Chris Handy tees off on his way to victory in the County Championship Strokeplay event at Billingham

South Moor star Chris Handy has revealed how a video session with his dad helped him tweak his swing and retain his title as the Durham strokeplay champion.

The 21-year-old played steady golf over the first two days at Billingham before last minute adjustments gave him the confidence to fire a blistering 69 and 67 to finish three shots clear on 280.

The +2 handicapper, who is studying at Oakland University in the US, became the 13^th person in the title’s 110 year history to win back-to-back.

Chris, from Tanfield Lea, said: “I was going into the tournament struggling a bit with my swing and I was not happy with the way I was hitting it.
“Friday and Saturday was a little bit of a struggle for me, just trying to play within myself and keep a score going.

“I went out on the Saturday night on the range and managed to figure some stuff out.
“I was only one shot behind on the last day so I had a good opportunity to win it again and I played really well.”

His final 67 would have been even better but for a bad lie in a bunker which led to a double-bogey, but nevertheless, Chris held on to win with a four under par total.

South Moor golfer Chris Handy tweaked his swing to win the County Championship Strokeplay after a video session with his dad

So what was the key to Chris flushing the ball on the final day?
“When I stood over the ball on the first two days I felt like I was going to hook it so I wasn’t in a good frame of mind and was playing defensively, just trying to get the ball around,” he said.

“On the Sunday I changed something in my backswing and it felt a lot better.
“My dad videoed me and I saw the club was just slightly more closed than normal, so I made a change and hit it straighter.”

Chris comes from a family of golfers, and his father James came close on several occasions to winning the County Championship.

He is a former winner of the England Boys County Champion of Champions tournament and is half way through his four year course studying finance at Oakland, where he also represents the university golf team.

His aim when he completes his time at Oakland is to become a tour pro.

South Moor’s acting chairman Guy Carr said: “Everyone at the club is delighted for Chris and his massive achievement in retaining the trophy.

“We’ve watched his progress from starting golf as a little lad, walking the fairways at South Moor, to winning a scholarship to play golf in America.

“He’s a very worthy champion and a great representative for our club.”

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