Awarding motor-cars for holes in one has become a pretty thorny subject these days. So it was hardly surprising that the ol' king of the swingers, Paddy Cole, unwittingly struck a discordant note at Woodbrook last Monday when word reached the clubhouse that he had just won a brand new BMW.

The truth is that he had a hole in one with a three-wood at the 215-yard 13th. And a BMW was on offer for such a feat. "In fact the guy setting up the stall on the 13th tee gave me a mineral and a bar of chocolate before I hit the shot," said Cole.

But whisht, as the fella said, all can be easily explained. You see the bold Paddy - 14 handicap - went to Woodbrook to play a Music Industry Golf Society (MIGS) match against this year's captain, Dick Doyle, off 15. And with MIGS on the greens, final arrangements were being made for an outing later that morning in which the winner of the BMW could donate it to a nominated charity.

Anyway, when Cole had what was, in fact, his first hole in one, the news became somewhat garbled en route back to the clubhouse. "They thought we were part of the outing, which of course we weren't," he said. "But I was so excited anyway that I lost the next two holes." Still, he recovered sufficiently to win his match on the 18th.