The Cleobury Mortimer (CMGC) scratch team started their 2012 campaign with a resounding 6-2 home win over North Warwickshire. Captain Dean Carpenter once again had full strength team at his disposal as they look to secure their third promotion in a row. Josh Carpenter, Tom Wright, Matt Broad, Jack Pringle and Ryan Taylor all won whilst Sam Pain recorded the biggest win with a 7 & 5 victory.

Once victory was confirmed captain Carpenter had this to say,"Our target is once again promotion for the coming season, some key players will be away at various points over the season so it is really going to show the strength and depth of the squad". Pictured back from left - Captain Dean Carpenter, John Brazier, Ryan Taylor, Matt Broad, Sam Pain, Jack Pringle and front left - Josh Carpenter, Tom Wright

Sam Pain from Cleobury Mortimer (CMGC) has secured a two month summer placement in Switzerland.

Sam will be working at Schoneberg golf and country club one of the most prestigious clubs in Switzerland and hosts of the Swiss amateur championships this summer.

Sam has been lucky enough to qualify and cannot wait to go out there "It is a great opportunity for me to further enhance my career, the experience with be amazing being part of such a prestigious Swiss golf club".

Worcestershire’s Ciara Kelly played the round of her life, scoring eight under her handicap, to win the Abraham Trophy and claim the title of England’s most improved girl golfer at Mentmore, Buckinghamshire. The 14-year-old from Hagley shot one-under par gross 71, net 64, to win the handicap competition by four shots from Hannah Screen of Berkhamsted. They were among 20 girls from all over the country who qualified for the final of the competition on the basis of handicap reduction. Ciara reduced from 21 to nine to qualify and has since come down further to seven. Now, she expects to be 5.6 – and within in a whisker of achieving h er season’s ambition of a five handicap.

“I just can’t believe I have shot that score,” said Ciara, as she celebrated her biggest-ever win and her lowest-ever score. “I had thought that I would be happy if I played to my handicap, but it went a bit better than that. I did get a bit nervous but I tried to keep it together and not get ahead of myself, I just tried to play one shot at a time.”

It was the first time she had broken par and she started in style, with two birdies in the first three holes, and finished in style, with birdies on the last two holes. She also had a birdie on the 11th, and dropped shots on only three holes, with two bogeys and a double.Ciara’s score equals the ladies course record but will not stand – because she was playing a longer layout! The course has been set up for the English U15 and U13 girls’ championships, which start tomorrow and the youngsters are using a number of men’s yellow tees. Ciara will be playing in t he U15 event.

One of Shropshire’s leading golf centres has received a top of the range revamp thanks to the sport’s number one ball fitter. Hawkstone Park (Click Here to visit their Golf NOW webpage) in Weston-under-Redcastle in Shrewsbury has clubbed together with Japanese manufacturer Bridgestone Golf to transform its 14-bay practice range and provide 7,500 high quality range balls. This is part of a sponsorship deal which sees the club benefit from Bridgestone’s drive to branch into the UK market via their main distribution centre in Market Drayton. And according to Hawkstone Park’s head professional Frank Kiddie (pictured), the improvements have already made the cut with visitors. He said: “The makeover has really smartened the place up and being associated with one of the most reputable names in golf has given it a more professional feel. Lots of people have commented on how good the range looks and we have noticed a significant rise in the number of people using the facilities. It is very much a word of mouth process and you can see that word is spreading as we are getting a lot more people, particularly golfers of a good standard coming here to take advantage.This is the case because using a higher quality of ball on the range gives you a more realistic representation of how you are hitting the ball. This is opposed to the traditional low quality range balls which typically take 15 to 20 per cent off your strike. As well as this we also do quite a lot with Bridgestone in the club shop and it is proving to be a positive relationship for both of us.”

Leicestershire club golfers Pat Hewitt and Jean Dawson have won through to the national final of EWGA’s Australian Spoons competition. The pair, from Willesley Park Golf Club, scored 39 points at the Midlands North regional final, held at Oxley Park in Staffordshire. They were four points clear of their closest challengers and will represent Midlands North at the national final at Thorndon Park, Essex, on Friday 16 September. They will be the overnight guests of EWGA and wi ll take on pairs from the other five regions as they bid to win a pair of silver spoons, originally given by the Australian Ladies’ Golf Union. The Australian Spoons is a stableford foursomes competition for players with handicaps of 21 and over. The pair who return the best score at each club are eligible for one of six regional finals. Midlands North region is made up of the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire.

Ludlow's (click here to Visit Ludlow's Golf NOW webpage) Anna Smith won her first County Golf Championship title in May, held over her home course in extremely windy conditions. She beat Worfield's Helen White on the 20th hole with a birdie 4. Anna had beaten County Vice Captain, Ros Moor from Bridgnorth GC 3/2 in the quarter-finals before beating last years runner up, Oswestry's Vicky Bradbeer in the semis by 3/2, reports Sue Pidegon.

