SWLSgolfer – by Tom Bevan and Craig Christie
An amateur golfer was stunned after hitting two hole-in-ones on the same weekend – using the same ball.
Retired council worker Iain Robertson, 64, aced the 15th hole in a winter league competition at his home Garmouth and Kingston course on a Saturday at the end of last month.
The following day, he placed the same Titleist 2 ball on the 13th tee and struck it straight into the cup to repeat his achievement.
He even had the same playing partner for both competitions, as club colleague Stuart McKay was his lucky charm to witness both achievements.
Iain said: “There’s no secret really, just a bit of luck involved. To get two in two days, it’s never been heard of before.
“I’ve been a member here for about 55 years now and now that I’m retired, I get a game four or five times a week.
“So a bit of course knowledge definitely helps.”
Iain’s most recent ace came at the 120-yard 13th, and was the fifth time he has managed a hole-in-one there.
His first of the weekend came at the 15th on a windy Saturday, playing alongside McKay and club captain Neil Smith.
“I didn’t see that one go in,” he described. “I knew it was going to be quite close and I saw it wasn’t over the back. I had a look in the hole not thinking it would be there, and it was, so I just shouted over to my playing partners.
“I was using a six iron. It was into the wind in my defence.”
A day later, his trusty nine iron did the business at his lucky 13th, again accompanied by McKay and Rebecca Grant.
He added: “I saw that one but we weren’t actually sure it went in, we thought it might have just been past and was hiding behind the pin.
“We were looking at the side but when we got halfway up we thought, it must be in.”
The curse of the hole-in-one golfer is having to buy everyone in the clubhouse a drink, but Iain came up with a solution to cover his unique double feat.
“The word got round the course quite quick and there were a few handshakes,” he added.
“I had a dram to celebrate, and I did stand my hand. I bought a bottle of malt and put it behind the bar.”
The Garmouth resident is one of the most familiar faces on his home golf course, and recalls playing there at a very young age.
In his senior years, he even helps out with some of the greenkeeping at the course along with fellow retirees.
“When you went to secondary school you had to pay something like 50p to join,” he recalled.
“Nowadays I help out with cutting the fairways as well. There’s a few of us retired boys who help out in the summer. It’s something to do for us and there’s about half a dozen of us.”
As for his lucky golf ball which landed straight in the hole on both occasions, Iain isn’t sure whether to retire it or see if it can complete a hole-in-one hat-trick in the future and bring him ace number ten.
“I have actually kept it. I did think to myself ‘is it really that lucky?’
“On a fine day I might use it again. Either that or keep it as a souvenir.”
Despite his acheivements, Iain can’t lay claim to being the Moray coast club’s ‘ace’ golfer, even though he has managed a remarkable nine holes-in-one over more than 50 years of playing at Garmouth and Kingston – five of them at the same hole.
For fellow member Maxi Grant has holed his tee shot on 12 occasions at the links course and Mort Cattanach has ten aces to his name.
“I’ve got a wee bit of catching up to do on them,” he said. “That’s my new ambition, to get into double figures.”
