Birdies at golf club are very common, Eagles quite rare and Albatrosses hardly ever seen.
But Reddish Vale golfers were delighted to welcome a huge new bird (a Condor) into their clubhouse following his completion of his round in a BB Stableford.
It was former Captain Mike Canning who had an ace on his card on the par five 15th hole for seven points and apparently four under par is a “Condor”.
Mike received a huge round of applause when he came into the bar and duly put a bottle of whisky on the bar for members to share.
The club usually award half of the 2’s pot for an ace but as it was a team event Mike had to share which hardly covered the cost of the bottle.
Mike’s partners were Rob Caruana, Derek Simpkins and Jason Hargrave.
Then the truth came out- the hole had been reduced from 475 yards to about 150 yards as it was a winter competition but the score on the card was still posted as an ace on a par five hole for seven points.
Mike said: “ I did not know the length of the hole and hit an eight iron, fairly low as I expected run in frosty conditions and it went where I aimed it- which is always a bit of a surprise to me.
“I didn’t see it go in the hole but when I couldn’t see it around the green I became hopeful and it had gone in for my first-ever ace.
“The lads were brilliant and it was great to get my first hole-in-one and now my new nickname in the club is Condorman (from a Disney film).
Copy & image: Geoff Garnett
