“Santa played a round of golf on Christmas day and hit a birdie. It was a partridge on a par three”

A Christmas joke of the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” changes the line “partridge in a pear tree” to a golfing version of “a partridge on a par 3.” “A partridge on a par three” has been printed on many images.
       
“A partridge on a par three” was printed in the Atlanta (GA) Constitution on January 29, 1968. A week later, the joke was condensed in the syndicated “The Old-Timer Says” column:
       
“On the 15-yard sixth hole of a Texas golf course, a quail ran across the fairway an the green. ‘Look,’ exclaimed one of the foursome, ‘a partridge on a par three.’”
   
       
Wikipedia: The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)
“The Twelve Days of Christmas” is an English Christmas carol that enumerates in the manner of a cumulative song a series of increasingly numerous gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas (the twelve days that make up the Christmas season, starting with Christmas Day). The song, published in England in 1780 without music as a chant or rhyme, is thought to be French in origin. “The Twelve Days of Christmas” has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 68. The tunes of collected versions vary. The standard tune now associated with it is derived from a 1909 arrangement of a traditional folk melody by English composer Frederic Austin, who introduced the familiar prolongation of the verse “five gold rings” (now often “five golden rings”).
     
Newspapers.com
29 January 1968, Atlanta (GA) Constitution, “Car Takes Him To Cleaners” by Leo Aikman, pg. 4, col. 5:
THE BIRD: According to Franz W. Zeiske, Belleville, Texas, publisher, whom I once met at the TPA, on the 150-yard sixth hole of the golf course at Bellville, a quail ran across the fairway and the green.
 
“Look,” exclaimed one of the foursome, “a partridge on a par three.”
       
Newspapers.com
6 February 1968, Burlington (VT) Free Press, “The Old-Timer Says,” pg. 12, col. 2:
On the 15-yard sixth hole of a Texas golf course, a quail ran across the fairway an the green. “Look,” exclaimed one of the foursome, “a partridge on a par three.”
 
Google Books
August 1968, Field & Stream, pg. 154, col. 1:
When I mentioned this to Dick Kirkpatrick,  executive editor of National Wildlife, he said that while playing on a course near Milwaukee with Mr. Clancy Stroke he had sliced a tee shot into a patch of woods while playing a short hole, and when a ruffed grouse flew out of the copse, no doubt flushed by the ball, Clancy had observed that it was the first time he had ever seen a partridge on a par three.
 
Newspapers.com
11 September 1972, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), “A chance to be enshrined in the punsters Hall of Fame” by Joe Creason, pg. B-1, col. 4:
Sam Jarvis, Louisville: A golfer was playing a short hole and his drive sailed into the rough and flushed up a quail nesting in the grass. It was, he said, the first time he’d seen a partridge on a par three.
 
Google Books
The Reader’s Digest
Volume 102
1973
Pg. 99:
WHILE playing a short hole, a golfer hit his drive into the rough, where it flushed up a quail. It was, he allowed, the first time he’d seen a partridge on a par three.
—Sam Jarvis, quoted by Joe Creason in Louisville Courier-Journal
     
Google Books
Nothing But Winners:
Over 6,000 One-liners, Alphabetized and Categorized for Easy Reference
By Pat Williams and Ken Hussar
Wilmington, DE: TriMark Publishing Company
1984
Pg. 217:
“He drove the ball into the rough, flushing out a quail. His partner mused, “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a partridge on a par three.”
 
Google Groups: alt.humor.puns     
Christmas golf humor
David Seppala
Dec 10, 1997, 3:00:00 AM
Did you hear about the golfer whose drive on one of the short fairways actually hit a ruffed grouse? It was the first time anyone got a partridge on a par three!
 
Google Groups: alt.humor.puns
Christmas Golf Pun
David Seppala
Jan 4, 1998, 3:00:00 AM
Did you hear about the golfer whose drive hit a ruffed grouse on a short fairway?
It was the first time anyone got a partridge on a par three!
 
Google Groups: alt.humor.puns
Kids Puns of the Weak 11-09-04
Stan Kegel
Nov 9, 2004, 2:36:19 PM
(...)
Did you hear about the guy who played golf on Christmas and accidentally hit a bird?
He got a partridge on a par three. (Lederer & Ertner)
   
Twitter
PuterPrsn™
@PuterPrsn
Then there was the guy who played golf on Christmas and accidentally hit a bird - He got a partridge on a par three. #pun
10:21 PM · Jul 6, 2009·Twitter Web Client
   
Twitter
FizzyDuck
@FizzyDuck
Did you hear about the guy who played golf at Christmas and accidentally hit a bird? He got a partridge on a par three.
3:17 PM · Aug 9, 2009·Twitter Web Client
 
Twitter
Blair Minton
@BMAMan
RT @DailyGroaner Q: Did you hear about the guy who played #golf on Christmas and accidentally hit a bird? A: He got a partridge on a par 3.
3:49 PM · Dec 21, 2009·Twitter Web Client
     
Google Books
Jokes and Puns
By Ronn Foster
New York, NY: Page Publishing, Inc.
2015
Pg. ?:
A friend of mine drove the ball into the rough, flushing out a quail. I told him, “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a partridge on a par three.”
 
Reddit—Jokes
Posted by u/VERBERD December 26, 2020
Santa played a round of golf on Christmas day to relax and hit a birdie….
It was a partridge on a par 3.