There are moments in golf that defy logic, maths and common sense. For most of us, a single hole-in-one would be enough to dine out on for decades. For 74-year-old Lyn Parry, it’s become almost – routine.
Playing her golf at Downes Crediton in Devon, Lyn has recorded three holes-in-one in the space of a month, taking her career tally to five and prompting one jaw-dropping estimate of the odds: around 1.95 trillion to one.
And here’s the best part – she didn’t even start playing until she was 58.
Lyn only took up the game after years of listening to her late husband talk golf.
“I used to get fed up of listening to golf talk all the time,” she says. “So I thought, I’ve got to get into this and see what it’s like.”
Two aces several years ago, both at her home club Downes Crediton – on the 13th and summer 11th holes, were already something to cherish. But 2025 has taken things to a different level.
Ace No. 3: The AGM Surprise
The first ace of this extraordinary run came on the 3rd hole at Downes Crediton, on the day of the club AGM.
“It was a sunny afternoon and the greens had just been sanded, so I didn’t see it go in,” Lyn recalls. “I knew it was close and when I couldn’t see it, I was thinking ‘don’t tell me it’s gone off the back!’ But no, it was in the hole!”
The timing couldn’t have been better. With the AGM taking place, a clubhouse full of members suddenly found themselves with cause to celebrate.
“Because it was the AGM, I was very popular as it meant everyone coming in was getting a free drink!” she said.
Ace No. 4: Ladies Day Magic
Sixteen days later it happened again.
This time it was Ladies Day at the club, and Lyn was back on a previous favourite: the 13th hole.
“This time, we did see the ball go in,” she says. “We all looked at each other saying, ‘Has that really just gone in the hole?!’ There was a little bit of jumping up and down and a photograph after that one, and so it was drinks all round again!”
Two holes-in-one in little over two weeks. Many golfers go a lifetime without one. For Lyn, the golfing gods clearly weren’t finished.
Ace No. 5: A Tricky Twelve at Tiverton
14 days later, away from home at Tiverton Golf Club, Lyn completed her remarkable hat-trick and took her tally to five aces.
Playing a social round with three friends, she stepped onto the 12th tee with no expectation that lightning would strike for a third time in 31 days.
“I hit one and thought ‘that felt nice!’” she says. “I saw it land just at the bottom of the little bank on the right, and thought it might be close. But I told myself it doesn’t happen in threes, that’s just silly. Then there it was, in the hole!”
If anything about this run can be described as “naughty”, it’s what happened next.
“Sadly after the round it was dark and nobody wanted to stay around and the girls asked if we could save the celebrations for another day, so we didn’t go in – which is a bit naughty isn’t it?!”
Just How Rare Is This?
Making one hole-in-one is rare enough. Back in 2017, analysis of 167,000 rounds on Golfshake produced the following averages for how often golfers make an ace:
Handicap +4 to 2: roughly once every 406 rounds Handicap under 10: once every 561 rounds Handicap 10–14: once every 930 rounds Handicap 14–20: once every 1,287 rounds Handicap 20+: once every 1,890 rounds
Even at the very top of the game, aces are special and infrequent. The National Hole-in-One Association suggests typical odds of about 12,500/1 for an average golfer on any par three.
So when people start making multiple aces in quick succession, they enter golfing folklore.
Take Steve Cheshire, who waited 45 years for his first hole-in-one at Ashley Wood Golf Club in Dorset and then made another just ten days later! Or the two Scottish golfers at Lanark who halved a par three with back-to-back holes-in-one.
Then there’s Ann Bache at Edgbaston, who in 2014 made two aces in a single round during a PING fourball event, and Dan O’Connor, who in 2012 became the first ever golfer to ace the iconic 10th on The Belfry’s Brabazon course, hitting his drive 301 yards into the hole.
These are the sort of stories that get whispered around clubhouses for years. Lyn’s month in Devon now belongs in that same category of “did-that-really-happen?” golf tales.
For all the talk of odds and records, Lyn is clear: the aces are a wonderful bonus, but they’re not the point.
Her Handicap Index was 19.4 in May. Over a golden summer, it dropped by nearly seven shots.
“The gratifying thing is that my handicap has come down by nearly seven shots – and I’m old!” she says. “It shows that you can never be too old. It’ll probably go up again because it’s hard, but it’s been a great year.”
“Let’s face it, I’m probably not going to get any better,” she says, with typical honesty. “The holes-in-one have just come along a bit like buses, but it’s just for me about having fun. We have a good club, a good atmosphere, everyone’s very friendly and I just want to enjoy my golf at Crediton for as long as I can.”
She loves the way golf brings generations together.
“You’re never too old. The beauty of golf is that it’s for all ages – I played with a 15-year-old boy on Saturday in a competition, he played really well and had a great temperament – it’s great the people you get to meet and play alongside.”
Her only regret?
“My only regret is that I didn’t play when I was younger, as I might have been even better!”
A Message to Women and Girls: “Give It a Go”
Before heading off on a girls’ golf trip to play one of the best golf course in Cornwall, Trevose, Lyn is keen to stress how much the game has given her – socially as much as competitively.
“It’s a great social game and you learn a lot of self-discipline really, as it’s you against the course, and the course usually wins!” she says. “I’ve made plenty of friendships through golf and I think my message to women and girls is that it’s not just for the lads. Girls can achieve just as much, so give it a go!”
Her story is proof of that. A woman who took up the game in her late fifties, now in her mid-seventies, with five career aces and a handicap tumbling in her seventies.
Most of us are still waiting for that one perfect shot we’ll remember forever. Lyn Parry has had more than her fair share – and she’s not finished enjoying them yet.
