Is This The Lowest-Ever Combined Four-Ball Score On A Par 5?
A four-ball at North Wilts Golf Club recently produced a remarkable set of scores on the par-5 4th hole
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News has reached us of a remarkable happening at North Wilts Golf Club, where, in an individual competition, a four-ball managed a combined seven-under-par on one hole. Moreover, for two of these players, their scores on this hole did not even count!
The quartet, whose handicap indexes ranged from 0.5 to 7.2, were Tim Perrett, Gary Watts, Graham Harvey and Tim Garrett. Between them, they managed an albatross, an eagle and two birdies playing off the winter tees at the 462-yard par-5 4th hole.
For Messrs Watts and Garrett, their good play on this stroke index 14 hole did not help them one jot. This was because they were playing in the final round of the Winter Eclectic, and had already recorded a birdie and eagle respectively here previously.
Article continues belowOrganiser Nigel West explains that this competition runs from “the start of November to the end of February, with a maximum of a dozen rounds per person. Sixty people took part in a competition, which is just a bit of fun over the winter period when no other competitions take place at the club.”
Tim Perrett (left) presenting the scratch trophy to Gary Watts
The player who celebrated most on this hole was the club captain, Tim Perrett. He ended up celebrating twice – the first time erroneously.
He was playing a TaylorMade TP5x and had hit his approach shot with a hybrid from about 180 yards and, as Mr West tells us, “got to the green first and saw a TaylorMade TP5X in the hole. Assuming that was his ball, he started to celebrate like crazy. But when Graham Harvey got to ‘his’ TaylorMade TP5x ball to mark it ready for the putt he saw that it wasn't his but Tim’s."
It was Mr Harvey's ball that was in the hole. He had holed out, from 168 yards using a 7-iron, for an albatross.
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Fortunately Mr Perrett managed to compose himself to sink the 10ft putt for an eagle, which did at least improve his eclectic score by one.
Graham Harvey with the trophy made by Nigel West to hold the ball with which he made his albatross
The competition is divided into three categories and Watts won the Scratch competition with an eclectic score of 58.
Harvey was runner-up, on 59, despite only playing nine rounds. But he did receive a trophy. West, who is a wood turner, made him a handsome one to commemorate his albatross.
Has something similar or equally remarkable happened at your club? If so, please do tell us in the comments below.
Contributing Writer Roderick is the author of the critically acclaimed comic golf novels, Summer At Tangents, which was one of Country Life magazine's Books of The Year for 2024 and nominated for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, and Crime Wave At Tangents. Golf courses and travel are Roderick’s particular interests. He writes travel articles and general features for the magazine and website and compiles the magazine's crossword. He is a member of Trevose and has played golf in around two dozen countries. Cricket is his other main sporting love. He is also the author of five non-fiction books, four of which are still in print: The Novel Life of PG Wodehouse; The Don: Beyond Boundaries; Wally Hammond: Gentleman & Player and England’s Greatest Post-War All Rounder.
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