SELBY Golf Club's Les Walker has been honoured for years of volunteer service as an England and Great Britain & Ireland selector.

Walker was presented with England Golf’s Award for Excellence in Coaching at the annual coaching conference at Woodhall Spa.

He is renowned for his vast experience, encyclopaedic knowledge of boys’ and men’s golf and great eye for spotting talent.

The latter has been proven over and over again with his assistance in picking successful teams, boasting the likes of Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Luke Donald.

Walker’s second term with the R&A has just come to an end after eight years as a boys’ selector and he bowed out following a convincing win for GB&I over Continental Europe in the boys’ Jacques Leglise Trophy, which involved five England players.

Previously, he trawled the fairways as a Walker Cup selector and was involved with the winning teams of 1999, 2001 and 2003.

On that experience, Walker recalled: “We changed the pattern, we turned it around to win three on the trot and we only lost the next two by very small margins."

He first became an England selector over 30 years ago and has been involved in many national successes.

Walker is continuing as an England boys’ selector and, most recently, has played his part in picking the teams which have won the Boys’ Home Internationals for the last three years.

“We have a very, very strong squad and they are young so we have them for more years than we used to,” he commented as he looked forward to more successes.

Walker has his own proud record as player, having represented Yorkshire 178 times, winning 103 matches and halving 18.

“It’s a good ratio,” he smiled, viewing his record from a selector’s point of view. “It shows the lads that I have some expertise and that I did peg it up!”