As if proof were needed that golf is a game for all ages, two practitioners, separated in age by four score years, are celebrating this week after scoring a remarkable ace.

Eighty-four-year old City of Derry GC member Charlie Stafford is the toast of the club following his hole-in-one last weekend, the ninth ace of his career.

Charlie, who joined the Prehen club in 1949, struck the perfect four-iron to hole out at the 140-yard eighth hole, the Crow's Nest. The feat was witnessed by his regular playing partners Jim Smallwoods, Albert Wallace and Bert Whoriskey.

"The ball bounced just short of the green and ran across the green into the hole," said a delighted Charlie. "I turned to my sporting partners waiting for them to offer their congratulations, but predictably I was met with a wall of silence so I just stuck out my chest and told them to follow that," he said.

It was Charlie's fourth hole-in-one at the Crow's Nest in his 54-year golfing career.

"I had my first in 1955, but things dried up a bit for about 25 years, and then I had a run of them. I have aced all of the four par threes at City of Derry with the exception of the long opening first hole, so I'm determined to make it a grand slam," he said.

Meanwhile, in England, a four-year-old could be the youngest person in Europe to achieve a hole-in-one. David Huggins, of Ipswich, holed his tee-shot on a 105-yard hole on a course near his home.

Guinness World Records said the youngest person to record a hole-in-one was an American who was three days younger when he achieved the feat in Hickory, North Carolina, in 1999.

David's father, Jonathan (33), said the youngster holed-in-one on Good Friday while playing the sixth at the Suffolk Golf and Water Park in Bramford.

"He used his three-wood to hit the shot. It bounced a couple of times and went in the hole," said Huggins, a banker. "He wasn't really interested in finishing the round after that."

David has been playing golf for two years and has weekly lessons at the club. His teacher, professional Sarah Wilson, who co-owns the club, said the boy has exceptional ability but was not the best in his class.

"We have a junior club on a Saturday morning and he has lessons then," said Wilson. "He really whacks a golf ball and he hits it about 130 yards, which is a formidable distance. And he hits the ball very straight."

Wilson added: "Even though it is a short course it has a bit of a dog-leg. To get a hole in one you have to hit it over trees.

"There was no way it could be a fluke because you have to use a proper golf shot."

A spokesman for Guinness World Records said details of David's achievement would have to be carefully checked before it could be recorded in any way. He said David's family should contact the organisation and provide evidence of David's feat.

Wilson added: "There is no doubt that it happened. He was playing with his father and there were also people on the seventh tee who saw what he did."