21 Oct 2020 | Amateur golf |
A Gunnedah Grand Slam
by Martin Blake
Gunnedah's Owen Wells has completed a feat that might be unique in Australian golf.
When retired police officer Wells, 78, knocked his tee shot in the hole at the 160-metre par-three seventh hole at Gunnedah a few weeks ago, it completed what might be called a Gunnedah Grand Slam.
The single-figure marker has now aced all four of Gunnedah's par-threes. The first of the four came in 1986 at the 16th hole, with additions to the list in 2005 (the 12th hole) and 2011 (the second hole).
"It's something you don't expect," he told Golf Australia's podcast Inside The Ropes this week. "But anyway, it's happened."
Wells said he'd come close before. "Over the years that you play you have so many that are so close. I thought I got it a couple of times, but it didn't work out that way. But I ended up beating it."
He hit a hybrid club to achieve the slam. "It's 160-odd metres and it's got out-of-bounds on it as well. I hit a little hybrid Cobra and it was going straight at it. But I thought I got it a bit heavy, and I gave up on it. I was convinced it went over the back but it just rolled up the green and went in the hole."
The club has acknowledged the achievement by presenting Wells with a salver.
"I was quite thrilled," he said. "They gave me two lovely trophies; way above what I expected to get."
Hear from Owen on the latest episode of Inside The Ropes...
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