Gisborne Central School principal, Andy Hayward, has holiday hole-in-one story to tell

PIN'S-EYE VIEW: Andy Hayward poses with his golf ball and pitching wedge to celebrate his hole-in-one on the 112-metre par-3 sixth hole at Poverty Bay Golf Club's Awapuni Links course last Sunday. Picture by Paul Rickard

Central School students and staff members be warned. There will not be a special assembly to mark the occasion, nor is it likely to make the first newsletter of the year, but principal Andy Hayward will be more than happy to recount in extensive and graphic detail his January 19 A+ golfing feat should you ask him how his summer holidays went.

Hayward earned the honour of achieving the first official hole-in-one in the Poverty Bay-East Coast district for 2020.

It came on Sunday on the 112-metre par-3 sixth hole at Poverty Bay's Awapuni Links course. A pitching wedge was his weapon.

“The ball landed six or seven feet from the pin, bounced up and in,” he said.

His reaction?

“Overexcited. Jumped around a little bit.”

The former member of Ohope International and Opotiki golf clubs has been within a few centimetres of an ace on the same hole.

Sunday's perfect shot didn't faze him. Having started on the 10th tee, he finished his round strongly to shoot 79-11-68. And to cap it off, his playing four won the competition for best team net, run as part of the weekly “Sunday School” competition at the Bay.

“We finished ace, birdie, birdie, birdie.”

Hayward has two nicknames when it comes to his golf, depending on form — “Handy Andy” or “Wayward Hayward”. No prizes for guessing which one he wore on Sunday.