Many golfers spend a lifetime chasing a hole-in-one. It’s said in the United States that only 1-2% of golfers score an ace each year.
But an Auckland father and son duo have defied 17 million-to-one odds after each achieved a hole-in-one in consecutive shots on a par four.
Teeing the ball up on the 255m (279-yard) eighth hole at Scotland’s Cullen Links Golf Course on Saturday, 46-year-old Jim Rohrstaff and his son Blake, 18, could only dream about what would happen next.
Rohrstaff told the Herald he and his family – wife Kara and sons Blake and Eric – had been travelling around Scotland on holiday, playing different courses each day.
He described the course, situated in the seaside town of Cullen, as a “hidden gem” enhanced by “clear blue skies and perfect weather”.
Walking up to the elevated eighth tee box, having both made double bogeys on the seventh hole, Rohrstaff and Blake looked at the short par four and coaxed each other to hit their drivers.
“I hit driver and my ball actually landed just left of the green in the left rough, but it was a bit of a slope and it kicked right towards the green and that’s all we saw. We could see the green, but from 255m you don’t see exactly where the ball is settling.”
Blake was up next, announcing to the group he was going to hit “a little bullet” with his driver.
“He hit his driver and it landed on the front left side of the green and kind of bounced, released and ran just past the pin and then it started to roll back a little bit, but again didn’t really think much of it,” Rohrstaff said.
Approaching the green, only one ball was in sight, which belonged to Rohrstaff’s youngest son Eric, prompting a bewildered search for the other two.
“Eric is walking towards the back of the green and just says, ‘Oh, there are two right here’, and we’re like, ‘What do you mean? Two where?’ and he said, ‘Right here in the hole’.
“We just lost our minds, I mean we were just dumbfounded.
“We walk over and lo and behold there are two Callaways sitting in the bottom of the cup and we went nuts. It was pretty incredible.”
According to the US PGA national hole-in-one registry, the odds of the average golfer making a hole-in-one are 12,000 to one.
The odds of two golfers from the same foursome acing the same hole – leaving out the fact it was a par four – are 17 million-to-one. It’s believed to be the only time a father and son have achieved the feat on a par four.
Being a par four, the pair had scored an albatross (three under par), which is widely regarded as one of the rarest achievements in golf, with odds of six million-to-one, according to Golf NZ.
After the rare achievement, Rohrstaff called the clubhouse offering to pay for patrons’ drinks. The family played out the remaining 10 holes with a bottle of tequila.
Caught up in the emotions, Rohrstaff accidentally used his hole-in-one ball on the next hole – a par three with the North Sea behind the green. His adrenaline led him to hitting the ball over the green, but he managed to find it after a frantic search.
“As soon as I hit it I just said, ‘Oh, s***’.”
He proceeded to shoot 62 on the par-63 course and Blake shot a 71.
Rohrstaff, who is the co-developer and managing director of New Zealand golf courses Te Arai Links and Tara Iti, told the Herald it was his 11th hole-in-one but blows all the others “out of the water” as it was with his family and he also witnessed his son’s first.
“To have that moment with Blake and then also with Kara and Eric there, and obviously it being a par four is just nuts.”
The pair said celebrations kicked off after the round, with a night of tequila, whisky and wine.
“I mean we just still can’t really believe it. It’s just a couple of days ago now but it’s hard to comprehend.”
Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers sport and breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.