It’s the shot every golfer dreams of making – standing at the tee they strike the ball perfectly and watch it sail gracefully through the air for a perfect hole-in-one.
Some never make that most sought after of shots, while for others it can be a genuine once-in-a-lifetime event – but for Arthur Lilley it has now happened four times.
The 89-year-old was enjoying a round with friends at Ipswich Golf Club last weekend when he hit his latest, at the 10th hole.
Mr Lilley, a member at Purdis Heath for 45 years, said: “It was a five wood, 165 yards and slightly into the wind. It was a perfect shot, straight at the flag.
“It was a very good strike of the ball. I thought it was going to be close, possibly a good birdie chance.”
But it was more than that – in fact it turned out to be Mr Lilley’s fourth hole-in-one and his third at the Purdis Heath course.
“It bounced on the green and I thought ‘That’s good’, but one of my comrades came running down saying ‘It’s gone in!’”
Mr Lilley’s two previous one-hit-wonders in Ipswich both came on the course’s third hole, some time around 1988 and 1991.
Before that he sunk one in the mid-1960s at Hayling Island Golf Club while playing in a naval championship.
According to Mr Lilley the secret to making a hole-in-one is a large slice of luck.
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