Helen the leading qualifier, had beaten Church Stretton's, Hilary Fowles 4/2 and then Wrekin's Ros Duddell 2/1 to make her way to the final. Throughout the final there had been very little between the two players, Anna had the advantage of a 1 up lead going up the 18th. but a superb chip and putt from Helen took the players down the 19th. hole, there Anna had a birdie putt for the championship which failed to drop but ensured the 20 footer on the 20th. hole made the cup to secure the title. Our picture shows the finalists - Anna in red and Helen in blue

Warwickshire golfers Ann Bache and teenager Lauren Taylor (photo courtesy of Leaderboard Photography) have played their way into the record books with three stunning holes-in-one. Ann, a member at Edgbaston, bagged two of them in the course of one round. Meanwhile Lauren, an England girl international, had an ace when making her debut appearance on the Ladies’ European Tour.

Ann, a 21-handicapper, was playing in the Edgbaston qualifying round of the PING Fourball Betterball Tournament when she aced the 139-yard 3rd hole and followed up with another on the 119-yard 7th. Ann plays with PING clubs and used a six iron for the first hole-in-one and a seven iron for the second. England girl international Lauren Taylor, who lives in Rugby, made a memorable debut on the Ladies European Tour in the Allianz Ladies Slovak Open at Gray Bear Golf Club. Former England international Rachel Jennings of Staffordshire led for the first two rounds and eventually finished third for her best result so far in her rookie year. The championship, which was reduced to 54-holes because of bad weather, was won by Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall.

A Midland PGA professional who has carved out a niche coaching disabled youngsters has won a prestigious national award. Craig Thomas was presented with the Burroughs Award by Ryder Cup winning captain Colin Montgomerie at the Golf Foundation’s annual ceremony on the eve of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. The accolade recognises his efforts to create opportunities for those with special needs and it caps a remarkable 12 months for the 30-year-old who has set up The Golf Academy at Essington, Wolverhampton, with two fellow PGA professionals – Danielle Wilkinson and Craig Fletcher – aimed at breaking down barriers in golf. “Having spent a lot of time as a child with my grandmother who worked in day centres and being around people with special needs I decided this was an area I would like to focus on," he said.

Thomas spent several months visiting disability awareness groups covering a range of special needs and then embarked on some golf specific training. He worked closely with the Staffordshire Sports Partnership and Mark Fosbrook, the disability awareness officer, who took Thomas under his wing.He also became a volunteer on three of the county’s disability groups ensuring that golf was represented for the first time and through the Staffordshire County Golf Partnership established a programme through five primary and secondary schools using Tri Golf and X-Treme culminating in a festival at Two Rivers School in Tamworth.

The children he works with have a range of disabilities and conditions including visual, hearing, autistic, behavioural and physical limitations but while Thomas admits it has been a challenge he also insists it is the most rewarding thing he has done in golf. “It was a shock as I’ve only been involved in this area for a short time. I didn’t do this to get awards, it was to make a difference but as a young pro you aspire to get recognition for what you do but only a few are lucky enough to get recognition so I’m very honoured.”

Thomas has also turned his attention to the Special Olympics having obtained some funding from the Golf Foundation.It’s all a far cry from his early ambition to be the next Tiger Woods but the 30-year-old, who was former head professional at The Chase Golf Club, wouldn’t swap places having found his calling.

An aspiring PGA professional will leave the text books behind this year as he aims to line up a third, and last Powerade PGA Assistants' Championship final appearance, at the Midlands qualifier to be held at Henley in Arden. Andrew Jones (pictured) of Stonebridge Golf Club, who has just completed his three year PGA foundation degree, has set his sights high for the year with a trip to Tour School at the end of the year to try and win a place on the European Tour.

Players from the Midlands Region will be aiming to qualify for the £30,000 final which is again being held at East Sussex National from August 10-12. Also teeing off at Henley are, Steven Whittle (Leicestershire Golf Club), Paul Wilding (Halesowen), Alec Smith (Trentham Park), Ben Smith (Henley), Adam Reaney (Shropshire Golf Club), Shane Naisbett (Chesterfield) and David Hind (Mickleover).

The championship, the oldest on the national schedule having been first played for in 1930, has been won by some of the biggest names in British golf including two-time major champion and Ryder Cup-winning captain Tony Jacklin, Peter Allis, Harry Weetma and Dai Rees.

One of Shropshire’s top golf centres is looking to help golfers stretch their time and make the most of their membership. Hawkstone Park in Weston-under-Redcastle, Shrewsbury, is offering a new Flexible membership that is the perfect fit for today’s golfers who have busy professional and personal lives but still want to make time for the sport.

The Flexible membership allows golfers access to seven day golf through a credit system so that you can play when it is convenient and have all the benefits that members enjoy. It entitles members to play the Hawkstone Course and the renowned Championship Course designed by former Ryder Cup captain Brian Huggett. For more information please click here to visit Hawkstone's Golf NOW webpage.