Golfer Beats Age By 16 Shots On His Birthday!

Ernie Gibson will remember his 89th birthday fondly after shooting a gross 73 around his home course

Golfer Beats Age By 16 Shots On His Birthday!

Golf is up there with the toughest of games and beating your age has to be one of our great game's more difficult achievements.

In fact, it's one of our 12 items on our recommended golfer's bucket list.

Jack Nicklaus still beats his age, as does Gary Player, but the pair of them probably do it by five or six strokes...not 16!

That's what 89-year-old Ernie Gibson did recently, shooting a gross 73 around his home club of Dumfries and County in the south of Scotland.

Is it a record? We're not sure. But it's certainly a phenomenal achievement.

Playing off a handicap of 23, Ernie shot a gross seven-over 73 to beat his handicap, and age, by 16 strokes for a nett 50(!).

The par-69 5,900 yard parkland course was playing as a par-66 in the winter conditions.

Here is Ernie's scorecard from the day:

Ernie, speaking to Golf Monthly, described his round as an "out-of-body-experience!"

"It all seemed so unreal. For some odd reason I was not at all nervous during the round, more amused by what was happening and by my playing partners' comments," he said.

Ernie also told us how he strategically plotted his way around the frozen course.

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"The ground was so hard with frost that I decided not to chip to the green as I knew that the ball would bounce much too far, so I putted from off the green--sometimes from as far as 20 yards.

"I seldom ended up short. For instance, on the par-4 17th, a drive and a 7 wood took me to about 15 yards from the hole, well off the green.

"A ridiculously bumpy putt leapt sideways and disappeared into the hole for a most unlikely birdie three!"

Ernie's lowest handicap was four, and his age-busting round comes just 16 months after a medical stroke.

He told us the stroke "reduced my strength, co-ordination and mobility but not sufficiently to stop my continuing to attempt to hit that wee ball around the course!"

Congratulations Ernie!

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