By David Nagel
For club golfers, birdies are very hard to find, eagles are rare – but the albatross is an almost mythical figure that very few players will ever get to see on their travels.
Holing a tee-shot on a par-four – or seeing a second shot disappear into the cup on a par-five are the only two ways to turn that mythical figure into reality.
But that rare and exquisite figure made a special guest appearance at Drouin Golf Club on Australia Day when Matthew Guy became just the fourth player in the history of the club to bag the scarcest of golf’s species.
The 38-year-old, a school-local and member for 20 years, crunched a cracking drive down the right-hand side of the par-five seventh hole at Drouin on Wednesday.
“It’s a long par five that’s got a dam on the right-hand side off the tee, from an elevated tee, with a slight dogleg to the right,” Guy explained.
“I hit a nice drive and it got a big bounce out of the right rough, which is pretty dry at the moment, and the range finder told me I only had 149 metres in.”
With the pin located back-left – an unusual placement on the hole – the six-handicapper pulled out his eight iron and assessed his options.
“There’s a bunker on the right-hand side, and I do fade the ball a bit, so I wanted to hang it out over the left-hand side and bring it left-to-right back towards the pin,” he said.
“I hit it well, it was good looking shot, and landed about four or five foot short of the hole.
“It bounced three or four times and I knew it was pretty good, and I thought I would have an easy eagle putt.
“I went to put my club back in the bag, on the back of the cart, and my playing partner jumped out from his side and started yelling ‘It’s gone, it’s gone in…it’s an albatross.”
That playing partner was none other than Ryan Hammond – Drouin’s best golfer – who plays off the impressive handicap of plus-5.
“Hammo and I had a bit of a hug, did some yelling and cheering and probably carried on a bit,” Guy recalled with a chuckle.
“We yelled out to the other two in the group (Matthew Long and Kevin Thorpe) and there were some other mates teeing off on the eighth hole who saw it go in.
“They saw it go in as well, they came over and we had a mini-celebration on the fairway.”
The right-hander, who has never had a hole-in-one, said the highlight of his golfing career made him probably a little too relaxed for the remainder of his round.
“I was excited for the first minute or two but it took a while to sink in, being in unknown territory it was a strange feeling,” he said.
“I was pretty relaxed for the rest of the round, I didn’t really care if I played well or not, it was like…’I’ve had an albatross today, that’s enough.”
“Speaking to Ryan after it he said it’s a lot harder than getting a hole in one.
“It’s obviously better on the scorecard – being three-under par – but you also have to hit a good drive before you get the chance to do it.
“It’s certainly the biggest highlight and thrill I’ve ever had in golf.”
Guy’s impeccable eight-iron has seen him join a very exclusive club, becoming just the fourth player in the club’s history to achieve the magnificent feat.
“Three others have had one, and out of those, two were on the old first hole, which is no longer in play, and one bloke had it on the 12th,“ he said.
“I’m the first to have one on the seventh, so that’s pretty good.”
The seventh hole was originally a par four, but was changed to a par five about six years ago. The tee was pushed back and a new green was built, roughly 40 metres further back than the original.
Guy would sign his card – two for five points in the stableford competition – and finish the day with 33 points.
“I didn’t play great apart from that, but it was still good enough to win the drinks off the other boys,” Guy said with a chuckle.
“We went in and had a few drinks and had a good talk about it, it was really good, something I won’t forget in a hurry.”
Guy started playing golf at the age of 16, just hitting with a few mates, and progressed to playing Pennant for the club
He drifted away for a while to play footy and cricket at Ellinbank, but has been back on the course for a few years now. In his last game of football, he played in Ellinbank’s reserves premiership win over Longwarry in 2018.
Guy, who uses Taylormade clubs, said his freak second shot will definitely add some spice to future rounds.
“There will definitely be some banter,” he said.
“One of the blokes in our group has also had an albatross, not at Drouin, and Hammo has done a lot in his golfing career, but has never got one.
“It’s a nice one to have up your sleeve that’s for sure.”
