ROBERT Payne is no stranger to golfing success.

In fact, the two are practically best mates.

A NSW amateur title in 2001, selection in the Australian senior team in 2013 and more club, open and pennants trophies in between than his Orange home can possibly accommodate.

So at first glance, his victory in Saturday's stableford competition at his home course of Duntryleague would seem unremarkable.

Until you see his card.

Ten birdies. One eagle.

60 off the stick.

Recorded under competitive conditions, such a score is all-but unheard of, even for a player of the right-hander's calibre.

Payne himself was at a loss to explain the remarkable round.

"I've never, ever played that well," the +2 handicapper said.

"Aside from a couple of poor drives that's as good as I've hit it."

Two mistakes - an errant drive on the par four 13th and a wayward six iron across the water on the par three 17th - led to a pair of bogeys.

Depending upon your perspective, those blemishes either destroyed Payne's chances of joining the elite '59 Club' or make his ten-under card all the more remarkable.

Payne has a foot in each camp.

"It was disappointing to bogey 17. That pretty much took the chance of a 59 away," he said.

"But it was pleasing to put that behind me and birdie 18.

"To play a round like that, and to even have a shot at a 59, is something I'm very proud of."

The 56-year-old was four under through nine holes and eyeing off "maybe five or six under", but three consecutive birdies to start his inward nine launched him to within striking distance of a sub-60 total.

Despite three more birdies and an eagle at the par five 16th, the mistakes off the tees at 13 and 17 proved decisive.

Because the competition was held under the stableford format - where players accumulate points according to their score and handicap on each hole - the round will not supplant the current course record of 62 shared by Payne (set in 2003) and Asian Tour member Steve Conran (1996).

Only stroke rounds played from behind the permanent tee plates, the markers which determine a hole's official distance, are eligible for record consideration.

But given Saturday's blue tees were positioned within a maximum of three metres from those plates, only the stingiest of markers would deny the round's place among the club's best ever.

So where does Payne rank the round in his impressive list of golfing achievements?

"To win a NSW amateur title on your home track is very special, probably the most special achievement," he said.

"And playing pennants with Oatlands is also a great honour.

"But I'll remember and treasure this for a long time."

"THERE has never been a competitive round of 59 recorded in Australia."

With those words Chairman of Golf NSW Chris Allen on Tuesday etched Robert Payne's name in the history books.

Allen was at Duntryleague for the first round of the 2015 Golf NSW Men's Senior Championships, a title Payne was a heavy favourite to take out having carded a phenomenal ten-under par 60 on Saturday at the same venue.

"I can't remember a better score. Rounds of ten under are just about unheard of," Allen said.

"Only the truly elite can claim to have achieved something like that," he added, noting former Australian Amateur champion Tony Gresham's nine-under par 62 on his home course of Pennant Hills as his memory's only rival for the round.

'It's very, very rare."

How rare?

Stuart Appleby is Australia's only member of the USPGA's famous '59 Club' courtesy of his effort at TPC Old White in the 2010 Greenbrier Classic, while Lismore's Rhein Gibson shot an incredible 55 at the River Oaks Golf Club in Oklahoma in 2012.

But Allen believes Payne's performance is without peer in both the game's amateur circles and on Australian soil.

"He's had an amazing career. Metropolitan Majors Pennants with Cronulla, Masters Pennants with Oatlands, as well as wins in Vardon events," he said.

"He's an exceptional golfer and that's an exceptional round."

Duntryleague's Head Professional and Director of Golf John Furze echoed Allen's sentiments.

"It's a remarkable score, an unbelievable score," he said.

"But he's just such a confident golfer. He knows how to manage himself and the course as well as anyone I've seen."

Prior to landing in Orange Furze spent 30 years working with the nation's elite junior talent, as well as eight-year spells as club professional at both Bankstown and Devonport golf clubs.

Since arriving at Duntryleague in 2013 he's been impressed by Payne's abilities.

"Robert's such a consistent player. Most week's he drops off his card with something like three or four under scribbled on it."

"I've seen a lot of great club golfers, as well as plenty of outstanding juniors, but he's up there with the best, somewhere in the top one percent."

Name: Duntryleague

Par: 70

Scratch rating: 71

Distance: 6006 metres

Hole breakdown: twelve par 4s, four par 3s, two par 5s

Slope rating: 122

Score: 60.

Stableford points: 44

Scoring breakdown: one eagle, ten birdies, five pars, two bogeys

Greens in regulation: 15/18

Fairways hits: 12/14

Par 3 greens hit: 3/4

Total putts: 25