The stars aligned for Whanganui golfer Ken Read when he slotted the first hole-in-one for the year at the Castlecliff Club on Sunday.
Now retired and living close to the course, Read is a regular usually on a Sunday. But this particular Sunday just got better and better as the day progressed.
"It was my partner Cherie's 60th birthday on Sunday and she was having a Mad Hatter's party with her mates, so I was told to get out for the day and don't come back till after 5pm or so," Read said.
"I've been playing sh*t golf lately so didn't enter the normal golf club haggle, my stableford scores were no good. Instead I played with a group of golf adjunct members from the Castlecliff Workingmen's Club - there was about 25 or so of us.
"My foursome got to the fourth hole and there was a strong head wind, so I hauled out my 5 iron. The ball landed on the green about a metre and a half from the hole, then just appeared to bounce in. It didn't roll up to the hole to drop like you imagine it would. One of our group was looking the other way, but the other guys saw it.