Schoolboy brothers score hole in ones at odds of 156 million to one.

The odds of the average golfer making a hole in one in their lifetime are incredibly small – approximately 12,500-1.

But the Hona brothers of Tauranga are making it look easy – incredibly achieving the feat on the same hole on the same course in the space of four months.

Seven-year-old Leo Hona became the youngest golfer to score a hole in one at Tauranga Golf Club on January 26. His achievement comes less than four months after his older brother Benson Hona scored his first hole in one at the age of just eight years old.

Leo was on the par three fourth hole playing off the blue tees at Tauranga Golf Club when he claimed his rare feat.

“I whacked the ball and it hit the front of the bunker and bounced onto the green. We were wondering where it went,” Leo recalled with a laugh.

It wasn’t until his playing partners went ahead to check and found the ball in the hole. Leo said he didn’t believe it at first and had to go and see for himself.

Leo said It felt good to have made his first hole in one just like his big brother Benson. His final score for the day after 18 holes was 92. “That was my best score ever -- usually shoot 100.”

In September last year, Benson Hona was on the same par three hole at Tauranga Golf Club when he scored his hole in one playing off the purple tees on the futures course for junior golfers.

“I hit it straight up and it landed on the green and then it sort of bounced and I didn’t know where it went next,’’ Benson said.

``I looked up on the green and it wasn’t on the green and then my little brother Leo looked in the hole and the ball was in the hole. I was jumping around.”

Benson started playing golf around Christmas, 2022, while Leo picked up the clubs in January of last year, after their dad, Jason Hona, took up the sport.

Asked what their favourite part about golf was, the pair each said: “Getting hole in ones”.

Leo continued: “We have an instagram page called Ridin Birdie Brothaz but we are going to change it now to the Hole in One Brothers.” 

Tauranga Golf Club manager Michelle Towersey said to get a hole in one at just seven and eight years old was “pretty cool”.

Towersey said she believed Leo was now the youngest golfer to have scored a hole in one at the club.

“It is a very rare feat, especially for a junior to be playing off the blue tees,” Towersey said. “Some people can play for 60 years and never have one.”

For more information about getting involved in junior golf like the Hona brothers, check out the Golf New Zealand website https://www.golf.co.nz/futures-hubs to contact your local futures hub.