Golfers hit back-to-back holes-in-one

Steve Wilmshurst (l) and Liam Nairn were "overjoyed" to get consecutive holes-in-one

Two golfing friends who achieved consecutive holes-in-one have described the experience as "wonderful".

Steve Wilmshurst, 58, and Liam Nairn, 70, achieved their extraordinary feat at Studley Wood Golf Club, near Horton-cum-Studley in Oxfordshire on Monday.

The amateur golfers were playing the 167-yard par 3 16th hole with two other players at the time.

According to the National Hole-In-One-Registry the odds of two players from the same foursome acing the same hole is 17 million to 1.

But it said "as great an achievement" as consecutives aces are, "there are too many variables" for it to calculate the odds.

A single player has a 12,000 to 1 shot of making a hole-in-one on their own.

Mr Nairn, who has never had a hole-in-one before, was the first to do so on the day, and was "overjoyed".

"I was absolutely elated because it was such a rare thing for that kind of thing to happen to me, so I was over the moon," he said.

"I said to myself: ‘I’ve got a hole in one – unbelievable.’

"We were all jumping for joy and getting high fives, so a really, really happy occasion."

The amateur golfers were playing the 167-yard Par 3 16th hole

Mr Wilmshurst, who last had a hole-in-one 20 years ago, was next to tee off.

"We all watched Liam's ball go onto the green, then up in the hole," he explained.

"It hit the pin on the way in so we heard the ball go in as well, and then about 30 seconds later I took my shot and it disappeared, so I walked down to the green thinking I’ve missed and put it in the bunker."

He added: "When Liam went to get his ball out of the hole I didn’t believe him when he said: ‘Oh yours is in here as well.'

"I thought he was joking. I had to check it wasn’t the first of April."

As a result the "second hole-in-one was a bit of an anti-climax because we didn’t see where it went".

As is tradition, the players bought drinks for everyone attending the bar that afternoon, and signed the club's hole-in-one book.

"To be fair we do play three or four times a week so the odds decrease with the amount we’ve played," Mr Wilmshurst joked.

"But it's a wonderful thing. It doesn’t happen very often."