Published: Thursday, 11th June, 2009 5:30am

Young blood

Twelve year old Clara Young became North Berwick Golf Club"s youngest ever club champion on Sunday after beating the holder, Dianne Huish (Martyn Huish"s step mother) 5 and 4 in the Ladies" Club Championship.

'This is the first time I have played in the Championship and I was hoping to get to the semi-finals,' said a delighted Young.

'When I got to the final I decided to go for it. I was really excited to win and I"m pleased to be the youngest winner.'

Her mother, Dawn, had attempted on several occasions to win the title but the silverware had eluded her each time. A semi -finalist this year she found herself as caddie for her daughter in the final.

'You do not get a child very often that is just at one with a sport,' said Dawn. 'She just loves playing golf and the fact that she has natural ability helps.'

Sixteen scratch players qualified for the tournament from a large pool of hopefuls but enthusiasm appeared to count for more than experience as the North Berwick High School pupil won the tournament on the 14th green.

Young, who lives with her parents in Williamstone Court, first picked up a golf club at seven-years-old and just five years later has slashed her handicap to just 10.

Much of Young"s progress is the product of both steely determination and golf tutorials provided by her club.

North Berwick was one of the first clubs to come on board with the junior national programme, Clubgolf, in 2004, and Young was one of its earliest recruits.

Having received coaching from Level 1 volunteer coaches, she progressed quickly to stage three coaching with the club"s pro Martyn Huish.

'It"s certainly unprecedented in our club for someone so young to get anywhere near this Club Championship,' said Martyn, whose younger brother Ollie won the club"s men"s title.

'Clara has a great attitude on the course, a very wise head on her 12-year-old shoulders and was cool, calm and collected through the final.

'She has been right through the club golf programme from the start. She started firstclubgolf at school and I"ve been coaching for almost four years.

'This is what it"s all about, to get somebody coming out the other end with the potential to go on.'

Young"s stunning progress has been helped by Huish coaching his stage 3 players indoors through the winter at Heriot Watt University"s Golf Academy.

Said Martyn: 'She has come out the blocks flying this year which proves getting some sort of structured lesson through the winter makes a difference.

Clara, who also plays badminton and hockey for East Lothian, hopes to reduce her handicap further this season 'down to six or seven', and is also looking forward to playing in the Scottish Girls event.

Young"s mother Dawn said her daughter"s game had been improving exponentially and saw no signs of slowing down.

'She just keeps getting better and better every time she plays,' said Mrs Young.

'If you were to ask Clara what she wanted to do she would say she loves playing golf and would like to go further in the sport.'