Some players do attract a fair amount of media attention, notably from the Walker Cup, as they use the match as their last stage for Amateur golf, moving on immediately afterwards to the Professional ranks. Its a fairly common adage that a player needs to have ‘made it’ as a Professional by the age of 24 or 25, if they are going on to a long career.

So what of the next Warwickshire stars? In reality, some of our top players can produce golf of the quality required for selection. There are a number of our Juniors who are already part of England Squads, and over the next few years, through the transition to Senior golf, their consistency will keep them at representative levels, or a lack of it push them towards the ‘Pro’ decision.

Our Amateur Champion, Rob Steele, can play golf of the very highest level (such as in his run to semi-finals of last year’s English Amateur, a Championship Paul Casey won twice). This year hasn’t been so good (overall) and it will be interesting to see how Rob comes back in the Spring – he sees a career as a Professional as being his goal, but only if he has the best chance of ‘making it’.

Three of our best players have just started US College careers. Ryan Burton is a very good golfer and it will be interesting to see how his game develops. David Harris is already used to high level coaching and assistance from his time as a Junior in Germany – he knows what to expect and will be looking to make the most of his time over there. Jon Wetton has tons of talent and again, the US College system has a very good record of developing skills.

Chris Evans has chosen the harder path (leaving school at 16) but few Juniors have ever had his dedication and his mental strength. He leaves Junior ranks at the end of this year and and will have plenty of support whether he stays as an Amateur for a few years or goes Pro sooner.

What of Matt Cryer? Playing off +3 means that par has to be beaten time after time and Matt has been included in squads over the past few years. Could he be a Walker ‘Cupper’?

What is a matter of some debate is how valuable a Walker Cup place is for the Pro transition. We interviewed Chubby Chandler, MD of ISM, about this and for him, it was not a key factor. Others, such as Colin Montgomerie, Paul Casey and Nick Dougherty have all used their team membership as a springboard to their Pro Careers – the reverse of these three would be Justin Rose, a many whose decision came after his Open success.

Taking into account our Counties Junior talent, we have probably a dozen players who could be playing in a future Walker Cup, and its more than likely that most of these players will consider a Pro Career. Their progress has been covered by this site for the past two years and as their star quality develops, you will read about it here first. We have the talent, the players need just to take it into the National arena.