Henry Meadows, an 11-year-old from Bury St Edmunds Golf Club, won the 2017 East Anglian Under 12 Junior Golf Championship which was held at Stonham Barns on Sunday 25th June. His score of 62 (+4 over par) was good enough for a 3 shot win over last year’s champion Charlie Goodridge. The pair played together and reversed the positions from the 2016 Championship. This was Henry’s second win in the last two years and he is still eligible to make it three next year.
The Under 10 Age Category was won by Ryan Daley, a 9-year-old from Stonham Barns and the Under 8 Age Category was won by 7-Year-Old Isaac Vesey. It was great to have five players in the Under 8 category.
Well done to all the players, some of which had not played any competitive golf before and it was great to see them complete 18 holes of golf.
This this event was held using the Big HOLE Golf concept where the holes are 8" instead of the regular holes of 4.25". Stonham Barns was the first course in the UK to convert to this new size of hole. This idea of Big HOLE Golf is to Make Golf More Fun - Have Fewer Putts - Make Golf Quicker and the juniors really enjoyed the larger holes. There were some chip ins and some great long putts holed. For more info visit the website www.bigholegolf.com
The East Anglian Under 12 Junior Golf Championship was established by Tony Dobson, the PGA Professional at Stonham Barns and has been played every year since 2001. The event, which was featured on a Channel 4 documentary in 2008, has produced some great champions and given many others the chance to enjoy playing some competitive golf at a young age in a relaxed, friendly environment.
For more information on other junior golf tournaments and junior coaching available at Stonham Barns Golf visit their website www.stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk.

PHOTOS OF SOME OF PLAYERS

Footgolfer Owen Peck, who last year became UK FootGolf National Junior Tour Champion at age 16, scored a marvellous 8 under par score of 50 to take Suffolk Open title at Stonham Barns by one shot from Pele Heydon. Owen was one behind Pele, the pre-tournament favourite, after 9 holes but a birdie on the 10th and a bogey by Pele gave 17-year-old the lead which he never relinquished.

Ian Plumb was in 3rd place with a score of 52 with Neil Donohoe and Ben Bedford tied 4th two shots further back.  The Under 18 Trophy was won by Tom Scott with a very good score of 61 and the Under 15 Trophy was won by Charlie Tranter a great score of 60. The Ladies title was won by Eve Humphries.

Stonham Barns Golf hosts eight tournaments every year. These tournaments are aimed to be fun as well as competitive and are open to anyone no matter what experience they have. There are prizes for men, ladies and juniors but it’s also important to come along and have a game with friends or family in a relaxed environment.

The next footgolf event will be held on Sunday 23rd July at 2.00pm. Play will be over 18 holes and everyone is welcome. The entry is £10 for adults and £5 for juniors. To enter call Stonham Barns Footgolf on 01449 711545 or visit their website www.stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk

For a casual game, the Stonham Barns Footgolf Course is open every day 9am – 5.00pm and welcomes groups, families and teams and has special packages for parties of 8 or more.

Footgolfer Pele Heydon dominated the first footgolf tournament of the year at Stonham Barns Footgolf. With 7 birdies and an eagle of the 2,640 course he achieved a nine under par score of 49. Pele was delighted with his win and said he hopes to play in more of the Stonham Barns tournaments as well as some regional and national events
 
In 2nd place was Daren Wheat with a score of 52 (-6 under par) and one shot further back was Ian Plumb who scored a 53 (-5 under par). The junior prize was won by 13 year old Bailey Rosier who scored an impressive 58 (level par) with Charlie Tranter in second with a score of 61 (+3 over par). Charlie’s score was helped by an amazing hole in one on his 10th hole.
 
For full results see... Footgolf 2nd April Results

This event was the first of eight monthly tournaments at the Stonham Barns Footgolf Course. These tournaments are aimed to be fun as well as competitive and are open to anyone no matter what experience they have. There are prizes for men, ladies and juniors but it’s also important to come along and have a game with friends or family in a relaxed environment.
 
