Maidenhead Golf Club veteran, 91, hits 'one of last' hole-in-ones at beloved course

A 91-year-old Maidenhead Golf Club veteran has described the moment he hit a hole-in-one at ‘the best course around for miles’.

Tony Stevens, who lives in College Road, pulled off the spectacular shot on the 16th hole of the course on Friday, June 27.

Tony has been a member of Maidenhead Golf Club for 66 years since signing up in 1959. He said he is the longest-serving member of the club.

Remembering the hole-in-one, he said: "I hit it quite nicely with my 3-wood, but I didn’t see it go in because my eyesight’s not very good."

At stroke index 10 – a ranking of a hole’s difficulty - Maidenhead Golf Club’s 16th hole is far from straightforward. 

With a green side bunker on the right and left-hand side, there is no room for error.

And with Tony’s friends watching, the pressure was on.

Tony added: "One of the lads on the tee said it might go in, but he had thought it must have gone over the back.

"I went and looked over the back and couldn’t find it and one of my colleagues went to the hole and there it was.

“They were very pleased for me.”

For Tony, the spectacular shot is one more to add to a proud collection of hole-in-ones at Maidenhead Golf Course.

"I've had a few before, that was the seventh," he said.

“It’s a funny thing, a hole-in-one, you never know when it’s going to happen.”

The veteran golfer's hole-in-one could be one of the last to be added to a scorecard at Maidenhead Golf Course.

The course in Maidenhead is set to close permanently at the end of this year to make way for the construction of up to 1,500 new homes.

Commenting on its looming closure, Tony said: "I’m really lucky I’ve had it for 60 odd years."

He also described plans to build houses on his beloved course as ‘awful’ and that he was ‘disgusted’ by them.

“I’m very upset it's closing,” he said.

Established in 1896, Maidenhead Golf Club’s site is set to close on 31 December following a £15.9million deal struck to surrender its lease to Windsor and Maidenhead council.

The club hopes to move to a new site in Ascot using the money from its deal with the Royal Borough. 

Its 132-acre site in Shoppenhangers Road will be converted into houses and flats by developer CALA Homes, in a deal signed off under the borough’s previous Conservative council.

Tony also commented on his love for the club that had served him so well during his golfing career.

‘It’s really beautiful’ he said, adding: “It’s the best course around here for miles.”