Shortlist announced for GolfMark Club of the Year awards

Three golf clubs have been shortlisted for the prestigious GolfMark Club of the Year award supported by Cobra Puma Golf.

Now in its fifth year, the award is given annually to the club that has shown the most innovative and outstanding contributions to junior and beginner golf.

The finalists for the award are Upton-by-Chester Golf Club, Cheshire, Garon Park Golf Club, Essex and Leamington & County Golf Club, Warwickshire.

After being visited by judges from England Golf, the governing body of amateur golf in England, the winner will be announced at the 2013 County Golf Development Conference on February 7. The GolfMark Club of the Year will receive a national trophy and a prize from COBRA PUMA GOLF.

The three finalists were among 20 nominated clubs selected by a judging panel from the England Golf Partnership.

Among the other clubs nominated were: Abbey Hill, Buckinghamshire; Mullion and St Austell, Cornwall; Weymouth and Sturminster Marshall, Dorset; Brickhampton, Gloucestershire; West Herts, Hertfordshire; Tenterden, Kent; Thorpe on the Hill, Lincolnshire; Barnham Broom, Norfolk; Northampton, Northamptonshire; Norwood Park, Nottinghamshire; Market Drayton, Shropshire; Roehampton, Surrey; Lewes and Cottesmore, Sussex and Cookridge Hall, Yorkshire.

Bawburgh Golf Club in Norfolk was the 2012 winner of the GolfMark Club of the Year award, following Bramshaw Golf Club, Hampshire, in 2011.

GolfMark was introduced in 2006 and Filey Golf Club in Yorkshire has just become the 600th club to achieve the award.