Junior Coach of the Year award announced

John Letters of Scotland, academy director, Tom Denby has been crowned Junior Coach of the Year at the prestigious 2011 Pro Shop Europe Awards.

The award ceremony was held at Wentworth Golf Club on 17th Novemeber by Pro Shop Europe and recognised the key people, businesses and brands from the UK Golf industry.

PGA professional Denby heads up the John Letters Academy as well as four academy sites in Huddersfield, Cambridge, Solihull and Walsall.

Alongside John Letters managing director, John Andrew, Denby has been instrumental in a number of initiatives to grow the game of golf in UK and make it more accessible for children of all ages and abilities.

One of the many initiatives undertaken is a junior golf talent competition called Golf Factor, which identifies and assists young golfing talents throughout the UK.

It was from this initiative that Denby was nominated for the Junior Coach of the Year award after the father of one of the participants in Golf Factor put him forward for the award.

Receiving the award from former Ryder Cup player, Paul Way, Tom Denby said: "To win this award is a great moment for me and my team. It is great recognition for the hard work we have, and still are, putting into making this game of golf more recognised and accessible to children from all walks of life.

"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 in 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."