For Waitotara's Francis Hill, it was the best mistake he has ever made with the selection of a golf club.
Joining mate Lindsay Edwards and two others for a round at the Castlecliff course on Wednesday, Hill sank the first recorded ace of 2015 on the par 3, 130m fourthhole.
It was the second hole-in-one of the Waverley Golf Club member's playing career, which began in the mid-1980s, following a magic shot on his 50th birthday while playing at the Marton club.
But on Wednesday, getting the perfect swing was hardly on Hill's mind as he strode up to the tee.
"I actually had the wrong club. I really should have had a nine [iron]," he said.
"You have to climb a bit of a hill. I took an eight and a seven and thought, 'I'm not going back down to get another'."
Using the eight iron, Hill got his shot straight and it dropped short of the hole and just kept going, setting off the war whoops from the rest of his foursome.
"I think they heard us across on the 15th [hole], which is by the gate," said Edwards yesterday.
Hill shouted his playing partners a beer each back at the clubhouse at the end of the round, and considered himself lucky to get out of there and on the way back to Taranaki without having provide a beverage for the rest of the field.
Golf insurance company US Hole In One calculates the odds of an average player making an ace at 12,500 to 1.
It was the first hole-in-one in the Wanganui region since Rangatira Golf Club's Jo McAlley scored one in October.
