In Japan, Tokyo Marine & Fire Insurance sells a policy for 12,000 yen ($A154) a year that provides liability coverage of $2.5 million of liability coverage - and a $6355 payoff for a hole in one. A hole in one brings more obligations for a Japanese. The caddie would expect a bonus of at least $130, and anyone in the same group - or everyone playing if it is at a company outing - typically gets a present. In Britain, Golfplan, Britain's largest insurer for individual golfers, provides tailored policies. A "junior" policy, at £30 a year, covers under-18 players and refunds the cost of non-alcoholic drinks up to £50 if the player shoots a hole in one. An "executive" package, for a premium of £90, covers a bar bill of as much as £300. Overseas golfers should take a note of the Australian practice, where many clubs offer members the option of adding $1 a year to their subscriptions to cover the cost of a shout if they do manage a hole in one.



"That's been the go here for many, many years," said Gary Wallis yesterday, who has been with the Heidelberg Golf Club, in Lower Plenty, for 42 years. "A dollar per year to cover the cost of the traditional bar shout." Mr Wallis, 57, has two aces to his name, the second six months to the day after the first, about five years ago. Neither occasion cost him more than a dollar.

Not that the tradition is what it used to be, he says. "If you've got to shout the bar, one of the problems with all of these clubs now is that people don't hang around too long because of drink-driving and all of that." He has a problem with the whole scenario anyway. "Quite frankly, I think it should be the other way around. I think the whole thing's screwed up.

"You have a hole in one, you should be congratulated, everybody should be buying you a beer." According to Brian Dickinson, secretary of the Worldwide Hole in One Golfing Society, one of the shot's delights is that it owes as much to luck as judgement.

"One of the best things about it is that nobody remembers how awful the rest of your round was," Mr Dickinson said. - with Bloomberg News