Shropshire golfer Sally Hinton a tee-riffic hit Stateside

Sally Hinton, from Bridgnorth, flew out to Missouri State University to attend a presentation and accept the award.

Hinton, aged 30, who spent three years as the assistant professional at her home town club, Bridgnorth, cemented her status as the most accomplished player in the college's history by winning her first two tournaments, the Hawkeye Intercollegiate and Chip-N-Club Invitational.

She finished runner-up in her third tournament, the ORU Shootout, but posting a then-college record 69 in the final round along the way.

Hinton, who is now the golf professional at Close House in Newcastle, was named MVC player of the week after each of her first three tournaments.

As co-captain of the Missouri State Bears women's golf team from 2003-2007 she registered five of the top 10 spots on the college's single-round scoring chart.

Hinton, who majored in geography during her four-year scholarship, was voted Outstanding Female Athlete during her final year.

She said: "It was a great honour to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Missouri State University and loved going back for the induction.

"It was great to catch up with my team-mates and friends, some of which I hadn't seen since I graduated in 2007."

Hinton was initially recruited following a series of positive email conversations with Missouri State coach, Kevin Kane.

She went on to receive a full scholarship, which meant all her fees were covered during her four-year placement.

"I liked playing golf at Missouri because we were able to play a different course each day of the week," said Hinton.

"We got to travel across the USA for tournaments and my favourite tournament was in Phoenix, Arizona."

Hinton comes from a long line of golfing professionals and learned to play the game at Bridgnorth Golf Club where her father, Paul, was the club professional.

The family's strong professional golfing links include her grandfather, Ron and uncle Philip.

After graduating from Missouri, Hinton became assistant to current Bridgnorth professional Steve Russell, and completed her training and PGA foundation degree before moving to Newcastle in 2010.

Her duties at Close House as a golf-teaching professional include teaching and custom fitting a variety of clients aged from four right up to 83.

Hinton said: "Coaching takes up most of my time and I have very little time for my own game these days, unfortunately.

"However, I get the same enjoyment out of helping the players I teach improve."

Hinton's biggest win as an amateur was the Midland Ladies Championship and she also won the Shropshire State Schools Championship in 2001 and 2002, the Shropshire U18 title in 2001, finished third in the English Schools Championship in 2001 and was selected to play for England Schools versus Scotland.

Proud mother Angela said the presentation in the USA had been a great honour for the whole family.

"My husband Paul and I are obviously very proud of her," she said. "She holds the season scoring average record, the career scoring average record and was in the All Conference team during all four of her college years."

Hinton also played rugby and hockey for Bridgnorth, and football for the county.