By JAMIE TROUGHTON A year after professional golf returned to Tauranga, junior numbers are booming. Last year's Carrus Tauranga Open - the first professional tournament in the region for nearly 20 years - has helped spark strong interest from children as young as six wanting to play, especially at the Open's hostclub. Now the club has just completed the Junior Plus programme, qualifying with the highest Eagle status. Tauranga Golf Club trainee professional Mikki Strong admits the sheer numbers wanting to learn cause a headache but it's one he's more than happy to bear. "The numbers we're getting on Tuesdays and Sundays has increased from 20-25 to between 50-80 a night," Strong said. "Overall we've had to increase our maximum number of juniors from 100 to 120, and then to 150 and we've nearly hit that ceiling again." Junior Plus was developed by the New Zealand Golf foundation, providing a national standard of excellence for junior golf programmes. It works to provide a welcome environment for young people and structured programmes based on quality coaching. England-raised Strong began his professional apprenticeship in November after three years as a golf development officer for Sport Bay of Plenty. He joined Golf Fusion's Jay Carter at the Tauranga club and immediately enlisted his successor at Sport Bay of Plenty, Penny Smith, to help implement Junior Plus. "It wasn't completed when I took over the role, so I ended up doing the finishing touches," Smith said. "Tauranga Golf Club has worked really hard to achieve Junior Plus - they have a very successful junior programme running, run by Mikki and Jay." Te Puke, Western Bay and Mount Maunganui have already completed Junior Plus, while Omanu is nearing the end of the requirements. Strong said the juniors at his club have already got huge benefit out of it. "It's opened their eyes and given a lot of them more goals ... and the interest we've got from volunteers means we can keep catering for them."
