We’re pleased to announce Jonathan Levey will be joining the team from the 1st April 2021 to manage the 6 Northumberland events scheduled for this year. Jonathan is a PGA professional and has a huge passion for Junior Golf so is a natural successor to Mark Sanderson who led the events for a number of years. We’d like to say a huge thanks to Mark for everything he did for the Tour in Northumberland and we wish him all the best for the future.
To find out more about Jonathan please see the brief Q&A below.
Tell us a little bit about yourself?
I have been a local to this region all my life. Starting on the junior scene at the age of nine I was hooked for life, growing up and playing most of my junior golf at Gosforth Golf Club we had a strong junior section. Plenty of competitions and strong region to play league golf, I quickly knew that this was the sport for me. At the age of seventeen I went to play college golf in the U.S. First in Texas, where I stayed for two years and managed to get a top twenty-five in the nation finish in nationals in our category. Then upgraded to University golf in Orlando Florida where I spent one year and archived many rounds of tour quality golf, where scores such as five under got you maybe in the top ten. From there I returned home to do my PGA and get qualified to coach. I have coached for seven and a half years now, seven of them at Matfen Hall Hotel, Golf, and Spa under the watchful and great coaches John Harrison and John James Vallely. I am now currently based at Northumberland Golf Club with Elite Golf Academies, under Academy Director and Head Professional Steven Bainbridge. Where I look forward to increasing my knowledge in coaching and Junior golf development.
What excited you about this role working with the Northern Junior Golf Tour?
Growing up in this region as a junior I believed that Northumberland had many quality events for juniors to compete in twenty years ago. When I was getting older and getting into Junior County level tournaments all the way to college golf, Junior golf way falling slightly in the nation. With some golf clubs being totally vacant of junior golfers entirely. I look forward to working with the Northern Junior Golf Tour as I believe it is perfect for what junior golf needs, great quality events that link regions together, getting kids hyped up to get to the next level and get feeling I got when I played junior golf.
What’s your biggest achievement in Golf?
My biggest achievement was qualifying to play in our National Tournament at Hampton Cove Golf Club, in Huntsville Alabama. Here I got my first taste of what a tour event was like and was satisfied with my result with a top twenty-five finish in my category.
Finally, why do you love Junior Golf?
Junior golf is the heart of this game, the juniors of today will be those roaming our golf courses and being centre stage on our TV screens in years to come. Helping juniors achieve their goals gives any passionate golf coach that sense of achievement and pride that takes the coach to cloud 9. I want to give back that feeling I had as a junior golfer to as many juniors as possible.
