Eleanor Tunn's Handicap?  The fact that she

lives a three-hour drive north of Inverness!

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Meet Eleanor Tunn whose biggest handicap in golf is the fact that she lives in her own words ... "right at the top of Scotland in a village called Reay, about 30 miles west of John O'Groats. My course is a links which is right on the north coast of mainland Scotland.
"The nearest golf club is Thurso Golf Club which I have recently joined this year."
Eleanor, who had her 15th birthday in June, lives so far North that it takes her THREE hours just to get to Inverness!
She recently played in the North of Scotland girls championship at Brechin and it took her and her mum the best part of five hours to get to the Angus course and another five hours - all uphill of course -to get home again. Despite that, Eleanor has managed to get her handicap down to seven and all the travelling does not lessen her enthusiasm to be as good a golfer as she can be. She is actually English by birth, having first seen the light of day at Barrow-in-Furness in northwest England where her dad worked at the Sellafield nuclear reactor.
Eleanor was only three when the Tunn family moved to Reay when her dad's work took him to the nuclear reactor that once was there.
"i have been playing golf since i was about five. It was the junior clubgolf coaching session on Friday in the village. My friends were going so I went.
"it was kind of a social event for the children in the village (I liked the lemonade afterwards).
"But through the years i really started to enjoy my golf and get more into it.
"When I first started Evan Sutherland was my main clubgolf coach and he has helped me progress to a level where I have been accepted by the Scottish Golfing Academy.
"My PGA accademy coach is Stuart Morrison who is the pro at Tain Golf Club. I receive regular coaching sessions from Stuart at Tain, which is a 140-mile round trip for us.
"Stuart has helped me to halve my handicap this season from 12 to six. I still go to junior coaching sessions on a Friday as it is great fun! Almost 90 juniors take part, which is impressive for such a small club,
"Evan is still a great help to me and continues to encourage junior members. I am very thankful to clubgolf and to Reay Golf Club for their encouragement."

Good luck to Eleanor Tunn. Next time you think you have a long way to go to a competition, just think of Eleanor, someone who really is a long way from the Central Belt.