147, Nine-Darter or Hole-in-One?

It’s like trying to pick your favourite child; no matter who you pick, you’re always going to offend the others, but you do have a reasonable answer.

This question took the world by storm last year, starting major debates across social media, radio, podcasts, television and so on. Fortunately, the debate has a definite answer, at least one that statistics and data can back up. This dispute can only be answered logically if you take into account the amateur and professional levels, so let’s dive into the question, ranking from easiest to hardest!

I’m sorry to the golf fanatics out there. The hole-in-one is most definitely the easiest to complete. In short, it is the only option that can be fluked.

A snooker table is one size, a dart board is one size, and the length of a hole varies. Take yourself out to your nearest golf course and check out the length of the par three holes. There’s a good chance you will find one that’s between 100 and 150 yards, and maybe another between 150 and 200 yards. For an amateur/novice/never played before, there is every chance in the world that they can swing hard enough and hit the ball the length of a GAA pitch and roll it into the cup. Simple.

Now, I understand the argument about weather conditions and natural factors, but the weather can always work in your favour. If you’re playing a short par 3 with the wind sailing towards the green, you can concentrate more on accuracy than power, letting the wind do the hard work. If the wind is going into you, the ball will hold up in the breeze and land softer on the green.

A nine-darter is (logically) the second hardest feat. There are two reasons it is narrowly missing the number one spot: the number of shots taken and zero interference. Let’s break that down.

A hole-in-one is just one skilled/lucky shot that travels a set distance into a cup, which is another reason it can be considered the easiest. For a nine-darter, the clue is in the name; you must throw nine perfect darts. There are multiple ways of throwing a nine-dart combo, with the most common being 180,180,141, but the task doesn’t get any easier with different finishes. The treble on a dartboard is about the same size as three green peas, and the doubles are no bigger than a LEGO figure, making it incredibly hard to land three darts in the one area.

Having no opponent interference is another small element that makes the nine-darter easier than the 147. For professionals, the crowd may be singing ‘Mr. Brightside’ or ‘Wonderwall’, and for amateurs, there may be a television in the pub showing Glenroe, but the opponent cannot stop you from throwing or block you in any way. It is up to the darts player to mute the background noise and throw their arrows, while their opponent peacefully waits for their turn.

Snooker trumps the lot with the maximum 147 break. People who play the odd game of pool in the pub might disagree with this statement, but very few of them have attempted the outstanding feat. There are a variety of reasons as to why it is the hardest, but let’s start with the number of shots. We have established that golf requires one, and darts requires nine, but a 147 requires a massive 37 shots in a row.

To make this even harder, you may not have control over where the balls end up after the break, meaning you could have multiple obstacles as you attempt to clear the table. Snooker also requires shots to go in a certain order, so once you pot a red ball, you then must pot a different colour, but there is only one possible way of making a 147 – 15 reds, 15 blacks, yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black again. This really shows how much tougher it is compared to a hole-in-one, which you can land on any hole, or a nine-darter, where there are 3,944 different ways to pull it off.

Let’s see what the public believe…

If we look at the dispute solely at the professional level, we can study the three players who are widely considered the GOATs in their respective sports: Tiger Woods in golf, Phil Taylor in darts and Ronnie O’Sullivan in snooker.

Woods revolutionised the culture and science of golf, winning 15 majors during his thirty-year career, while Phil Taylor helped darts become recognised as a sport during his tenure as World Number 1, winning 16 World Championships and a plethora of PDC ranking tournaments. Ronnie ‘The Rocket’ O’Sullivan is the most accomplished snooker player of all time, recently making a 153 break, which has never been seen before, and winning seven World Championships, tied with Stephen Hendry.

So, let’s see how many feats of perfection these dominant figures have completed. Woods achieved a total of 20 hole-in-ones over 30 years, Taylor made 22 nine-darters over 31 years, and O’Sullivan has hit 19 maximum breaks in 34 years.

Mathematically speaking, the 147 is the rarest accomplishment as The Rocket has the least amount of maximum breaks over the longest career, meaning he has only a 56% chance of making a 147 per year. Woods’s twenty hole-in-ones gave him a 67% chance per year, and Taylor’s 22 nine-darters gave him a 71% chance per year.

Each of these sports has a governing body that allocates tour cards to professionals each year, allowing these players to compete in official events. The PGA allocated 214 tour cards in 2026, whereas the WST allocated 144, and the PDC has 128 pros, meaning that there are more golfers available to complete the hole-in-one than there are dart and snooker players to find perfection in their sports. This may sound like an anti-golf agenda, but a professional golfer’s odds of a hole-in-one are 2,500 to 1, which is no mean feat, and this next point may aid the golf debate.

The PDC hold the most events per season out of the three governing bodies, with 82 events for professional players. On the other hand, the PGA and WST have only 48 events in their current season, meaning players have almost half the chance of the darts players. When you break down the events within the two sports, the average snooker tournament lasts six days, playing one match per day; however, the golf events last only four days, giving them a slightly smaller chance of making a hole-in-one.

There are certain arguments to be made for each of the sport’s greatest achievements, and I would love to hear your points. Leave a comment below as to what you believe is the easiest feat, and let me know if there are any other solo-sports with a tougher challenge!