A SEVEN-year-old is getting into the swing of his golfing career as the youngest player on his team.
Harry Mody has been playing golf since he was four-years-old and hopes one day to turn professional.
The youngster from Great Horkesley plays for Purdis Heath Golf Club and over the summer played in golf competitions at more than 15 courses across the country.
Harry and the rest of his team celebrated success with a win in the HSBC GolfSixes Ipswich tournament against east of England teams at the weekend.
His mum, Sonal, said: “One way to get more juniors into golf is through the HSBC golf league.
“They have created leagues all around England and Scotland, and over the summer each county played a league.
“The Ipswich group won their first two leagues.”
GolfSixes League means quicker six-hole matches against other clubs in a fun format. It is a way of building confidence amongst new players.
It may be just for fun for some, but Harry is serious about his sport and has an intense training regime for someone of his age.
He practises for an hour five nights a week and has group lessons at the weekends.
His mum added: “He really loves it, he lives and breathes it.
“He was given a plastic golf set when he was two, then we got him a slightly better one and we took him down to the range.
“The coach there suggested giving him lessons. They managed to find him some clubs his size as he is tiny.”
Harry has been playing for the British Junior Golf Tour with other seven and eight-year-olds.
The organisation provides junior golfers with opportunities to experience competition at top class venues.
Both nine and 18-hole courses are played and children as young as five can take part.
Harry hopes to be a professional golfer in the future and his mum said he hopes to be the next Rory McIlroy, who was world number one in the official world golf ranking for 95 weeks.
Sonal said: “This year we will just keep playing and competing.
“He got an electric trolley to carry his clubs and he wears all the proper clothes. He’s such a lovely little boy, he’s just so underestimated.”
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