A NEW initiative aimed at uncovering young golf talent in west Suffolk is to be based at Newton Green Golf Club.Three professionals and a leading amateur will run the nationally funded, part-time scheme from Newton's golf academy.

A NEW initiative aimed at uncovering young golf talent in west Suffolk is to be based at Newton Green Golf Club.

Three professionals and a leading amateur will run the nationally funded, part-time scheme from Newton's golf academy.

Home professional Tim Cooper has been named as lead coach for the initiative run under the auspices of the West Suffolk Golf Partnership.

Bungay and Suffolk Water Park, near Ipswich, will be the other bases for the scheme elsewhere in the county.

Cooper will be assisted by Haverhill assistant Ollie Rush and Suffolk Water Park professional Shane Warren, along with Newton single-handicapper Ian Woodhead, who takes a leading role in Suffolk junior golf and holds a Professional Golfers' Association level one coaching qualification.

The initiative will open with a talent-spotting day for youngsters that have already started the game or are about to take it up. This will be held at Newton on Monday, February 15. Details are available by contacting 01787-313215 or 07771-324752.

Thirty juniors, including those based in Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, will be accepted for the monthly course stretching over six months. Three Newton youngsters, Ben Uttridge, Alice Barlow and Eloise Aldous, have already been pre-selected.

The coaching programme has been drawn up by Ian Woodhead as part of a new national strategy to encourage youngsters to join golf clubs and enhance their skills. The best will move on to the county under-15s squad, which will be managed by Ian from February.