BILL Philip realised every golfers’ dream of a hole-in-one earlier this month but admits he took a long time to achieve the honour – 91 years.
“It was my first hole-in-one … and the last,” quipped the Mornington resident who has a 36 handicap and has been playing 70 years.
Mr Philip and regular partner Brian Randall had teed off on the Peninsula Golf Club’s south course par-3 third hole of 145 metres when he achieved the “ace”. Sadly, he didn’t see the ball actually drop in.
“We walked up but I couldn’t find the ball and was looking for it over the back of the green when Brian [who’s only 88 years old] said: ‘Oh, you’d better look in the hole!’
“It was a thrill of course. I’m not a good golfer so it must have been a fluke.”
Son Andrew Philip says he did some “extensive Google research” and found only one other “senior’s” hole-in-one in Australia – in Melbourne last year.
“However, that one was a woman only 90 years old who only drove the ball 97 metres,” Andrew said. “While it was very impressive it was not the record that Bill quietly achieved three weeks ago.”
Andrew said his father was a “humble person who has made many contributions to the communities he has been associated with over his 91 years – and he never toots his own horn!
“His response to my mother, Mary Lou Philip, when she asked how his game went that day was: “I didn’t play that well overall … but oh yes I did get a hole-in-one on the third”.
“His is the typical dry wit of a humble man.”
To celebrate his “ace” Mr Philip, who is also a member of the famed Royal Melbourne Golf Club, and Mr Randall shouted the bar whiskeys when they finished.
“Golf is a fantastic game,” he said. “The handicap system means you can play with some really good players off even single-figure handicaps and still be competitive.”
First published in the Mornington News – 29 October 2019
