There’s no shortage of sporting talent in the Killen family from Durham.Dad Frankie was net minder for the five-time British Championship winning Durham Wasps Ice Hockey team and son Matt, 25, is a professional golfer touring Asia and Europe.
Ramside Hall Hotel and Golf Club, County Durham’s leading 36-hole golf resort, is backing Matt to succeed by providing use of its two championship courses and golf academy facilities as a winter training base.
Matt is based in Hua Hin, Thailand, and plays The Asian Tour and the Asian Development Tour but spends the winter months in Durham, where he was born, and where father Frankie runs a joinery company.
Helen Roseberry, director of golf at Ramside Hall Hotel and Golf Club, said: “It’s great to see a local sportsperson dreaming big and we are thrilled to be able to help Matt develop his golf game during the off season.
He is a great young man with huge ambition and it would be wonderful to see another North East based golfer make it to the big-time alongside Graeme Storm, Kenneth Ferrie and Chris Paisley.”
Matt spent four years playing NCAA College Golf at Newberry College, South Carolina, in the USA before turning professional in 2013 and competes regularly against the best professional golfers from Asia and Australasia.
Matt, said: “Ramside’s golf practice facilities and its coaching team are among the best in the North East and it’s a huge boost that I can spend the Winter months training here and preparing myself for my second season on the tour.”
Ramside Estates Ltd is also helping the Killen family by providing introductions to members of the North East business community who may wish to enter into sponsorship agreements and receive promotional benefits by association on the professional golf tours. Matt is currently seeking sponsors for the 2015 season.
New Practice Facilities for North East Golfers
Ramside Golf Club recently completed a six-month renovation of its 16-bay driving range, reshaping the target greens to provide a challenge exactly like the one golfers face on its courses.
A new short game zone is currently being developed with a large USGA specification practice putting green and greens for chipping, pitching and bunker play.
At the same time a £12m hotel expansion, luxury spa, health club, gym and swimming pool will open in Spring 2015 at the resort.
It is the second phase of a development which started in 2012 and has already delivered the new 7200 yard Cathedral Course – which opened in September – and construction of several executive residential homes on the Ramside Estate.
Ramside Golf Club www.ramsidehallhotel.co.uk/golf and for more about Matt Killen,