PEEBLES Golf Club is in the running to retain its ClubGolf Junior Club crown after being shortlisted for this year’s award.

The club won the prestigious national honour in 2015 for its work in developing junior golf within the local community, after narrowly being beaten to the title a year earlier.

Once again, it has been recognised for its contribution to the sport in Scotland over the last 12 months.

Peebles is up against Stornoway and Prestonfield golf clubs, and North Lanarkshire Junior Academy in the race to bag the title and the £1,500 first prize. By reaching the final four, the club has already guaranteed £500 for its junior section.

Junior Convenor Gavin Carruthers told the Peeblesshire News: “We’re really humbled by being shortlisted for the third year running as we appreciate how many other clubs are doing a good job.

"We just focus on what we’re doing and it’s great to be recognised.

"Winning the award last year was a huge achievement for us and an endorsement of what we are doing, so it forced us to set the bar higher.

"We challenged ourselves to see if we could go further with more kids, more coaching, and more structure to our lesson plans, and we’re already planning further improvements this coming season.

"We have great supportive parents and now some of the juniors’ mums are taking an interest in learning to play through our Get into Golf programme so they can go round the course too. With so many other activities to choose from, our primary role is getting more children and families playing, and to ensure the club is at the heart of the community."

The winner will be crowned at the 2016 Annodata Scottish Golf Awards at Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange on Friday, March 11.

The Awards is one of the highlights of the Scottish golfing calendar, celebrating the achievements of players and clubs at all levels of the game.

Among those vying for the coveted Player of the Year title are WGC Champion Russell Knox, European Senior Tour Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie, Ladies European Tour star Pamela Pretswell, and Walker Cup winners Grant Forrest and Ewen Ferguson.

Catriona Matthew, Scotland’s most successful female Tour professional, is to be honoured with the Allied Surveyors Scotland Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Peebles club has gone from strength to strength since winning the award last year, increasing its junior member by 48 to well over 100.

They have also strengthened their PGA qualified volunteer coaching team and improved the facilities for juniors.

The success of their ClubGolf programme has meant they were able to appoint Steve Johnston as PGA Club Professional last April.

And with family golf and community being of great importance to the club, Steve has established Get into Golf coaching for adult beginners.

Scottish Golf’s Club Development Manager Jackie Davidson is delighted the hard work being done for junior golfers and the tireless enthusiasm of Scotland’s volunteers is being recognised once again.

She said: “The Awards are a great opportunity to highlight some of the fantastic work being done at clubs across the country. It is always difficult to pick finalists as there are so many people committed to the ClubGolf programme and to strengthening their club, and this year we had more entries than ever before.

“Our shortlists represent those clubs and individuals who we feel have gone the extra mile and shown exceptional achievement in the past year, increasing participation and community links, and we look forward to seeing the winners crowned on what promises to be a fantastic evening.”

The last remaining tickets are still available for the event, priced at £95 per person or £950 for a table of 10, and can be purchased via scottishgolf.org or by calling 01334 466477.