Autumn is green-coring season across the Northern Hemisphere, leaving unsuspecting American and European golfers frustrated as they try to navigate bumpy, beaten-up putting surfaces. Usually this results in a missed par putt here or a botched birdie putt there, but this unlucky golfer got robbed of a hell of a lot more when an aerated green and shoddily installed cup denied them the hole-in-one of a lifetime. Watch and wince:

Par 4, 278 yards, first shot of the day. A smoked hybrid down the hill, tracking for the pin and then wham, this happens. Forget packing up and going home. You should walk right into the ocean. Of course, then you wouldn’t get the chance to give the superintendent an earful. We always try to give greenskeepers the benefit of the doubt, but this is indefensible.

https://www.golfdigest.com/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2024/9/badcup_2.png

All of this comes with an asterisk, of course. The reaction of this lone ranger seems to be genuine, and he shouts, “You guys didn’t put it there?” to the group in front of him, but we never see or hear another golfer. All of which raises an even more troubling question: what if this had gone in? With no witnesses, would this incredible par-4 ace have counted? Perhaps this wonky cup did the poor guy a favour after all…