Barely five-years-old, but golf whizz Jack sets his sights on swapping Shropshire for the USA

At the age of five, most children are saving their pocket money to buy their favourite toys.

But Jack Dirkin is looking to break America — and needs to raise thousands of pounds to do it.

Jack, who attends Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge Primary School, has qualified for the world under-six championships in Pinehurst, North Carolina, which will take place at the end of July.

He hopes to join the long line of famous golfers who were first pictured as children, learning their trade with shortened clubs.

The youngster will need just short of £10,000 to compete in all the tournaments he is scheduled to play in next year, including £5,000 for the America trip, and is asking for donations or contributions to help him be the ace of clubs.

His father Chris, said: "We have worked out that we will need £9,635 to pay for his coaching, travel and entries for 2015 and without re-mortgaging the house, we will struggle to find that sort of money.

"We are trying our hardest to raise the money. One main sponsor, Wrekin Housing Trust, is helping towards putting the scheme in place and supporting local sports men and women and have helped raise £500.

"We have had a few other family donations but we are still quite a bit short. Ideally we want to raise it all by the end of May.

"In terms of his ability he has no less of an ability at this stage than the current top golf superstars like Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods had at his age. He has the potential but of course he is only five so you never know. But he is highly talented and we are trying to give him the opportunity to play on the world stage.

"He just thinks it is all normal, he just loves playing golf, he loves training and playing with other young players and for him it is fun.

"He understands he is talented but he is not arrogant. He just loves playing golf.

"Big international tournaments do not faze him, it is more worrying for me and I am the caddy. He got better in 2014 with the more tournaments he played."

Jack and his family, of Lightmoor Village, are hosting a fundraising golf day on Sunday, May 10, at Horsehay Village Golf Centre, in Telford, starting at 10am. Teams of three players can enter, at a cost of £25 per player for 18 holes, which includes food and prizes for the top three individuals.

Jack has recently gained full support from Elton Gidney, a sports branding and management company based in Shropshire, who are also designing a new website for Jack to allow those interested to follow his progress.

Jack first came to prominence when he competed last May in the United States Kids Gold Junior Championship at the Longniddry Golf Club in Scotland. He was the tournament's youngest competitor at the age of four.

He didn't finish bottom of the pile, either, finishing 47th out of 51 in the under-seven category after three days of competition, with most of his rivals nearly twice his age.

He started playing at just 18 months old after dad Chris bought him a set of toy clubs.

Chris said: "From the word go he middled every shot, so I knew he was a natural and things have just gone on from there."

the and weight, I have to get them flown in from America."

Chris added his son was also keen on cricket and enjoys batting but has been kept away from playing the sport regularly so it does not affect his golf swing.

Any individual or business who is interested in making a donation or sponsoring Jack, can email Chris on christopher.dirkin@gmail.com.