Golfer smashes Britain’s longest hole-in-one record with astonishing 411-yard ace
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Matt Vigurs thought his drive had disappeared. Then he checked the cup – and discovered he had just pulled off a golfing miracle.
A golfer has reportedly smashed the record for Britain’s longest hole-in-one after pulling off an astonishing 411-yard ace.
Matt Vigurs, 32, sent his drive soaring towards the third hole at Great Barr Golf Club during a scratch match – but when he reached the green, there was one problem.
His ball had vanished.
The +1 handicap golfer and his playing partners searched around the green, fairway and bushes, convinced the ball must have gone astray.
Then, on a whim, Matt decided to check the hole.
There it was.
“I had to take two or three looks. I couldn’t believe it,” said Matt. “They didn’t believe me till I pulled it out of the hole and we just went mad!”
The incredible shot measured 411 yards, beating the previous reported British record by three yards.
That record was set by Peter Vickerman, who aced the 408-yard seventh hole at Littlestone Golf Club in Kent in 2014. His feat surpassed a 393-yard hole-in-one recorded in West Lancashire in 1972.
Matt normally drives around 300 yards, but a combination of strong wind and hard ground helped his ball race all the way to the cup.
“It was really surreal. I just froze to start with,” he said. “The lads ran over and we all belly slammed and high fived.”
And this wasn't just any hole-in-one.
The feat came on a par-four, meaning Matt completed the hole three shots under par – an albatross.
England Golf puts the odds of an albatross at around six million to one.
James Crampton, championships director at England Golf, said a 411-yard ace was “the stuff of golfers’ dreams”.
Matt, from Droitwich, Worcestershire, only returned to regular golf in February after spending eight years abroad.
Yet he is now enjoying a remarkable purple patch.
He had already scored three aces, including two as a junior, before adding another just weeks before his Great Barr miracle – a 191-yard six-iron during the Droitwich Club Championships.
He won that 36-hole event in a play-off and later claimed the Worcestershire County Championship at Blackwell.
Matt went on to win his match on the day of his 411-yard heroics, too.
Now he is hoping Great Barr will help him mark the incredible achievement with a flag and possibly a plaque on the hole.
“I have absolutely no chance of ever doing it again,” Matt said. “It truly was a once-in-six-million shot.”
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