BRANSFORD'S new 23-year-old PGA head professional is believed to be one of the youngest in the country to hold the position.

Tim Shephard, at Bransford for the past four years as assistant professional, has taken over from Richard Jenkins who left earlier this summer.

Shephard has played golf for 13 years, starting out at home club Evesham, and been in the professional ranks for the past three.

He gained a diploma in golf at Hartpury College, Gloucestershire.

Shephard has been busy building a strong reputation in teaching the sport at Bransford while also developing the junior side.

He said: “There were no juniors when I started here. We now have 20 and half of them are members.”

Meanwhile, assistant professional Ollie Walker, 20, plans to head off to the USA this month on a golf scholarship.

He hopes to be based in Arizona at Estrella Mountain College, having been offered a place in their golf team.

Walker said: "This will be for three to four years and hopefully for the last two years I can obtain a full scholarship so I don’t have to pay anything, hopefully transferring to a bigger university for my last two senior years.”

But first of all he has to raise funds to achieve his "dream" with the target being £10,000.

Fundraising has been under way for a few weeks and numerous club members have signed up to sponsor him but he is hoping to hear from local businesses.

Walker is Worcestershire men’s amateur champion and the county’s best under 21 player.

He won the Stewart Smith Open Challenge scratch competition last year on a play-off.

Anyone wishing to help can call the club's pro shop on 01886 833621.

Bransford seniors continued their fine home form with a 3½-2½ victory over Cleobury Mortimer.

Mike Davidge (16) and Dave Lindsay (21) won 4&2 and Rob Blake (16) and Roy Williams (23) 4&3.

There were halves for Dave Miller (18) and Ferey Ghani (15), Alan Ford (9) and John Phillips (21) and Andy Falconer (24) and Neil Sheldon (20) while Alan Wallcroft (24) and Gordon White (26) lost 2&1.