THE school half-term holiday “golf for beginners” courses at the Lord’s Club in Rayleigh are proving a swinging success.

Originally they were due to be held with club pros Tony Blackburn and Aaron Quinn over just two days.

But such was the response that the event was stretched over four days with a total of around 100 youngsters aged five to 14 anxious to start on the path of becoming the next Tiger Woods.

The courses were subsidised by Rochford Council and Quinn admitted: “We’ve certainly been overwhelmed by the numbers who applied.

“We hadn’t expected the interest to be as strong as it has been, but it’s proving very worthwhile despite the rainy weather at the very start of Tuesday’s session.

“We very much hope that we’ll be able to run similar sessions during the school summer holidays and it demonstrates just how much interest in golf there is among the youngsters.”

They will hope to follow in the footsteps of Quinn’s first golfing prodigy, Canvey five-year-old Billy Gunyon-Perry, who this week is playing in the US Kids Golf European Championship.