Burhill Golf & Leisure’s reputation for junior coaching has been further enhanced after two of its venues were selected as coaching centres by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Golf Partnership.

Abbey Hill Golf Centre, Milton Keynes, and Wycombe Heights Golf Centre, Loudwater, have been chosen by BB&O to be its official coaching centres for the Buckinghamshire region to coach the next generation of county golfers.

The two centres were chosen due to their hard work and dedication in developing junior golfers, with both working towards achieving an English Golf Union Golfmark award.

Golfmark is a national scheme that identifies and recognises junior and beginner-friendly golf facilities, with centres being assed on three key areas – coaching and playing, club environment and child protection and duty of care.

Justine Lawrence, BB&O’s development officer, said: “BB&O Golf Partnership received £30,000 funding from Sport England to develop golfers in the three counties. We had to go out and select venues and coaches where training can be carried out. We have set criteria to find Golfmark venues or clubs working towards Golfmark – Abbey Hill and Wycombe Heights ticked all the right boxes.”

Two coaches from each centre – Chris Reeve at Wycombe Heights and David Armor from Abbey Hill – will join coaches from the other selected centres in the BB&O area, on a coaching development course where they will be trained in all the areas BB&O want the skilled juniors to be coached in.

Colin Mayes, Burhill Golf & Leisure chief executive, said: “Burhill Golf & Leisure has a great reputation for junior coaching and to have two centres chosen to coach the county golfers of the future is recognition for commitment to the development of the game.”

BB&O held four open coaching and recruitment days across the region and from there have selected 200 children aged nine to 16. This number will be whittled down to 180 who will take part in the coaching programme.

Those children selected will be expected to meet the requirements of the programme and commit to a year of coaching.

“There will be six half-day sessions and in each session there will be technical skills such as swing and short game lessons. We will also look to get the youngsters into the competitive frame of mind by putting all they’ve learnt to the test. There will also be classroom sessions on psychology and lifestyle,” added Lawrence.