KEY POINTS:
A father and son have defied almost impossible odds and scored a hole in one within minutes of each other teeing off on the same hole.
North Shore residents Trevor and Mike Jones left fellow players stunned after they both hit an ace on the 10th hole at
Waitemata Golf Club.
The pair were teeing off with eight-iron clubs on the 10th hole with fellow golfers Evan Watts and Rob Ellison when the unthinkable occurred on September 14. The hole is 118 metres and a par three.
Trevor Jones, 68, said he took the first shot, with Mr Watts, Mike and Mr Ellison following.
"I wasn't jumping up and down, I just knew it had to be close," the retired Navy captain said of his shot.
"I told him [Mike] before he hit, I said, 'I think my ball might have gone in'. And he just said, 'Oh yeah, if I put mine in too I'll take you out to dinner'."
When they walked from the tee to the flag they found two pitch marks from where their balls landed about 4 metres from the hole, 1 metre apart.
"We were very keen to look in the hole. When we got up there, there were the two golf balls nestling in there."
Everyone who has heard the story has reacted in disbelief, including the players who witnessed it.
"Trevor motioned me over and there in the hole were two golf balls," Mr Ellison said. "He didn't say much, he was too flabbergasted."
It isn't the first time the 10th hole has seen double success. Club superintendent Denis Coleman and North Shore businessman Barry McCollam shot consecutive holes in one in the 1980s.
Dr James Curran, a senior lecturer of statistics at the University of Auckland, said the odds of the father-and-son combination occurring were impossible to determine.
"You would need to know how many times that hole's been played - presumably very large - and how many times a hole in one's been scored - presumably very small - so the overall probability would be small. Father and son doing it would be even smaller. That's about the closest we could get to it."
For the run-of-the-mill golfer, the odds of getting a hole in one are believed to be about 5000 to one.
Last night TAB assistant bookmaker Paul Cook said: "A hole in one would probably be heading towards one in 1000. So the chance of hitting two would be one in a million. It's not anything we would offer odds on. It's far too unpredictable and would leave us with too much of a liability."
The Jones' achievement was celebrated with a shout in the club's bar, which is covered by an insurance levy in a player's annual fees. They will also receive trophies - and have dinner at Mike's expense.
10TH Hole
Par 3 118m