One of Keighley’s best ever amateur golfers has marked his comeback from triple heart bypass surgery with a hole in one.

Roger Mitchell, aged 69, aced the club’s 154-yard par-three 14th hole with a seven iron – 51 years after he scored his first one.

The former Yorkshire Amateur champion and two-time Bradford Open winner remembers holing in one “six or seven times” but his latest effort came in one of his first competitive rounds since undergoing surgery at the end of May.

Mitchell had missed a whole summer of golf for the first time after a routine visit to the doctor saw him diagnosed with a heart condition that needed urgent action.

He said: “I didn’t think anything was wrong and it came as a real shock.

“I was joking that they must have got the X-rays mixed up!

“I felt diabolical for a month after the operation but then it is amazing how quickly you recover.

“When I got the hole in one I felt as strong as any other person in the country.”

Mitchell, who plays off an eight handicap, scored his ace in the club’s October Medal and was playing with his wife Adele and fellow member Albert Logan.

The former Yorkshire captain said: “It was a very good tee shot but it was always a few feet right of the pin, which was close to the back of the green.

“When it landed it bounced a few feet sideways and I thought, ‘this could go in’.”

Though naturally delighted with his shot, he added: “There is a huge amount of good fortune involved.

“There are far better players than me who have never had a hole in one and there are some who have had plenty and are absolutely useless!”

Having missed most of this season, Mitchell admitted he can’t wait for the next one to start.