AFTER more than four decades of dedication to the game, Hervey Bay golfer Scott Bickerton had never scored a hole-in-one.
That changed, on June 12th of this year, when he stepped onto the 12th tee at the Hervey Bay Golf Club and struck a perfect 8-iron from 130 metres.
The ball pitched cleanly, tracked toward the flag, then disappeared into the shadows.
When Bickerton reached the green, the disbelief gave way to joy, there it was, sitting in the bottom of the cup.
“It’s surreal,” Scott said.
“You always wonder if it’ll ever happen to you. Then when it does, it feels like time stops. You are just standing there, staring at it, thinking, finally.”
For Scott, the journey to that moment was a long one.
Having taken up the game 43 years ago, he had been close before ‘a few inches’ in fact, but never all the way.
He joked that he’d been a long-time member of the ‘nearly board,’ the imaginary honour roll for golfers who came heartbreakingly close to a hole-in-one without ever sealing the deal.
“I’ve watched other people do it, seen the celebrations, heard the stories. And you always wonder if your turn will come. That day, it did.”
But the story didn’t end there. Exactly one month later, on July 12th, Scott again stood over a tee shot on the 12th hole. Same hole. Same distance. Same shadowy green. And once again, he struck the ball sweetly.
This time, another member of his playing group, who had also witnessed the June shot, called it. “That might have gone in again.”
As with the first, the ball tracked into the shadows, unseen at the last moment.
And just like before, when Scott reached the green, lightning had struck twice. Two holes-in-one, one month apart — both on the 12th hole and the 12th day of the month.
“People play their whole lives and never get one.”
“I thought I’d had my moment. To get two—on the same hole, with the same club, a month apart but on the same day of the month—what do you even say to that?”
Statistically, the odds of two holes-in-one within such a short span are astronomical, and while Scott knows others with multiple aces, the sheer symmetry of his achievement, down to the calendar and hole number, makes it something special even among seasoned golfers.
For Scott, golf is more than just a game, it’s a way to stay connected.
He plays regularly with a rotating group of about a dozen local mates, from young blokes in their twenties to sprightly retirees in their seventies.
That mix, he says, is part of what keeps the game interesting.
“You are out there competing with younger guys, giving and taking a bit of banter, but the handicap system levels the playing field. It keeps you sharp, and it keeps you social.”
He sees the value of the game not just in the technical skill but in the mental health benefits too.
“It really is you versus you.”
“The ball’s not moving, it’s just sitting there. You are in control. But you are also out in the fresh air, having a laugh with mates. That stuff matters. Especially as we get older, staying connected like that is important.”
Asked how he celebrated the back-to-back aces, Scott’s response is typical of a man who plays more for the love of the game than the glory.
“No big fuss. Bit of ribbing from the boys, a few glasses of red at home. That was enough for me.”
And while tradition holds that those who score a hole-in-one should shout the bar, Scott reckons he got away lightly.
“They were giving it to me, sure, ‘We’ll be here ‘til midnight’, but thankfully it was a Thursday!”
In a game full of slow progress and small victories, Scott Bickerton’s rare double is a reminder that every round holds the potential for magic.