The next footgolf event will be held on Sunday 24th April at 2.00pm. Play will be over 18 holes and everyone is welcome to come along and play, men, ladies, families and juniors. The entry is £10 for adults and £5 for juniors. For more info see page Stonham FootGolf Tournaments
 
Tournament Dates for 2017 
Sunday 24th April - 2pm
Sunday 21st May - 2pm
Sunday 18th June -2pm -  Suffolk Open FootGolf Championship
Sunday 23rd July - 2pm
Sunday 20th August - 2pm
Sunday 17th Sept - 2pm
Sunday 30th Oct - 2pm - Stonham Players FootGolf Championship
 
Footgolf has really taken off in the UK and it’s now the fastest growing sport in the country with over 200 clubs now open for footgolf.  The Suffolk footgolf course at Stonham Barns was one of the first to open in 2013 and they have been amazed by the popularity of the sport and last year had over 5,000 people playing footgolf around the course including a number of past Ipswich Town stars, John Wark, Russell Osman and Kieron Dyer who all really enjoyed their games.
 
About FootGolf
FootGolf is a combination of the popular sports of soccer and golf. The game is played with a regulation #5 football at a golf course facility on shortened holes with 21-inch diameter cups.  The rules largely correspond to the rules of golf. FootGolf as a game is played throughout the world in many different forms, but as a sport it is regulated by the Federation for International FootGolf (FIFG) and by UK Footgolf (UKFG) in the UK.

Stonham Barns run eight junior tournaments every year with the aim of giving youngsters the opportunity to experience competitive golf in a relaxed and friendly environment.
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The events are open to any youngster, girls and boys aged between 4 and 15, whatever their standard or ability.The events are usually the last Sunday of each month from April to November and include the Stonham Junior Flag Tournament in May, the East Anglian Under 12 Junior Golf Championship in June and the Stonham Barns Players Championship in November. These events will require entry in advance. All the other events juniors can just turn up on the day any play 9 holes anytime between 10am and 1pm. There are prizes for all the different age categories, Under 8, Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15.

About Stonham Barns Golf
Stonham Barns Golf has been running a junior programme for all ages since 1997 with weekly coaching sessions and eight junior tournaments each year. We have seen thousands of juniors start their golf here and some have done on to achieve great things with their golf including a number of England Internationals. However, their main target is to get the youngsters playing golf and enjoying it.

Tony Dobson, PGA Professional, who runs the Junior Academy at Stonham Barns says his aim is to encourage more junior golfers get started playing golf says "We have worked with Suffolk Golf as a Junior Golf Training Centre to make golf accessible to more youngsters. The number of juniors starting golf has been on the decline over the last few years and with initiatives we aim to encourage all ages to come and long and have a go".

The Stonham Barns Course features Big HOLE Golf which is designed to make golf quicker, more fun and less putts. The holes are 8” wide, almost twice as large as a regular golf hole and Stonham Barns was the first course in the UK to move over to having Big HOLE Golf in play all the time. More information on Big HOLE Golf can be found on the website www.bigholegolf.co.uk.

Stonham Barns Golf has achieved the England Golf RangeMark Accreditation and it’s a Golf Foundation GOLF ROOTS Centre and therefore is an ideal place for the juniors to experience playing golf in a safe friendly environment.

