Matt Vigurs thought he had lost his ball.
Instead, the 32-year-old golfer had just produced what is believed to be the longest hole-in-one ever recorded in Britain.
Vigurs was playing a scratch match at Great Barr Golf Club when he launched his drive toward the 411-yard third hole.
A combination of firm ground and favorable wind sent the ball much farther than his usual drives, which typically travel around 300 yards.
But when Vigurs and his playing partners reached the green, they could not find it.
They searched the surrounding area, including the fairway and nearby bushes, assuming the ball had gone off line.
Then Vigurs decided to look in the one place they had not yet considered.
The cup.
His ball was sitting at the bottom.
“I had to take two or three looks. I couldn’t believe it,” Vigurs said.
“They didn’t believe me till I pulled it out of the hole and we just went mad!”
The extraordinary ace covered 411 yards, reportedly eclipsing the previous British best of 408 yards.
That mark was set by Peter Vickerman at Littlestone Golf Club in Kent in 2014.
What makes Vigurs’ achievement even more remarkable is that the shot came on a par-four.
Completing the hole with a single stroke means he recorded an albatross — three strokes under par.
England Golf championships director James Crampton described a hole-in-one of that length as “the stuff of golfers’ dreams,” while the organization estimates the odds of making an albatross at roughly six million to one.
For Vigurs, the achievement is the latest chapter in an unexpectedly strong return to competitive golf.
He only resumed playing regularly in February after spending eight years overseas.
His form has been impressive. Before his latest feat, he had already recorded three holes-in-one, including two during his junior career.
More recently, he aced a 191-yard hole with a six-iron during the Droitwich Club Championships, a tournament he subsequently won in a playoff.
He also claimed the Worcestershire County Championship at Blackwell.
Even the day of his 411-yard miracle ended with another victory, as Vigurs went on to win his match.
Despite his remarkable run of form, Vigurs is under no illusion about how difficult it will be to reproduce his latest feat.
“I have absolutely no chance of ever doing it again,” he said.
“It truly was a once-in-six-million shot.”
He now hopes Great Barr Golf Club will commemorate the remarkable moment with a flag or possibly a plaque beside the third hole.
For a golfer who initially believed his drive had simply disappeared, finding it in the bottom of the cup proved to be a discovery he is unlikely ever to forget.
