MIKE BAKER has made some big noises on the senior circuit since moving to the North-East eight years ago and he would love for those to get even louder over the next ten days.

The Chester-le-Street Golf Club member is originally from Staffordshire, where he regularly got his hands on silverware, but he has made an impact under the Durham Golf Union umbrella since moving north.

That continued towards the back end of last month when he clinched the County Senior Championship by finishing a shot ahead of Wearside’s Alan Sanders, Whitburn’s Geoff Wilkinson and Eaglescliffe’s John Still.

The success means he will be heading to Woodhall Spa along with Durham County winner Richard Aisbitt and Boys’ champion Chris Handy on September 12-13 for the Champion of Champions weekend. That follows on from his scheduled outing for the Durham Seniors’ in the Big Six on Tuesday at Castle Eden.

“The thing with senior golf is that there is not an awful lot to win so it feels great when you do,” said Baker, who originally hails from Wolverhampton but moved up to Durham in 2007.

“There are national championships you can play in and I have been abroad quite a lot to play in different things. Winning this now means I am off to Woodhall Spa and that is a really nice bonus as a reward.

“There are 30 counties all sending the champions there. That’s a good part of winning the Durham Seniors, so hopefully we can all go from the county, enjoy it and do well.”

Baker has finished runner-up twice before in the Durham Seniors Championship in 2008 and 2013 at South Moor and Castle Eden respectively. “Yeah I suppose it is third time lucky in many respects,” he said.

But success around the greens is not something new to the retired 62-year-old, who used to work in the private health care business. During his days in Staffordshire he won the Oxley Park club championship on no fewer than eight occasions and was the county champion too.

Back in 2012 he also won the Northern Seniors Championship at Darlington, but that did not prevent the taste of glory from feeling sweet at Whitburn, where the Durham Seniors Championship had to be switched when the scheduled date had to be abandoned because of an electrical storm.

Baker, a three handicapper who used to be off scratch, said: “I played steady. I birdied the third and the ninth, so went out in two under and came back two over and finished level. There were some good scores as well so it was nice to finish ahead of them.

“At South Moor we had really bad lightening, where hailstones damaged people’s cars. We were playing in very scary and dangerous conditions so it got cancelled and we played it again.

“I wouldn’t have been bothered either way because I was a few over after nine in bad conditions at South Moor so things were going reasonably well there. But they were the worst conditions I have been in.

“At Whitburn the conditions were more favourable and the greens were receptive. That was why the scores were quite good.

“I have played a lot of senior golf in Durham for the last seven years, playing for the county and it will be nice to go to the Big Six at Castle Eden next week and compete on our own patch.

“We will be up against it because Lancashire and Cheshire are strong. We will try our best to do well for the county on a Durham course.”