Officials at Chichester Golf Club are celebrating a celestial ball-striking bonanza.
A whopping two million balls were smashed down the West Sussex club’s busy driving range last year – with the total yardage of all the shots smacked into space enough to stretch all the way to the Moon!
And that was enough to get nearby Selsey’s very own monocled star-gazing marvel – the BBC’s The Sky at Night presenter Sir Patrick Moore – to dust off his golf clubs to mark the lunar milestone.
Sir Patrick (82), Britain’s most famous astronomer, has always had a strong fascination with the Earth’s sole satellite – having mapped the Moon’s surface for Nasa before the Apollo space missions in the late 1960s and written numerous books on the subject.
But his love of all things lunar is matched by an intense love of sport, including golf and cricket, and the 82-year-old was keen to help Hunston-based Chichester Golf Club mark its impressive driving range exploits.
Sally Haygarth, the owner of Chichester Golf Club, said: "It’s no secret that Sir Patrick has always had a love of sport, and when he heard about our golf range milestone he was delighted to offer us his support.
"Two million golf balls hit the equivalent distance of the Earth to the Moon on a driving range in a calendar year is a phenomenal achievement by anyone’s standards, but maybe this year we can top that and see if we can rack up enough yardage to reach Mars!"
That’s quite a mission, Hunston!
Contact:
David Garlant, Dave Bowers or Pete Simm
08700 330550
david.garlant@prcpr.co.uk, dave@prcpr.co.uk or pete.simm@prcpr.co.uk
