Pour Bob a double!

There was plenty to toast in the clubhouse at Malton & Norton as bottles of traditional ‘hole-in-one’ booze started lining up on the bar.

At least one of the donors could be forgiven for having a ‘double’ – because he’d notched just his first ever ace, but his second too, in the same round.

In fact he was the only one not making a song and dance about it. “It was just luck, that’s all, it’s 99% luck,” he said. “I’ve never had one before. Must have saved them up and had two on the same day.”

And speaking of song and dance, long-time member Bob Seager – pronounced Seger, as in the bloke who leads the Silver Bullet Band and wrote hits like Hollywood Nights, Main Street and Night Moves – couldn’t even find any of usual society mates to buy a drink.

“I didn’t know anyone in the clubhouse so I told the staff to put the whisky on the bar and tell me what I owed them. I got all the lads a drink later. I don’t want to make a habit of it!”

Bob, 76, and off a 17.2 index, took an 8-iron at the 2nd and played his tee shot on the banking left of the green and watched it roll sweetly in.

The ace at the 17th is a much tougher prospect however, 170 yards off yellows and over three treacherous bunkers with just a narrow gap between the first two.

It must really have been Bob’s day because you usually can only see the top half of the flag at 17. “I played a 5-iron and it ran off the slope behind the bunker and the flag was in the gap so I saw that go in as well.”

His playing partners Vince Connor and Jim Pulleyn watched on in astonishment.

Local man Bob joined Malton & Norton after finishing playing cricket in the mid-80s and he said “I just enjoy a game of golf. I just go to spend a bit of time with the lads, they’re a really good set.

“I won’t get over-excited.”