Steve Hall of The Suffolk Golf Club a finalist for national award in Sport and Recreation Alliance's Community Sport and Recreation Awards 2022

The Suffolk Golf Club’s head professional is in the running for a national award for his community rewarding schemes.

Steve Hall is one of three finalists in the Inspiration of the Year category for the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Community Sport and Recreation Awards 2022.

The long-serving PGA professional at the Fornham St Genevieve course, near Bury St Edmunds, was nominated by The Golf Foundation’s chief executive Brendan Pile, who lives locally.

It was Hall’s work to launch a free membership scheme to reward NHS workers and going into schools to put on fun sessions while the club was locked down which saw him put forward.

The nomination said: “He persuaded the owner of his golf club to offer free membership for a year to all NHS staff, which 165 individuals have since taken up.

“While his golf club was closed, he visited local schools for free and delivered a fun and safe introduction to the sport using adapted equipment designed to introduce golf to large groups of people.

“In one of these secondary schools, he also taught a life skills programme from the Golf Foundation that helps develop resilience, confidence and emotional control.

“His golf club also offer free junior membership to those aged 19 and under, which is uncommon in most clubs, and helps to encourage more young people into the sport.”

Hall said he had no idea he had been put forward and it was ‘a bit of a shock’ when he found an invite to the awards ceremony in Coventry on March 24 in his inbox.

Andy Craddock, of Birmingham Wheelchair Basketball and Mary Tweed of Nordic Walking East Anglia, are also finalists for the award.

Hall clarified that he did not need to persuade the club's owner, David Harris, to give the free membership to NHS workers.