Aces High

Ever Had a Hole in One? How About Three. On the Same Hole. On Three Successive Days? World Renowned Photographer David Cannon Remembers the Most Incredible Sporting Fairy Tale.

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING AND photographing golf for almost 50 years and this is, without doubt, the most impossible golfing fairytale. I’d even argue it eclipses Leicester City’s Premier League triumph last season as the sporting miracle of the last 150 years. By chance I was one of the lucky few to actually witness the feat in the flesh.

IT’S MAY 30, 1974 and I’m a member of the 10-man Leicestershire and Rutland County golf team heading to Hunstanton Golf Club in Norfolk for the Eastern Counties Foursomes. It’s an annual gathering of nine counties played over the weekend in four sessions of ‘sixsomes’ golf.

I am sure there are many of you who will be spluttering on your Glenmorangie trying to understand the meaning of sixsomes. It’s quite simple really: each county pair play two foursomes matches at the same time so you actually played two counties at once in three balls, hence the term ‘sixsomes’. Over the weekend in four sessions you play against each of the other eight counties.

But I digress. The afternoon of Friday, May 30 saw the majority of us heading out for a practice round – normal procedure. You play your own ball to get used to the links and most of all the legendary fast greens. Late in the afternoon news filtered through that one of the Leicestershire squad had managed to hole-in-one on the 16th hole! Bob Taylor, after his three playing partners had in his words ‘ballooned their 4 woods short’, played a two iron that he’d had bent to the loft of a one iron into the face of the stiff Easterly breeze. The ball landed on the apron and scampered into the hole. Aces are rare so a celebration naturally followed and most of us eventually headed merrily to an early bed with 36 holes to follow over the next two days.