A GOLFER whose love of the sport was sparked as a teenager by seeing Gary Player and Sir Henry Cotton in action has claimed the ultimate accolade and been awarded PGA master professional status.

Neil Selwyn-Smith has scaled the heights after a successful career in the golf industry from club professional through to coaching, corporate golf entertainment and lecturing on the sport.

The Bromsgove-based golfer runs Golf by Design Ltd, a thriving corporate golf business. He still coaches private clients and is familiar to hundreds of aspiring young professionals as a PGA tutor and is also lecturer in applied golf management studies at the University of Birmingham.

Selwyn-Smith joins an illustrious band of golfers to have attained PGA master professional status, including top European Tour coaches Denis Pugh, David Leadbetter and Peter Cowen.

“I’m very proud to have attained master professional status,” added Selwyn-Smith. “To reach the top of your profession and be recognised by your peers is special.”

He got the golf bug in 1959 when, as a reward for helping a neighbour dig a ditch during the summer holidays, he was taken to the Swallow-Penfold Tournament at Copt Heath where great names of the day were in action, including Gary Player, Sir Henry Cotton and Dai Rees.

“I was hooked from that moment on,” said Selwyn-Smith, who obtained his first post at Cocks Moors Woods aged 16.

In 1969 he was appointed head professional at Edgbaston Golf Club where he stayed until 1984 when he then branched out into corporate golf and also golf driving range and course architecture including designing and building Henley in Arden Golf Club in the early 90s.

It was his expertise in corporate golf that helped him attain the final rung in the career ladder to achieve master professional status with a thesis on the subject.