JUNIOR golf has always been seen as the key to a brighter future for golf clubs, with more and more courses coming up with innovative ways to attract more youngsters to the game.

And County Durham’s Ramside Hall is uniquely offering two boys and two girls scholarship places in the hope of helping to produce the North-East’s next Graeme Storm or Jodi Ewart-Shadoff.

The scholarship spots will be awarded annually to two boys and two girls, aged 12 to 16, from the area and scholars will receive membership at Ramside, use of its two courses, academy and driving range. There will also be a personalised coaching programme from head PGA professional Kevin Jackson.

The inaugural winners of the scholarships were chosen following an application process and a golf skills testing day. Lewis Reay (Ramside), Duran Gun (George Washington), Gabrielle Dickinson (Houghton-le-Spring) and Kitana Hollins (Ramside Hall) have been notified.

Jackson said: “I’m delighted to welcome Kitana, Lewis, Duran, and Kitana as our first-ever junior golf scholars and I’m excited to help develop them both as golfers and as people. We hope that they will all become positive role models for other young people who are keen to take up this great sport.”

The new scholarship for junior golfers is in honour of former company chairman, the late Michael Adamson MBE. The Michael Adamson Junior Golf Scholarship is a tribute to the legacy of a man who oversaw the development of Ramside’s hotel and country estate into a fantastic golf facility.

Helen Roseberry, director of golf, said: “It is named in honour of my father Michael, who passionately believed in providing opportunity for deserving people in all areas of the Ramside Estates business.

“Our company is rich in stories of people who joined in junior roles, like pot washing and housekeeping, and grew into head chefs and hotel managers. We wanted to do the same with junior golf and provide young people with a springboard to achieve great things in a sport which brings so much pleasure to so many people.”

It is hoped that the growing trend to improve opportunities for the junior sections at golf clubs across the region – and the country – will get more people in to golf as well as help nurture the talented to become an even better player.

And there have been a further three Durham golfers named on the North Region England development squads to train at Matfen Hall over the winter, aiming to take that trio on to a new level.

Eaglescliffe’s talented Will Skipp and Darlington’s Harrison Hodgson are both on the boys’ squad once more alongside two from Northumberland and two from Cumbria.

Westerhope’s William Wilkinson and Hexham’s Joseph Robson are both included, with Carlisle’s Archie Davies and Kendal’s Dominic Barron-Holden.

On the girls squad there will be a Durham presence in the form of Bishop Auckland’s gifted Briony Bayles.

Whitley Bay’s Rosie Belsham and Gosforth Park’s Jessica Baker will represent Northumberland, while the rest of the places are made up of Cumbrians Katie Sibley, Natasha Slater, Caitlin Whitehead and Harriet Barker.

The Regional North England squad has seen four of the boys golfers enrolled on the North of England Futures programme progress to the next level. The North is the only region out of ten in England to boast a Futures programme, so England Golf are looking on with interest.