Aside from the elusive albatross (three-under on a hole), the eagle, a score of two-under on a hole, is one of the rarer birds in the game of golf. Statistics provided by Arccos suggest a 5 handicap index golfer will make one every 52 rounds... so when I turned up at Sunningdale Heath Golf Club in Surrey tasked with making one within 24 hours, the odds were seemingly stacked against me.
WATCH: Joel Tadman attempts to make an eagle in 24 hours
There were some factors working in my favour, however. The course is notably shorter than a 'standard' layout and while much of this reduced length comes from having no par fives and and abundance of par threes (a whopping 14 in total), there are also some drivable par fours measuring under 300 yards. It’s no doubt why the course was chosen to host this first episode of Challenge Accepted, a new series on the Golf Monthly YouTube channel, although securing a golden eagle would still be a very difficult task.
The rules stated I could play any hole in any order but I must complete every hole I started. Getting out on the course early, therefore, before the bulk of golfers would reach the holes I had identified as offering the best eagle chance, would be key. I began by easing my way through the first three holes, which were all par threes and realistically never going to yield and eagle. Nope, I’ve never had a hole in one before and my last eagle in a competition came seven years ago. Although I did make a somewhat famous eagle on the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale playing with YouTube stars Rick Shiels and Peter Finch (video evidence can be found here).
The fourth hole at Sunningdale Heath is a 328 yard par four, so not reachable for me, but after a solidly struck and accurate drive I found myself 30 yards short of the green in the fairway with a clear shot to the pin. The nerves were starting to jangle - would I complete the challenge less than an hour into it? It was a simple shot, but my Texas wedge came up woefully short and a mediocre par ensued.
This would not be the hole so I moved on to the next par four, the 8th hole, which comes in shorter at 276 yards. Plenty of attempts with a fairway wood led to some short chip shots that came close, one in particular just shaved the lip of the hole but did not fall in. Switching to the driver didn’t help as my accuracy suffered so it was time to move on to the next par four, the 13th. This was shorter at 256 yards and played slightly downhill, so the three wood became the perfect club from the tee. The only drawback was the green was small and surrounded by thick rough left and long and trees to the right, which also overhung in front of the tee and prevented me from hitting my customary draw.
It proved far more difficult than I had foreseen, with even my best efforts often running through into the rough or eagle putts sliding agonisingly past the hole. After 36 attempts in total, I was nearly at my wits end and with golfers starting to come through and cause me to have to step aside, it looked like my time was up. I was out of my rhythm and closer to making a four than I was a two.
But on the 37th attempt, a well-struck three wood sailed narrowly over the trees and finished fractionally past pin high in the right hand fringe. “Never leave an eagle putt short,” is a phrase I often tell my nervous playing partners when they are trying to make an eagle of their own and now I was saying it to myself. This was never going to be short. To my delight and relief, the ball dropped in at the perfect pace and by 10.56am the challenge was complete!
