A RECORD-breaking pensioner has become the oldest player in a golf club s history to score a hole in one. Great grandfather Rupert Gurney, 88, achieved the remarkable feat on a par three hole at Letchworth Golf Club last week. Although club records do not

A RECORD-breaking pensioner has become the oldest player in a golf club's history to score a hole in one.

Great grandfather Rupert Gurney, 88, achieved the remarkable feat on a par three hole at Letchworth Golf Club last week.

Although club records do not go back to its beginnings 100 years ago, officials believe that no one older than Mr Gurney has ever notched up a hole in one there.

Mr Gurney, of Field Lane, Letchworth GC, said he was having a "reasonable" round last Wednesday when his ball sailed over a pond and into the hole on the 17th.

However, as he was still at the tee, he could not see how the shot had fared and instead had to rely on his fellow golfers' accounts of the magical moment.

He said: "They kept saying 'it's a hole in one' but I didn't believe them until I got there.

"They said it circled on the hole for about three or four seconds and then plopped in."

Mr Gurney has been playing at Letchworth Golf Club for 50 years, and has served as both the club's captain and president.

Along with a group of others, who call themselves "the 11 holers", he still plays three rounds of 11 holes a week.

It was his second hole-in-one at the club, coming almost exactly 44 years after his first, in March 1962.

Mr Gurney said: "I suppose I'm due for the next one when I'm about 132."

Club secretary Mike Jordan said: "A hole in one is always a very special achievement.

"It is an unusual experience and I think to get one at that sort of age is really special.