Junior Tournament Dates 2017
Sunday 30th April 2017          Stonham Barns Junior Tournament
9 Hole Medal Play / Ages 4-15 / Entry Fee £7.00 / No Booking Required 
Play anytime from 10.00am to 1.00pm / Prize Giving 2.30pm

Sunday 28th May 2017           Stonham Junior Flag Tournament 
9 Hole Junior Flag Competition / Ages 4-15 / Entry Fee £10.00 / Entries Required. 
Online Entry at www.stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk/online-junior-event-entry-form.html
Or call / email to enter Tel : 01449 711545 or E-Mail tony@stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk

Sunday 25th June 2017           East Anglian Junior Under 12' Championship
18 Hole Medal Play / Ages 4-12 / Entry Fee £10.00 / Entries Required.  
Online Entry at www.stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk/online-junior-event-entry-form.html
Or call / email to enter Tel : 01449 711545 or E-Mail tony@stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk

Sunday 30th July 2017            Stonham Barns Junior Tournament
9 Hole Medal Play / Ages 4-15 / Entry Fee £7.00 / No booking required.  
Play anytime from 10.00am to 1.00pm / Prize Giving 2.30pm

Sunday 27th August 2017       Stonham Barns Junior Tournament
9 Hole Medal Play / Ages 4-15 / Entry Fee £7.00 / No booking required.  
Play anytime from 10.00am to 1.00pm / Prize Giving 2.30pm

Sunday 24th Sept 2017            Stonham Barns Junior Tournament
9 Hole Medal Play / Ages 4-15 / Entry Fee £7.00 / No booking required. 
Play anytime from 10.00am to 1.00pm / Prize Giving 2.30pm

Sunday 29th October 2017      Stonham Barns Junior Tournament
9 Hole Medal Play / Ages 4-15 / Entry Fee £7.00 / No booking required. 
Play from 10.00am to 1.00pm / Prize Giving 2.30pm

Sunday 26th Nov 2017             Stonham Barns Junior Players Championship
9 Hole Medal Play / Ages 4-15 / Entry Fee 10.00
Entries Required from players that have played in 2017
Online Entry at www.stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk/online-junior-event-entry-form.html
Or call / email to enter Tel : 01449 711545 or E-Mail tony@stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk

David Harper from Essex claimed the 2016 Stonham FootGolf Players Championship in style with a 51, 7 under par. After 9 holes Pele Hayden was leading by two shots but a 5 under par back nine secured the title for David.

There was a tie for 2nd place between Darren Wheat and Pele Hayden with scores of 53 (5 under par). However as Darren has the better back nine, 6 under par 23, he took 2nd place and Pele was 3rd.

Stonham Barns Footgolf organises at least six footgolf events each year including the Suffolk Open Footgolf Championship. These events are open to everyone and aim to give players a taste of competitive footgolf and some players go on to play in regional and national footgolf tournaments.

Footgolf has become the fastest growing sport in the UK and there are now over 200 courses. It’s a game everyone can play and is great fun and an ideal game for groups, corporate events, teams and families. The course at Stonham Barns in Suffolk was one of the first courses in the UK when it opened in 2014 and now it has thousands of footgolf players visit the course each year. The course is open every day for footgolf and for more information or to book a game you can visit their website www.stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk. 

See Full scores ....

Sawyer Osborn, an 11 year old from Lakenheath Golf Club won the Stonham Barns October Junior Golf Tournament with a record best score of 28, that’s one under par. Sawyer is a regular at the Stonham Barns Junior events and this amazing round was 4 shots better than his previous best round. 

With the calm conditions a number of players had their best ever rounds. Stonham Barns player and the Under 15 winner, Adam Scott scored a 33, (4 over par), which was 5 shots better that his previous best round! 10 year old Sophie Kubitzek, the Under 10 winner equalled her best score of 32 and her 8 year old brother Sebastian Kubitzek scored his best score of 32.  Both of them are members of Bury St Edmunds Golf Club.

This junior golf event was played using larger 8’ golf holes and Stonham Barns Golf is actively promoting Big HOLE Golf which was developed by Murray Blair in Australia. The concept is now becoming popular all over the world as a way of getting increased participation into golf – QUICKER ROUNDS – MAKES GOLF FUN – HAVE LESS PUTTS. For more information on Big HOLE Golf kits contact Stonham Barns Golf on 01449 711545 or visit their website page www.stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk/big-hole-golf.