Richard Squires was stunned to discover he had claimed golf ’s rarest feat in a competition at Cotswolds Club Chipping Norton, writes David Pritchard.

The men’s captain knew his second shot at the 504-yard par five was good, but had no idea he had just hit an albatross.

The 57-year-old, who plays off a handicap of nine, said: “I knew I had hit a good drive and one of my playing partners told me the yardage for the second shot.

“I hit it well, but we spent a bit of time looking for the ball on the fringes of the green.

“Someone said ‘check the hole’ and it was amazing to see it in there.”

Squires, from Ascott-underWychwood, was playing the Past and Present Captains competition.

He had eagled the hole before, but he quickly discovered an albatross was different, with only one other at the club in living memory, from former professional Neal Rowlands.

Squires, whose chosen charity as captain is the Chipping Norton War Memorial Hospital, said: “It was only afterwards when I started talking to the professional (Danny Phillips) that I realised quite how rare they were.

“You hear of lots of holes in one in a year, but I was surprised at how few albatrosses there are.

“I’m just glad there were witnesses.

“It ruined my round, though.

“We started on the tenth so it was the second hole we played and all my playing partners kept reminding me all the way round.”

l DEFENDING champions Burford got up and running in Section 1 with a 2-1 win at home to The Oxfordshire in the Shaw Gibbs Oxfordshire Foursomes League.

Beaten by Tadmarton Heath in their opening match of the season, Burford bounced back.

It came down to the final match, where Richard Connor and Adam Salter won 2 & 1 against Karl Mason and Jeff Archer.

CLUB RESULTS

SHAW GIBBS OXFORDSHIRE FOURSOMES LEAGUE

Section 1 Burford 2 (3pts), The Oxfordshire 1 (1) (Burford scores first): S Hopkins & J Lally bt A Stubbs & P Green 4 & 3, J Simpson & M Potts lost to A Stubbs & P Avenell 3 & 2, R Connor & A Salter bt K Mason & J Archer 2 & 1.

Men’s April Medal – winner: P Shaw 84-16=68. Div 1 (to 12): 1 S Lydiat 82-12=70, 2 G Shields 79-9=70, 3= K Lanksford 83-12=71, R Grant 76-5=71.

Div 2 (13-28): 1 P Shaw 84-16=68, 2 S Rowles 87-18=69, 3 D Hales 83-13=70