Golfing firsts are important to a lot of people, aren’t they? In your early days, they help to keep you enthused and encouraged that you are progressing in a frustrating game that often likes to kick you in the teeth and put you firmly back in your box.
There’s your first par, your first birdie and, for some, that first eagle, which perhaps signifies marked progress in being able to get the ball in the hole in two shots fewer than your prescribed quota.
Making that first ever eagle is always a cause for celebration
(Image credit: Getty Images)
I was recently playing with Golf Monthly’s David Taylor at Basingstoke Golf Club when he had his first ever eagle on the par-5 6th hole. It was a case of broad smiles and pats on the back all round – it meant something.
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Those early days also see the quest for that first sub-100 round, the first sub-90, the first time you break 80 and so on, depending on the speed of progress and whatever cap may realistically exist regarding your potential.
I remember the first time I achieved that final one was on an early golfing holiday with two friends to Cornwall in the mid-1980s. It was at a place called Tregenna Castle, which had an admittedly very short 18-hole course with a par of 60, I seem to remember (I believe it may now be a nine-hole par-3 course).
I shot 78 but, in true golfing friend style, the others poured cold water on my achievement, reminding me that because the par was only 60 it was really no better than shooting 90 on a par-72 course. That’s what golfing friends do, isn’t it!
Then there’s the first hole in one, and later on in life, for some, the first time you beat your age. Coming up to my 62nd birthday there is zero hope of the latter for quite some time, if ever, and my first ever hole-in-one on September 21, 1996 remains my only one to this day… and on a hole that no longer exists following a major redevelopment of the course at Horsham.
This remains my first and only ace nearly 30 years down the line
(Image credit: Jeremy Ellwood)
I played the new layout there recently and spent some time trying to work out exactly where my ace had happened.
But the last 12 months or so have proved to me that there is always the potential for more golfing firsts, however long you’ve been playing – about 44 years in my case.
Last autumn, for example, in a game at Hayling in Hampshire, I had two eagles in four holes – something I’ve never done before. Even better, they came on a par 5 and a par 4 – the 7th and 10th holes respectively – with both featuring 15ft putts right into the heart of the cup. Very satisfying at a time when my game was very much a Jekyll and Hyde affair.
The second of my two eagles in four holes came on the short par-4 10th at Hayling Golf Club
(Image credit: Jason Livy)
Then, a couple of months ago, in a return visit to Hindhead in Surrey with my Golf Monthly courses colleague, Rob Smith, I somehow ended up 4-under through five holes through a bit of luck interspersed with one or two good shots. I’ve never been 4-under standing on the 6th tee in my life!
Having played the 1st decently, I left the first putt well short but holed it to avoid giving one carelessly away at the very start. I then hooked my second shot left on the par-5 2nd, such that I felt I needed to hit a provisional.
But the first one was fine and after chipping just short, I holed one from 20ft on the fringe for birdie. The next is a long par 3 where I flailed a 4-iron high and right up the bank, from where it got a very friendly bounce left onto the green. When we got up there, it was 6ft away. I holed it.
A friendly bounce from the bank on the right of the 3rd green at Hindhead yielded the second of four birdies in a row
(Image credit: Jeremy Ellwood)
I then played the par-5 4th and par-4 5th in fairly textbook fashion and holed two more six- footers for two more birdies. Four-under just an hour into the round! I couldn’t quite hold on, of course, but still ended up with a significantly better score than I had perhaps been expecting when we started out, with my game still very much hit and miss at the time.
Then, last month, in a club match at Royal Ashdown Forest, I found myself 9-up after nine holes, something I’ve never come close to achieving previously. My opponent and I were pretty much in the same place putting for birdie on the 1st. I left mine 3ft short and he left his a further foot and a half away away.
He missed, I holed and that pattern was repeated several times in a match where he three-putted five times in nine holes and I played pretty well (for me). After losing a ball on the 10th, I closed things out 9&7 on the 11th, then wandered off to find my teammates, who assumed I’d had to retire injured as my game was over so early!
Shaking hands on the 11th green after being 9-up through nine holes was certainly a first for me
(Image credit: Getty Images)
So, there you have it – three golfing firsts in the space of a year for someone who’s been playing for 44 years. There is surely hope for us all that something new and exciting might lie just around the corner if we keep chipping away at this slightly mad game.
What’s the most unlikely golfing first you’ve achieved well into your golfing ‘career’? Let us know in the comments section below!
To close, a month from now it seems that I may well be embarking on a journey through Italy on the Orient Express playing four of the country’s top courses. That will definitely be a first! I’m just hoping I don’t spot a small chap with a Belgian accent and neatly waxed moustache boarding the train in Rome…
