Story of the Week How a lapse in judgement led to redemption

October 23, 2026

Discover how a lapse in judgement was life changing and led to redemption.

This week’s story is how a career was resurrected but a lapse in judgement was life changing and led to redemption and compassion.

A fatal mistake and story of redemption

At a golf club there is a club professional who runs the shop and gives golf lessons to members. They may be a golfer who failed to make the professional tour or is an ex-tour professional. They compete in tournaments with fellow club pros and if good enough may try to qualify for The British Open.

John Hoskison, an ex-Tour player was club pro at West Surrey Golf Club. After a stellar season playing in Club Pro tournaments, the members at West Surrey encouraged him to try and qualify for the 1991 British Open at Royal Birkdale.

One day Hoskison was playing at Sunningdale and playing a chip shot to the 17^th green when as he was playing the shot, his arm twitched and he thinned the shot through the green. The same twitch occurred when he played the reverse shot. He had what is commonly known as the yips.

Most golfer who suffer from the yips, do so when putting or chipping and it’s an affliction suffered even by famous golfers. The problem for Hoskison was that his yips could affect any shot, so he had no way of knowing when it might occur.

If the members at West Surrey discovered his affliction, it might put his position at the club in jeopardy, so Hoskison decided to keep it quiet. Whether he would be able to do so whilst trying to qualify for The Open was another matter.

Hoskison qualified for The Open but travelled to Southport more in dread than in hope as many of the West Surrey members would be there to support him. To avoid potential embarrassment, he decided the best course of action would be to feign an injury. So, on the eve of The Open, he informed officials that he had a shoulder injury but when trying to withdraw was sent to an on-course physiotherapist who assured him a cortisone injection would enable him to compete.

As Hoskison lay awake that night worrying that the yips might betray him on the 1^st tee and tried to think what he could do as all other remedies had failed. Then he recalled a lesson he’d had as a 13-year-old with the renowned coach, John I Jacobs. When trying to fix a slice. Jacobs told him to concentrate not on his swing but on how he was addressing the ball.

Many golfers of any ability often approach a round with one thought in mind, so did Hoskison when he walked onto the 1^st tee at Royal Birkdale. Whether it was concentrating on that advice many years ago or not, Hoskison was cured of the yips and played all four rounds of the championship, a notable feat for a Club Pro.

Three years later, Hoskison was obliged to play in a Pro Am when recovering from gastric flu. After the round he had a couple of glasses of wine on an empty stomach. Driving home on a country lane he was blinded by the lights of an oncoming car, hit and killed a cyclist.

He was sentenced to four years in prison which would have been more severe but for the fact that the dead man’s family acknowledged that it wasn’t entirely his fault.

Hoskison was sent to Wormwood Scrubs, and it didn’t take him long to realise the gravity of his situation. As he was to write in his book, Inside, he was totally unprepared for life in prison. Every Thursday on visiting day, drugs would be smuggled into the prison and by the Sunday those inmates who failed to pay for their contraband would suffer violent retribution.

Hoskison didn’t tell inmates what his profession had been but increasingly felt he wouldn’t survive inside. One day, he was passing the cell of a lifer and spotted a pile of Golf Illustrated magazines. He decided to tell the inmate what he did in his past life and asked for his help. They reached an agreement whereby the lifer would protect Hoskison and in return Hoskison would give golf tips and talk about golf.

As Hoskison neared the completion of his sentence, he was on day release to give talks to juvenile offenders about what life was really like in prison. One day he was called into the cell of the inmate who controlled the distribution of drugs within Wormwood Scrubs and told that he would make a collection on his way back after his talk. By then Hoskison was so trusted that he was unaccompanied by a prison officer when giving these talks.

Hoskison explained that he wasn’t interested in drugs or prepared to jeopardise his release. He appealed to his friend to intervene on his behalf but was told this was the only inmate he couldn’t influence.

When Hoskison returned from his daily release he was summoned to deliver the package, he said he didn’t have it. The inmate grabbed him by the collar and said that if he discovered Hoskison was lying, he would gut him from his throat to his abdomen.

On release, Hoskison wrote to the family of the dead cyclist to say that a day didn’t go by when he didn’t think of the consequence of his action. They replied that they had long since forgiven him.

Life after prison is never easy and it wasn’t for Hoskison. He was unable to resume any official role in golf because of his prison record. He gave private golf lessons to young players mixing the technical with how golf could give them discipline and purpose.

Hoskison also devoted his life to helping others avoid the mistake he had made. He channelled his energy into speaking to young people, organisations, schools and sports clubs about responsibility, peer pressure and risk. 

His message resonated because it was authentic. It warned without preaching and educated without judgement.

When you think what Hoskison had and then lost with one poor error in judgement, you realise how quickly life can be turned upside down. The choice then is whether the consequences drown you or define you. They defined Hoskison and what is also remarkable is the compassion and forgiveness of the cyclist’s family.

John Hoskison has written two books – No Hiding Place In The Open and Inside, both well worth reading.