The proposed joint venture recently received an overwhelming vote of confidence by the 20 clubs at the founding meeting, and its sole aim will be to introduce more people to the game, irrespective of age or background.

Commenting John Stubbings, President of the WUGC and the newly appointed WCGP chairman said: '2008 represents a milestone in Warwickshire golfing history, as the three county associations come together to encourage more men, women, boys and girls of all ages to take up the game and play golf regularly.

'You're never too young or too old to play golf and we're looking forward to planning a host of initiatives that encourage more people to think about the game and give it a go. Having an alliance which includes all the county's teaching PGA professionals adds significant strength to the partnership, in providing expert tuition for new starters.

'Exciting times and a lot of hard work lies ahead, as the partnership looks towards forming a development plan over the coming months, which will deliver a host of initiatives for newcomers and lapsed players, as well as fuelling interest amongst local golf clubs and driving ranges.

'None of this would have been possible without the help of the England Golf Partnership and Sharon Heeley, our appointed regional development officer, who has worked tirelessly on our behalf to bring us all together', he added.

Prior to forming the partnership, each respective organisation developed the game from an independent perspective, but now it's definitely a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

Forming a county golf partnership also means that Warwickshire qualifies for up to ? 20,000 in grants to implement its development plan over the next three years.

Additional funding is also hoped to be raised by Warwickshire through the introduction of a range of sponsorship opportunities, which will provide a unique commercial platform for companies and businesses to associate their brand with over 25,000 golfers in the county, as well as being involved in community linked initiatives.

The Warwickshire County Golf Partnership has formed a steering committee comprising three representatives from WUGC, WLCGA and WPGA. In the meantime it's business as usual in all other aspects of managing Warwickshire golf for the three respective organisations, in terms of their players and clubs for county and individual events, competitions and team matches.

There are 17 fully operational county golf partnerships in England, and Warwickshire is now one of seven counties currently under development.