Golf: Bid to rename hole-in-one feat as ‘kestrel’

Miguel Angel Jimenez looks for a 'kestrel' at Wentworth. Picture: Getty

wE HAVE seen PR companies roll out some rubbish over the years but what about this one?

According to an email that landed last week, a suggestion has been made to the R&A to change the term “hole-in-one” to a “kestrel”.

Yes, it’s in keeping with bird terminology used in the game but there’s absolutely no chance of “kestrel” being added to albatross, eagle and birdie to describe scoring feats.

The campaign is supposedly aimed at “raising awareness for dwindling population numbers of the iconic bird of prey” but you won’t be surprised to hear that the beer brand backing the move shares its name.

It is a shameless bid to use golf as a marketing tool and we can be pretty confident that Peter Dawson, the R&A secretary, will either have tossed the letter requesting this terminology change into the bucket or, in this modern age of communicating, deleted the email without even giving it a second glance.