One-armed golfer Patrick Duke gets hole-in-one (SWNS)
Golfers as old as 103 have hit holes-in-one—but have you ever heard of the feat being achieved by someone with only one arm?
But recently, an Irish golfer celebrated sinking his first ever hole-in-one, after learning how to play the game since an accident left him with only one arm.
A physically-challenged golfer is celebrating sinking his first ever hole-in-one, after learning how to play the sport after an accident left him with only one arm.
Patrick Duke beat the odds of 100,000 to 1 when he hit the perfect tee shot on the fourth hole at Overstone Park, in Northamptonshire, England.
The 67-year-old had been playing with friends on the 120-yard par-3 when he slotted his first ace with a seven iron.
The feat was even more remarkable, considering how new he was to the game, having learned how to play following his accident in 2012.
Pat credits golf with “saving his life” over the past 7 years while he has undergone serious physical and mental health challenges.
“I’m not very good at golf, but it’s saved my life,” Pat told SWNS news agency.
One-armed golfer Patrick Duke on the green – SWNS
“Golf is not my game: I’m 280 pounds and 6-foot-2; my games were always rugby, Gaelic football, soccer and cricket.
“I’ve also worked all my life since I was 15, so I was very active until a workplace accident changed my life. I couldn’t see a way back for me, at times, but then a friend asked me if I had ever played golf.
“I had some lessons with a pro and told him to treat me as a blank canvas and I’ll do what you tell me to.
“He said, what works for me would not work for others—so I sort of developed my own technique.”
He managed to birdie on the hole before, a few weeks earlier, but this one had always been a problem for Pat.
“Eight times out of ten I knock it in the water—and it starts getting into your head. My clubs have very nearly gone in the lake there on a number of occasions.
“So I thought, this time I’m going to aim straight for the flag instead of the green.”
SWNS
“If anyone else used a seven iron on that hole it would have been about 100 yards past the flag.
“As soon as I hit it, I knew I had caught it sweet. Kevin was telling me, ‘that’s on the button that is’.
“We watched it get nearer and nearer. It actually landed about a foot past the hole and rolled back, I got backspin on it but I’ve no idea how.
“People on the fifth hole walking by were applauding me. Kevin threw his club in the air; I couldn’t quite believe it, I was gobsmacked.”
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That’s when he said to his playing partner Kevin, “Fancy getting beaten by a one-armed man?”
“I was told the odds of somebody with a disability getting a hole-in-one was 0.001% or 1 in 100,000.”
Pat had worked in the road surfacing industry for more than 30 years before his jacket became caught in a machine, ultimately leading to the loss of his arm. He later developed post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
“I was in a really bad place. I had suicidal thoughts and lost confidence, self-worth, and relationships.”
Pat first tried golf in 2018 after he was introduced to Overstone Park’s PGA professional Brian Mudge. He quickly found both confidence and community at the club.
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“The people I’ve met have been phenomenal. It gave me confidence and a reason to get out of the house.
“If just one person could see this, even if its not golf, I just want people to know that there can be a life after something like this.
“To come from having suicidal thoughts, my self-worth going out the window—no courage, no confidence, no nothing—and then to find golf and friendship, I think everything happens for a reason.
“If I can do it, anybody can.
“Golf gave me confidence, friendship, and the will to live.”
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