Rules Mistake Costs Durham Schoolboy Course Record

15-year-old Josh Hogarth certainly learned a valuable lesson on route to securing the South Moor junior title and the Durham County Junior Golf Society Championship.

Josh completed his victory in the club tournament with a seven-under-par second round of 65 which contained ten birdies and three bogeys. The drama arrived at the longest and hardest par three on the course, the 186-yard 14^th. His perfectly flighted six-iron shot from the tee ended with the ball coming to rest lodged in the hole against the flag stick.

Three other players have shot 65 on a course created by Yorkshireman Alister MacKenzie, who also designed Augusta National. What happened next prevented Josh going on to set an outright course record of 64.

“If I had known the rules, it would have been a hole in one,” said Josh, a pupil at North Durham Academy in Stanley. “I thought you had to pull the flagstick out keeping it directly upright. When I did that, the ball squirted out and ended up an inch from the hole.”

Josh only learned days after the tournament ended that the relevant part of R&A rule 17-4 reads: “The player may move or remove the flagstick.” That allows golfers the option of manoeuvring the flagstick to determine whether the ball falls into the hole.

“I signed for a two on the scorecard instead of one,” said Josh. ”I shall put it down to experience. It’s a lesson learned.”

The record was set by Norway’s Jarland Ekeland Arnoy during the England Boys Under-16 Open at South Moor in 2011 and has also been equalled by home club players Ian McEntee and Paul Davison.

Josh finished with an eight-under total following a first round of one-under 71. He won the county society event with two over on a windy day at Hobson after rounds of 70 and 73.