It’s a once-in-a-lifetime achievement for many a golfer but Jack Torbett has holed in one an amazing NINE times.

The Bingley St Ives member added to his collection of aces in March when his seven-iron at the club’s 135-yard seventh went straight in.

That completed the set for the 71-year-old, who has now holed in one at every par three on the Harden course.

“I’ve no idea what the secret is,” said Torbett, whose latest feat came ironically with a club he had borrowed from his son.

“It’s just one of those things.”

“It’s ironic in that a friend of mine holed in one at the seventh the weekend before and I was telling him that was the only par three where I’d not had one.”

Some players – and good players at that – never experience the game’s ultimate one-shot thrill.

Not so Torbett, who was awarded a plaque and a giant-sized bottle of whiskey for acing St Ives’ 18th for an incredible fifth time back in 1991.

The 15-handicapper, who was once off nine, said: “My son (Jack, a Woodhall Hills member) is a low handicapper and has never had a hole in one and that gets up his nose!

“Now my aim is to get to double figures before my lad gets one.”

Torbett was playing with his son when he holed a tee shot on the Portugese course Laguna, his others coming at the fourth and the tenth at St Ives.

Those last two hold special significance for the Cotting-ley-based member.

He said: “The one at the fourth probably means the most as that was the first time I’d done it and was very memorable.

“It was in 1981 and I remember it because my son was watching for the balls on the green.

“I think I hit an eight-iron and saw the ball heading for the pin but couldn’t see it finish. When we got to the green, he told everyone where their ball was and saved me till the end. When he said, ‘Dad, you’re in the hole, I thought it was a joke.”

His ace at the tenth came three seasons ago and was probably his best – a 190-yard five-wood into the wind.

“The fact that it was in a medal competition (off the whites) was particularly satisfying,” he said.

Hole-in-ones can have that element of luck about them and may not compare as favourably as striking 18 good tee shots in one round.

But to do it nine times cannot be down to pure fluke.

Torbett said: “Obviously there is quite a bit of luck involved – getting the right bounces etc – but there has to be a bit of skill and guidance from the player too.”

With the odds of an average amateur holing in one being reported at 12,000 to one, it is tempting to wonder if Torbett’s nine-time feat is some kind of record.

In fact, a quick scan of the internet shows he still has a long way to go.

Norman Manley, an amateur of Long Beach, California is credited with – wait for it – 59 holes in one!

While the validity of Manley’s tally remains sketchy, Scottish international amateur Jim Hay was reported to have set a new British record when he sank his 23rd ace at his home course of Kirkintilloch near Glasgow.

American Mancil Davis – known as the King of Aces – holds the record for the most number of holes by a professional, with 51 to his name.

But Torbett is in good company on nine. Colin Montgomerie, who learned his golf just down the road at Ilkley, sank his ninth hole in one on the European Tour in Munich last July, which was also a record.