[C]arus Green Golf Club has held its end-of-year junior championship, with two worthy young winners taking the 2017 trophies! 10-year-old Lucy Taylor from Windermere was declared the winner in the girls’ section and 7-year-old Alex Baird from Kendal, in the boys. Runner-up in the girls was 9-year-old defending champion, Chloé Spencer, and in the boys, Max Wilson, with a special prize handed to Luke Askew for ‘shot of the day’.
Despite extremely chilly conditions, 16 youngsters turned out for Saturday’s ‘junior roll-up’, with on-site PGA Professionals, Dave Turner, Andrew Pickering and Lee Edwards, pushing the children through their paces on the driving range, in the simulator room and with their putting. And it was their putting skills that both Lucy and Alex believe gave them ‘the edge’.
At the beginning of this year, Carus Green announced their on-going commitment to the junior development programme, with free membership for youngsters with at least one parent already a member at the club, evening tuition and Saturday competitions for junior intermediate players. The junior initiative was started in 2009 by Carus PGA professional, Andrew Pickering, in an attempt to introduce local children to the game. At that time, just three children turned up for the first junior competition. Today, more than 25 youngsters regularly compete each Saturday, with more than 40 children now making up the club’s junior section.
“This year saw the 7th Anniversary of the Saturday junior roll-up and since then, we have seen youngsters progress from novices to County Champions and beyond!” said Dave. “Our weekly competitions for youngsters have really gathered pace this year with more and more attendees to these sessions. We’re extremely proud to have hosted these now for 364 consecutive Saturday’s.”
“The progression of the ‘junior drive’ at Carus is important to us all here and we are thrilled that so many local youngsters are choosing to hone their skills with us,” added Andrew Pickering. “We congratulate Lucy and Alex for their hard work and performance. Both regular attendees of the junior sessions, their year-long efforts have paid off today.”
