Well done to Ryan Turnbull, a 12 year old member of Cretingham Golf Club, on winning the 14th East Anglian Under 12 Junior Championship at Stonham Barns. This was Ryan's 2nd win in three years, having won in a play off in 2012. His score was a 65 was very good in the breezy conditions and was good enough to win by a fantastic margin of 16 shots. After a first 9 nine of 33 he birdied the 10th hole on his way to a back nine of 32.

The Under 10 Age Category was won by Rio Everitt, a 10 year member of Stowmarket Golf Club. Rio, who was one of three girls playing, has been a regular competitor at Stonham over the years.

The Under 8 Age category was won by Henry Meadows, an 8 year old from Fynn Valley Golf Club, who scored an 80, which was in addition the second best score on the day.

There were two entries in the Under 6 Age Category which was won by Finlay Brock, a 5 year old member of Ufford Park Golf Club with 6 year old Ryan Daley from Stonham Barns playing his first junior event in 2nd place.

This junior event in its 15th year has always attracted juniors from all over the region and even been featured on a Channel 4 TV programme. This year juniors from 13 different Suffolk Golf Clubs were playing and it was great to see a regular supporter of these events over the years come away with the Trophy for a second time.

The junior events at Stonham Barns are an ideal introduction to competitive golf for many of the youngsters as its played in a relaxed friendly environment and its always great to see the juniors enjoying their golf even when its not been their best day.

The next junior event at Stonham Barns will be the UK Kids Qualifier on Sunday 27th July. For more details see the website or call on 01449 711545.

Pele Haydon won the June UK Ranking FootGolf Tournament at Stonham Barns Golf Centre on Sunday 15th June, smashing his own course record with a score of 6 under par, 52. This was his third straight win at Stonham Barns after winning the April and May tournaments. Pele had eight birdies helped by a back nine of five under par. His score bettered his own previous course record by 6 shots.

In second place was Danny Whitehouse, 5 shots back with a score of one under par 57 and in third was Ian Heydon, Pele’s father, with a score of 58.

The event attracted over 40 footgolf players from around the region and included over 32 men, 6 ladies and 2 juniors. This was one of six UK FootGolf ranking events that are being held on the scenic Stonham Barns 9 hole course this year. Full details of other ranking tournaments around the UK can be found at www.ukfootgolf.com.

Pele, who is now leading the National UK rankings, is bidding to remain in the top spot at the start of September as the leader will win a trip to New York to represent the UK and compete in the US FootGolf Open later that month.

Footgolf is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK and combines two great sports, golf and football. The game is played on a golf course to larger holes (21” diameter cups) with a size 5 football. Players then play around the course kicking the football using rules largely based on the rules of golf.

Stonham Barns has achieved fantastic success this year by opening their golf course to both golf and footgolf players. Tony Dobson, the PGA professional and owner of Stonham Barns Golf Centre, has been amazed by bookings for footgolf and said “We opened the FootGolf course at the end of last year and this year we have had over 600 players go round the footgolf course with more bookings already for July and August. I think the numbers have been boosted by the World Cup as we have been particularly busy in the last couple of weeks.”

The next FootGolf UK Ranking event at Stonham Barns will be on Sunday 20th July.  This event is open to anyone, men, ladies and juniors and there are prizes for all the categories. All footballs and equipment is provided. To enter contact Tony Dobson at Stonham Barns on 01449 711545 or email [email protected]. For more information on FootGolf at Stonham Barns go to www.stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk/footgolf.