FORMER table tennis big hitter Andrea Holt has wasted no time getting golf off to a tee. The ex-England number one has swapped the bat for the club and is taking the Bury golf scene by storm.

Despite insisting she is in it for fun and not for the pressures which surrounded her table tennis career, 31-year-old Andrea has established herself as one of the best women players in the town just four years after taking up the sport.

"I used to hack around the municipal courses but never took it seriously," she said.

"About four years ago I joined Bury Golf Club and it has just gone on from there."

Her rapid progress has seen her handicap go from 23 in her first year to an impressive six - at one stage hitting five - last season when she reached the final of the Bury Golf Championships.

She has also played for Lancashire Seconds and, as she is totally self-taught, there looks to be plenty of improvement left in her.

But she is not driven by ambition with her number one priority to continue enjoying the sport.

"It's a great game and I love playing," she added.

"The great thing about it is that it is different every time you play - different courses, weather, people and every round is different - so it is alway throwing up new challenges and you can play it anywhere.

"I have only ever had a couple of lessons and I am not looking to do the same at golf as I did at table tennis."

It would be difficult to emulate the success she enjoyed at table tennis in her new sporting passion.

As well as being ranked in the top three in Great Britain for the best part of a decade, she competed all over the world in a hectic, jet-set lifestyle, winning an enormous amount of national and international honours.

She now coaches for Lancashire Council and on a private basis and sees golf as providing the enjoyment she was unable to get from her table tennis career because of the pressures.

"I took it up because I liked it and that's the way I want it to stay," she added. "I want to improve and if I continue to enjoy playing the improvement should come."

Any table tennis players wishing to take advantage of Andrea's coaching expertise on a private basis can contact her on 0780 1069907.