How did a golf ball get INSIDE a tree?
- Golf ball is found lodged in a tree around 15 years after it was lost
- Ball is thought to have got stuck next to a branch which grew around it
- Amazing discovery was made at Scarborough South Cliff Golf Club
- Club's manager says the ball was likely lost from a wayward tee shot
- Greenkeepers counted rings on branch to work out how long ball was lost
Around 15 years after it was lost from a wayward tee shot, a missing and long-forgotten golf ball has been found - inside a tree branch.
These amazing pictures show how the lost ball became embedded in a tree, which simply grew around it.
The 'one in a million' find was made by baffled greenkeepers at Scarborough South Cliff Golf Club, North Yorkshire, who were chopping up wood from felled trees around the course.
Assistant greenkeeper Jack Sleight (pictured), 16, found the ball lodged in a branch at Scarborough South Cliff Golf Club, where it is believed to have been hidden for around 15 years
Tree wood: Club staff believe the ball got lodged by the tree branch, which then simply grew around it
Assistant greenkeeper Jack Sleight, 16, and head greenkeeper Paul Sleight, his father, discovered the long-lost Pinnacle golf ball, which staff think has been hidden there for 15 years.
Manager of the golf club Shaun Smith said: 'It's amazing. We think it's been hit and lodged in the 'V' of the tree, where the branch separates from the trunk, and the branch has just grown around it.
'I've never heard of this happening before. The chance of finding it at that exact point - where our greenkeeper cut the branch - must be a million to one really so it's quite a find.
'We counted the rings on the tree to see how long it had been there and counted about 14 or 15 so it's been there a good while.'
Mr Smith added that the ball was likely to have been lost after a wayward tee shot as the tree is just a few yards from the edge of the second fairway.
Shaun Smith, manager of the Scarborough South Cliff Golf Club, North Yorkshire, said the ball was likely to have been lost by a wayward tee shot at the second fairway
The 'one in a million' find was made by baffled greenkeepers who were chopping up wood from felled trees around the course. Pictured: Jack (right), head greenkeeper Paul Sleight (left) and Mr Smith (centre)
'We put a post up on the club's Facebook page to see if anyone wants to claim their ball back but we've had no takers,' he joked.
The club, which will host the English Amateur Championship in 2016, are looking to either use the log as a display item in the club or as a trophy, but no decision has been made yet.
Under official R&A golf rules, players only have five minutes to find a lost ball before they must continue playing with a new one.
If the ball had been found in the tree, it would likely have been deemed unplayable.
The unfortunate player could have moved the ball back to where it was hit from or directly backwards by two club-lengths. This would have incurred a one-shot penalty.
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