A Shropshire golfer has bagged his first ever hole in one at the grand old age of 83 – and the feat was made even more impressive because Ron Murray has only got one arm.
The keen golfer, from Wattlesborough, near Shrewsbury, took up the sport 21 years ago after he retired from his job as a sub-postmaster, and moved to the county from his former home in Coventry.
Mr Murray lost his arm during the World War Two bombing of Birmingham.
He said he was used to having just one arm and it had not made any difference when he first took up golf with his son Phillip.
He said: “I was never really interested in golf but my son wanted to play so I booked him lessons and went up with him. He gave it up and I ended up taking it up.”
Mr Murray said he was playing golf with two friends on Wednesday at the Welsh Border Golf Complex, at Halfway House, near Shrewsbury to celebrate his 83rd birthday.
He said he hit the ball and lost sight of it.
Names
He said: “One of them said: ‘That’s gone in the hole’ and the other one said: ‘No it hasn’t’.
“I wasn’t sure but when we got there we saw it was in the hole. I got called one or two names. I was called the one armed bandit.”
He said after he got the hole in one he told his wife, who was in the clubhouse.
“I told my wife Thelma and we had a laugh about it. I told my son and he was pleased. He gave up golf years ago and he never managed a hole in one.”
Mr Murray said he celebrated his achievement by going out for a birthday meal.
He said: “I’ve never got a hole in one before so I was very happy. Someone was looking after me that day.
“I was very pleased, I’ve been waiting all these years – I don’t think I’ll ever get one again.”
The odds of getting a hole in one are debatable, but most believe they are about 1 in 10,000.
The lower your handicap, the better your chances.
Achieving a hole in one twice in the same round would take about nine million rounds.
By Emma Kasprzak
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