, and Lennon is now back on the course.

In fact, just two weeks ago Lennon hit a hole-in-one on the very hole he nearly lost his life on.

"To get a hole-in-one 10 months after having died on the same hole is insane," McWalters said. "I can't believe it."

Even more hard to believe since local golfers consider the 17th hole a very tough par 3.

"I'm a low handicapper and never came close," one man said. "It's karma, it's kismet."

"He conquered the hole, so it was very cool," Tellekamp said.

The grandfather of eight says he's grateful for his good fortune. Not just the ace, but the people around him who saved his life.

"I can buy them another drink," Lennon quipped.

CBS2 reported the Rockville Links Club recently started offering CPR classes to all its members.