IT HAS been a massive year for the young Alloa golfers, with successful showings both at home and abroad.

The junior section at Alloa Golf Club have made "excellent progress" in 2016, having represented their county and played against the best young golfers in Europe.

The club has reiterated its firm belief in developing young talent and has formed links with professional golf coach Stuart Craig at Forthview Driving Range in Airth.

And by working with Stuart, the club can now boast a total of five Category 1 golfers, while many other players have reduced their handicaps.

Alloa golfers successfully represented their county and were part of teams which returned their best results for a number of years. Those Alloa players representing the county included R Logan, J McEwan, B Clark, T Humphreys, L Clark, A Neville and R Weston.

The young golfers are encouraged to enter competitions at other golf course and L Clark won a tournament a West Kilbride, while others played at Gleneagles and St Andrews.

However, the pinnacle of the players’ hard work this year was a trio of junior golfers qualifying for one of the most prestigious junior events in Europe.

R Logan, B Clark and T Humphreys travelled to both Wales and North England to qualify, before later heading out to Alcaidesa Golf Links, Spain, for a week of competition.

This event has included, in the past, golfers such as Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Danny Willet.

Although the Alloa youngsters players did not win, it was another excellent experience for them and recognition of their hard work.

A spokesperson for the club said: "This has been an exceptional year for Alloa Golf Clubs Junior Section and we recently recognised those achievements at our recent prize-giving ceremony.

"We have achieved success locally, at county level, national level and also in Europe. Our junior golfers have made excellent progress during the course of the season and we are rightly proud of their achievements.

"This success would not have been possible without the hard work of the players, the support of Alloa Golf Club, coaching support, sponsors and the players parents. Thank you to you all for your support and hard work across the season."

"We would like to continue with this work; however, it is difficult as we need to see more juniors join us and the financial support to develop all of our players.

"What we have learned in the past year, particularly in Spain, is that the players our juniors have played have the financial support which is way in excess of that available to us.

"They attend golfing colleges and have access to well-supported coaching set-ups. Our players are equally as talented and showing the same promise but they need that additional financial support we are unable to secure."

Officials say they would be delighted to welcome anyone wishing to join Alloa Golf Club. For more information, call the club house on 01259 722745.