Whanganui golfer James Arnott pulls off hole-in-one on par 4

James Arnott now has one over on his golf-mad family. Photo / Rodney Donaldson

Whanganui’s James Arnott has pulled off one of the rarest golf feats possible - a hole-in-one on a par 4.

Arnott, a member of the Castlecliff Golf Club, said he was playing a round at the Tawhero course with his dad to make the most of its $10 all-you-can-play deal on a Wednesday - “a spur-of-the-moment thing”.

The magic happened on the 264-metre fifth hole.

“There are trees at the front so I just went straight over the top of them. I couldn’t see the green or the ball,” he said.

“We looked everywhere but in the end, I declared the ball as lost and walked to the next tee. I was kicking myself because I thought it was a pretty good shot.”

It wasn’t until his father putted in to finish the hole that the ball was found.

Arnott said a desperate call to his brother-in-law, Castlecliff Golf professional Rodney Donaldson, confirmed the shot as legal, even after declaring the ball lost.

It was his first ever hole-in-one.

“I was having a pretty bad round until that happened.

“I had a look afterwards to see what the chances were. To get a hole-in-one on a par three is 1 in 12,500. On a par 4, it’s 1 in 6 million.”

He currently plays off a two-handicap after taking up the sport 10 years ago.

Arnott’s wife, Jodie, is a seven-time Castlecliff Club female match-play champion.

“Being Rodney’s brother-in-law, I got free lessons,” he said.

“He managed to bring my handicap down from around 24 to five after six months.

“All my wife’s family are amazing golfers - all single-figure handicaps. They are pretty competitive so I thought I’d better learn how to play pretty quickly.”

He’s now got something to hold over his more esteemed brother-in-law.

“Rodney will beat me most of the time out on the golf course but he is still waiting on his first hole-in-one.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.