DAVID HAGUE is hoping to top off a superb summer by winning the prestigious North of England Amateur at Pannal GC at the end of the month.

The Malton teenager has catapulted to the top of the tree in York and North Yorkshire golf following a run of form that has brought him four titles in the past few weeks. The York Union of Golf Clubs’ Junior Championship, a Yorkshire Order of Merit event at Sand Moor, the club championship at Malton & Norton GC and the York Union Matchplay Championship have all fallen into his hands in a golden few weeks.

They are results that have seen his handicap scythed from two to plus-one and the 18-year-old is far from finished yet.

Hague, who only took up the game at the age of 11, has abandoned the idea of university to concentrate on golf full time and he believes there is still lots of improvement to come.

“I’ve had the time to play this season and I’m lucky all the work over the winter has paid off and I have been able to play in compet-itions,” he said. “My short game has been the key. My long game still needs improvement but I have just been able to get the ball in the hole.

“There was no thought in my mind that I would do this well this season. Half way through and I still had not won anything. It’s all happened in the second half.”

Hague has no plans to leap into the professional arena yet - determined to target some of the country’s most prestigious amateur titles in the next few years.

He added: “I am still going to give it two, three or maybe four years at amateur level. I would like to get to plus four or five. If I can get to that level then I might turn professional. You need to be so good nowadays.

“Chris Halley (who plays out of Malton & Norton on the EuroPro Tour) is a different standard altogether to where I am. But I am looking forward to competing in bigger and better events and trying to get to the top.

“The British Amateur is the big one for me next year and my aim is to reach the matchplay rounds. I will be going to Spain again this winter and I’ll look to play in the amateur championship there. I’m lucky to have the opportunity I have got. I intend to make the most of it.”

• THERE was no time like the present for 72-year-old Patricia Barber as she achieved every golfer’s dream.

Barber, a 26-handicapper at Malton & Norton GC, scored a stunning hole-in-one at her home course and in doing so won a limited-edition BOSS watch. She fired her ace on the 132-yard, par-three fourth hole.

The prize is open to anyone whose club uses HowDidiDo - a free-to-use, web-based social network for golfers - in official club competitions.