Letters’ Academy Director Wins Junior Coach of the Year

John Letters of Scotland, the equipment brand with 93 years of clubmaking history, is celebrating after Academy Director, Tom Denby, was crowned Junior Coach of the Year at the prestigious 2011 Pro Shop Europe Awards.

The award ceremony, the ‘Oscars’ of the golf industry, was held at Wentworth Golf Club on 17th November by leading golf trade Publication, Pro Shop Europe and recognised the key people, businesses and brands from UK Golf industry.

After receiving his award from Ryder Cup legend, Paul Way, a delighted Denby, commented: “To win this award is a great moment for me and my team. It is great recognition for the hard work that we have, and still are, putting into making the game of golf more recognised and accessible to children from all walks of life.”

PGA professional Denby heads up the John Letters Academy and the four Academy sites at Huddersfield (stadium), Cambridge, Solihull and Walsall. Denby and his team, with the help of John Letters Managing Director John Andrew, have been instrumental in a number of initiatives to grow the game of golf in the UK and make it far more accessible for children of all ages and abilities.
Just one of these many initiatives is Golf Factor, the junior golf talent competition with the goal of identifying golf talent in UK and assisting them to become the best they can be in the sport.
In its third year, Golf Factor events are held at each of John Letters Golf Academies in East Anglia, Yorkshire, Merseyside and the Midlands. The competition is open to all junior golfers aged 8-16 not matter what their level of playing experience: beginner, improver or advanced player and has attracted hundreds of children to the game.

And it was from this initiative that Tom was nominated for ‘Junior Coach of the Year’ as Alan Robinson, father of Alex Robinson, a runner up and winner in Golf Factor put Tom’s name forward for the award. Since then, Tom has continued to work with Alex and sister, Kimberley and Alex is now part of the John Letters Elite Squad following the support, guidance and coaching received from the Letters Academy.

Based at John Letters Huddersfield Academy, Denby and his team also deliver a fantastic Tri Golf programme into over 50 schools in the region; The ‘blue print’ providing a great bench mark and case study to roll-out the programme to all the other Letters Academies across the UK.

In addition, one of the most rewarding projects that Academy undertakes is working with disadvantaged children and children from very deprived back grounds, many of whom are youth offenders. Using Golf, Denby and his team have really helped these children to channel the aggression and hatred they have into something more rewarding and productive.

Denby went on to say: “I could not have won this award without the support of my strong team around me, in particular, James Beattie. James has played a huge part is setting up and helping me deliver a lot of the projects the John Letters Academies are involved in, such as Golf Factor. He has become an extremely strong member of the team.”

For further information on the John Letters Academies, Golf Factor or any of the other in initiatives – please visit www.johnletters.com.