Reay clubgolfer the first girl selected for Scottish Golf Academy

FROM THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
Reay Golf Club's Eleanor Tunn has become the first female player in Scotland to progress through the clubgolf programme to reach the Scottish Golf Academy.
Fourteen-year-old Eleanor was selected this month after her first season travelling to competitions beyond Caithness.
“It was a nice surprise because I went to a talent ID day in Stirling with lots of other girls and quite a few were a lot older than me,” said Eleanor, who finished her season on in 47th place on the SLGA Girls Order of Merit, for Scotland’s best under 18 girls.
Surprisingly Eleanor comes from a non-golfing family – neither of her parents plays the game. She started golf aged five, attracted to Reay Golf Club, like so many other children, by its thriving junior coaching on Friday nights. Had the family not moved to Reay from Cumbria when Eleanor was a three year old it is highly likely she would not be playing golf.
When Reay came on board with the national junior programme, clubgolf, in 2004, Eleanor was one of the first children to benefit from the new, structured coaching programme.
One of the Club’s volunteers, Evan Sutherland, became the first amateur coach in Scotland to earn the Level 2 coaching qualification, and has since been through Stage 3 Orientation. With the lack of pro in Caithness he has filled an important gap in the region’s coaching programme.
Eleanor has made impressive progress through Reay’s clubgolf programme since she joined it aged nine. In 2008, her first season proper, she earned a handicap, reducing it to 18 at the close and finished this season with a handicap of 12.
Eleanor is quick to acknowledge her coach’s help. “Evan has been amazing,” she said. “He’s given up a lot of time to do this and he’s always there to help. I only have to call him to ask for help and he’ll meet me at the Club.
“We are always out on the golf course, through the winter, even if it’s cold. I also do after school coaching with Evan in the gym where we put up nets.”
Evan, typically, trumpets the system in place, rather than his own personal involvement, “It is all down to the clubgolf coaching initiative and it proves that the clubgolf system through its various stages has worked both for Eleanor as a player and indeed in the way the coaches have been trained.
"She has been a pleasure to coach throughout the last five years and, although it is impossible to predict how far she can progress at such an early age, she has the talent, drive and determination to do well and this coaching programme will be a huge benefit to her.
"Hopefully it will spur on many of the other juniors we are training through the clubgolf coaching system to reach their own golfing goals.”