Veteran golfer hits his 3rd hole-in-one

Due to a rather large tree blocking vision from the tee, the seventh hole at the Hawkestone Golf Club can be a little bit of a lottery when guessing if a good shot has been made.

Veteran Glenn Burgess knew he had either made a bad shot that had rolled off the green and down the hill or he had achieved the third hole-in-one of his career when he approached the scene on Saturday.

"I just hit six feet from the pin and it disappeared," said the 50-year-old with a six handicap, who has been playing for three decades. "It just felt good, I had the right club."

Sure enough, with club stalwart Grant Forbes as witness, Burgess had aced the 144m, Par 3 hole with his seven iron - two decades since his last hole in one.

His previous top shots were at the Manawatu Golf Club and Hawkestone respectively.

As tempting as it was to just call it a day when they passed the club house, Burgess carried on to finish as best man for the Round 2 medal of the club's Fuji Zerox Gracie Cup competition.

Hawkestone rules allow for the ace-getter to ask any club member to buy them a drink following the end of the day's play. "The problem was I had to drive back to Wanganui, so just stacked them up and took them home," Burgess said.

It is the third hole-in-one in the region for 2015 after two were made on February 11 - by Rangatira Golf Club's Jill Adkins on her home course and Waitotara's Francis Hill at the Castlecliff club.

Golf insurance company US Hole In One calculates the odds of an average player making an ace at 12,500 to 1.