Epic double-ace

The odds of two holes-in-one on the same hole on the same day are at least 156 million to one.

But that’s what unfolded on the steep new Coronet 12 par three at Arrowtown’s Millbrook Resort golf course on Tuesday last week.

The two aces, only about 10 minutes apart, were recorded by Queenstown golfers Barry Litten and Trevor Kerr — neither of whom had scored holes-in-one before — during a Millbrook members’ tournament.

Litten, 68, a 9.2 handicapper playing off the 160m blue tees, was the first to experience his magic moment.

‘‘I was just completely gobsmacked,’’ he says.

‘‘There was actually a greenkeeper in the bunker behind the hole raking it, and he dropped his rake and threw his arms in the air.’’

Kerr, 77, a 21.3 handicapper who was in the following group, says he saw greenkeepers leaping in the air but hadn’t clicked what was going on.

‘‘We weren’t doing so well in the haggle so my partner said, ‘we want a good one here’, so I hit a good one.’’

Kerr, who played off the 123m white tees, calls it ‘‘unbelievable stuff, it’s all luck, isn’t it?’’

‘‘It’s a beautiful hole, you couldn’t ask for it to be better.’’

Adding to the coincidences, the golfers were formerly neighbours, and still live pretty close to each other.

Kerr: ‘‘We’re good friends, it was cool, like shooting a hole-in-one with your brother.’’

Meanwhile, the double-ace celebrations — footed by Millbrook’s property sales company, Millbrook Realty — follow the club’s highly-successful ‘Golfing for Gabrielle’ fundraising tournament and auction.

Its effort received special acknowledgement from Golf NZ CEO Dean Murphy.

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