Southport golfer makes eight birdies in nine holes during incredible Lytham round
"They looked at me like: ‘Really?’”
An amateur golfer has set what is believed to be a new record by firing seven consecutive birdies - and eight in nine holes - at a course in Lytham.
Allan Harrison, 64, played a stretch of golf so pure it bordered on the unbelievable at Fairhaven Golf Club on July 30.
The birdie avalanche began after Allan found himself 4-over after the front nine - so stopped for a pasty and a drink to start the back nine "fresh".
The amateur golfer then went on a tear, bagging seven consecutive birdies, before adding a final one on the 18th.
The odds were more than 1 in 455,000 for Allan - while in general, the odds across all golfers are a staggering 1 in 322 billion.
Allan, from Southport, said: "I was 4-over after the front nine. I went into the halfway house, had a pasty and a drink, and the lads laughed when I said I’d start the back nine fresh.”
On the 10th tee, Allan stiffed his approach to six feet and rolled in the first birdie.
The par-5 11th brought another birdie after a neat chip to four feet.
At the 12th, Allan, who has been golfing for 50 years, holed his longest putt of the day - a 12-footer that “just dropped in the can”.
His partners looked at him with raised eyebrows and Harrison said: “I joked that I’d had seven in a row before, about 18 months ago at Southport & Ainsdale.
"They looked at me like: ‘Really?’”
On that day, one of the group, a 14-handicapper, was so impressed he asked if Allan was free for the next four-ball competition.
Allan agreed - and then didn’t make a single birdie that day.
He laughed: “He was a bit disappointed in me."
The 13th then fell to another birdie. The 14th, with its tricky front-to-back slope, was tamed with an approach to three feet.
On 15, a tidy chip left another tap-in and the 16th was a long, demanding par-4.
Allan struck a pure 4-iron to ten feet and holed the putt.
Seven birdies in a row, matched only by his extraordinary run at Southport & Ainsdale.
His playing partners were now fully invested and Allan said: “They were cheering me on, saying I had a chance at eight to break my own record.”
The 17th, a 157-yard par-3, came agonisingly close to delivering. Harrison’s 7-iron pitched a foot from the hole, but ran six feet past.
He misread the putt - the only blemish in the sequence. He added: “My playing partner pointed out the pitch mark and said I must’ve nearly holed out - but it ran six feet past and I misread the putt.”
But on 18, he added one more.
After avoiding newly placed bunkers, he found himself blocked by a tree and had to manufacture a back-foot long-iron, leaving 60 yards over a trap. He clipped a lob-wedge to a foot.
Despite the fireworks on day one as he led the Silver Pheasant event with 40 points, Allan finished runner-up after he couldn’t produce the same kind of heroics on day two.
He added: “You don’t get opportunities like that every week.
"It would’ve been nice to win, but it was still a nice afternoon."
A streak of eight birdies in a nine-hole stretch like Allan's happens very rarely in professional golf - let alone amateur golf.
England Golf stats across January to July 2026 show that for golfers with a handicap below 0.0 (Allan's WHS Index is 0.4), the average birdies per 18-hole round is 2.74.
If you halve that for nine holes - the average would be 1.37 per round.
Even the leader in birdie average on the PGA Tour typically hovers around 4.8 to 5.0 birdies per 18 holes (about 2.5 per 9 holes) while Allan enjoyed eight.