Ace shot exciting as ever for Johnson

Wanganui Golf Club's Keith Johnson knows after 40 years at the tee that a good golf shot makes good headlines.

"The first 'hole in one' I got, I made the front page of the Chronicle.

"It was in the morning of the club championship and in the afternoon I got knocked out by a golf ball, went to the hospital."

However there was no bad to be had with the good last Thursday as Johnson made the fifth ace of his career on the ninth hole at the Belmont Links, which was the second time he had found the magic reach the pin from a drive to that particular green.

"We saw it the whole way, the guy who went before me wound up only two feet from the hole," said Johnson.

"The guy I was with said 'aw, you'll probably sink it now."

And so it proved a clean drive on the Par 3, 115m hole and Johnson's shot landed, bounced twice, and dropped in.

Having played golf since the age of 13, Johnson said getting an ace "absolutely" still gives him a charge.

"I brought everyone drinks back at the club. It didn't matter what it cost me because it was still as exciting as ever."

He is currently in Fiji for the start of a Pro/Am tournament today. American company US Hole In One a leading provider of hole-in-one insurance for golf events calculates the odds of the average player making the feat at 12,500 to 1, with professionals 2500 to 1.