Around with Emma

That's the really good thing about Emma Duggleby. The former Malton School pupil has stayed in her home town and based her successful career at Malton and Norton Golf Club, where she is a key member of staff, working in the pro shop and with the secretary well as competing as an amateur golfer.

"I love it down here," she said. "I work here and my friends are here. It's a super friendly atmosphere with great facilities, especially now there's the driving range and short game area, it's just a great place to practice and work from."

She's so much part of the fabric of the place, it's easy to forget that the 36-year-old has been the English, Scottish, British and European Ladies Amateur champion, toured numerous times with the Great Britain team and only this year clinched the British mid-amateur title (for over-25s).

Introduced to the game by her parents Pat and Ken, who were members at Malton and Norton, she was nurtured as a junior and in 1991, when he arrived as club pro, began coaching with Steve Robinson. "He's been very influential in improving my game," she said.

She came to the fore when she won the British Ladies Championship in 1994 aged 22, as somewhat of an outsider.

"I'd not won anything of importance before and it was quite out of the blue," she said. "There were a lot of very good international players at the time and I just made my way through the tournament having not worked up to it in a way."

Of course, the club was immensely proud of her, celebrating with banners and balloons and making her an honorary life member. But the win that launched her career marked a life change, and it took a while to get used to it.

"I think the pressure was then put on me because I had done this and it took me a couple of years to deal with it," she said.

After clinching that first title she was selected for Great Britain ladies amateur team, and has played 10 home internationals in total.

"We have great fun on the tours because you're all away together, and I've made a lot of friends through golf, playing for country and county," she said.

The shape of her career has been influenced largely by the very nature of ladies golf. Emma has never considered going professional like her fellow club member Simon Dyson.

"Ladies professional golf is a lot better than it was 10 years ago, but it still struggles to get sponsors and there aren't many competitions," she said.

There is no doubt that it's been a huge boost to the club to have Emma and Simon emerge as home grown stars.

"Simon is six years younger than me and he was competing in the Walker Cup in 1999. Very few clubs will have had a Curtis Cup and Walker Cup player at the same time," said Emma.

"Now he's a pro we're all very proud of what he's achieved and it's great when he is competing at home and we get to see him play."

For Emma, the life of an amateur golfer gives her the flexibility she wants, and gives the club the benefit of her time too.

"I'm into amateur golf individual events now, and playing for club and county," she said. "We have a very strong ladies section, 160, and they play regularly and are very competitive, so I like it in that sense.

It gives you more choice and flexibility and I like being at home and being able to work and play golf. I like my home life.

"With international teams there is so much travelling and training, spending all my time off on the road. It's just quite nice having done it for 10 to 12 years - I can now be a bit more choosy about what I want to play in."

For that reason too, she would not consider turning pro in a coaching capacity, either. "I help with the juniors down here and I love teaching them.

You get a real satisfaction from seeing them improve, but I like working and doing what I'm doing."

Her partner Richard Brown is also a golfer, and a member of the Malton and Norton Golf Club men's team which just made third place in the Mail on Sunday national competition finals in Spain.

"We have known each other for years and both played golf since we were in juniors," she said. And despite the thorny issue of her golfing superiority - he plays off 4 and she plays off +3 - he seems to take in on the chin.

"He doesn't understand why he gets the ball further but I still win," she joked, adding: "We are both very supportive of each other's golf because we understand it."

Always very sporty at school, Emma plays netball for Broughton, Swinton and Amotherby.

"I still enjoy team sports and it is important to keep the balance," she explained. Other than that, she likes spending time with friends, eating out and shopping - and wine.

"We've got a good group of friends in Malton," she said. "It's just a nice market town.

It's where I was born and grew up and it's comfortable, homely, everyone's friendly.

"It's nice if someone says: You're the golfer, aren't you? I read about you in the Gazette & Herald'."

So what does the future hold? "More of the same, carry on enjoying it and carry on competing to the best of my ability. Enjoyment is the big thing," she said.

And when I ask her what one big goal she would still like to achieve, her answer is characteristically good-natured and club-focused.

"I'd like our ladies team to do as well as the men's in the Mail on Sunday competition next year," she said.

"It would be great if both teams could get to the final."