A Riddlesden Golf Club member has holed-in-one for an incredible 14th time.
Just two weeks after Brian Dean had won the club’s prestigious Scratch Cup for the eighth time, the 59-year-old claimed yet another ace at Riddlesden’s 125-yard sixth hole.
What might be a once-in-a-lifetime moment for many golfers is something Dean has more than gotten used to in 45 years of playing the game.
He has aced the sixth several times – a hole which might be short but once featured in a list of 100 most extraordinary holes in Britain.
Dean has achieved the same feat at the club’s second, tenth, 12th, 14th, 15th and 18th holes. His one ace away from Riddlesden was at Bingley St Ives.
He said: “There is an element of luck involved. People can play their whole lifetime and not get one.
“You always aim for the hole but you’ve got to have that little bit of luck for it to actually go in.”
His latest ace at Riddlesden, which is the shortest track in the Bradford Union with nine par threes in a 4,295-yard par 63 course, came with a pitching wedge.
He said: “There was a group on the seventh tee who actually saw the ball hit the green and spin back into the hole. My view was obscured but I heard the cheers.
“It was extra special to get one as it was the President’s Day and there was a nearest the pin competition.”
Two other hole-in-ones stick out in his memory. He said: “I remember well the one I got with a three wood at the 14th as that is the longest par three on the course at 225 yards.
“The other was at the fourth at Bingley St Ives. I was playing in the Bradford Winter Alliance with Brian Barraclough and we ended up winning the event.”
The seven-handicapper, who lives in the Shann Park area of Keighley , enjoyed more recent success when his 36-hole Scratch Cup triumph meant he has now won the trophy at least once in each of the last five decades.
Brian said: “I was happy just to win it the first time back in 1978 when I beat greenkeeper John Doull.”
His feats have been hailed among his fellow members. Former president and captain David Jaques said: “Brian is well known in the golfing community. He is a real character but a very unassuming guy. His achievements are remarkable.”
It is tradition for anyone who has scored a hole-in-one to buy everyone in the 19th hole a whiskey and Jaques added: “I’ve told him he needs to get a standing order behind the bar!”
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