A 52-year-old deaf golfer from Huddersfield, England, has broken a record that at first glance seems impossible: making two holes-in-one in the same round of golf. The odds of achieving this are around 67 million to one.
The lucky lady’s name is Bet Bates, she works part-time in a maternity hospital and recorded holes-in-one on the 206-yard 8th hole and the 122-yard 14th hole.
Bates , who saw his handicap lowered from 16 to 13.4 after his tournament victory, lost his hearing in 2009, and began playing golf again after a long hiatus from a promising junior career to concentrate on other sports.
Despite her impressive junior golf career, in which she recorded as many as six holes-in-one and was even selected to play for the Yorkshire women’s team, she gave up golf at the age of 19 to coach gymnasts and trampoline jumpers.
“When I lost my hearing it seemed like a good time to play golf again,” said the incredible player.
Earlier this year she was selected for the England deaf golf team in the Four Nations Cup – England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland – contested last month. However, Bates withdrew from the team after being told she would not be allowed to take her dog, Biscuit, a two-year-old cocker, onto the golf course with her, unlike at other tournaments.
“I had waited four years to go with my dog, who comes with me everywhere, so I wasn’t willing to leave her in the hotel room, as they suggested,” she explained.
Of his two holes-in-one, Bates, who reads lips, said, “Honestly, I couldn’t believe my luck. They’re the two toughest par 3s on the course, and I usually need five strokes on them.”
“Everyone at the club knew I had made a hole-in-one, because we let the two people behind us pass us when it happened. They told the others and when I got to the clubhouse everyone congratulated me, and that’s when I told them it wasn’t one but that I had made two holes-in-one.”
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