NEW facilities at a Worcester golf club are set to revolutionise the way people practice.

Ravenmeadow GC, in Claines, has become the first in the area to install automated tees in five of its ten driving range bays.

The state-of-the-art equipment automatically replaces the ball after one has been struck, allowing golfers to maintain their stance without moving.

Players can also adjust the height of the tee to 40 different positions to suit their requirements.

Such is its reputation, it has received the backing of Kath Massey, the European long drive champion, who has put the technology through its paces.

Massey has just returned to her Worcester home and has joined the club to hone her specialist driving skills and take advantage of the new machines.

The 33-year-old, who also intends to work on her short game, regularly competes on the Long Drivers of Europe tour and scooped the 2004 title in August after finishing top of the Order of Merit after 10 events.

Drives in excess of 300 yards, including a top hit of 309 yards, have also won her the British, Scottish and Dutch championships as well as earning her a place at the world finals, held last year in Mesquite, Nevada.

The events require Massey to deliver six drives in a five-minute spell but also within a corridor 40 yards wide and 400 long. Shots are measured from where the ball stops and not where it lands.

She said: "Because I have to hit six balls in five minutes, the machine helps me with my timing.

"The height of the tee is just right as well."

Club manager Tony Senter also stressed the new system would help all golfers, particularly those with disabilities as the machine does the work for them.

He added: "It enables you to keep your stance. Once you have got your stance and swing right, you can hit balls.

"It's a tremendous help for disabled people and those with arthritis and it's useful for blind people."

n Later this year Massey will attempt to enter the Guiness Book of Records for the longest drive.

She plans to make her bid in the summer when the warmer conditions are more suited to driving such distances.