Downham Market’s Jonny Spinks will make his Norfolk first-team debut this weekend after a “16 or 17-year” absence from county colours.

Spinks, 33, was a very promising junior and his name appears on the Norfolk Boys trophy.

But work priorities – he is a car salesperson in King’s Lynn – meant golf took a back seat for around a decade.

His hunger for the sport returned around six years ago, leading to success at Ryston Park Golf Club where last summer he defended his club championship crown.

In 2025 Spinks also posted a course-record 65 at Ryston and backed it up with another score in the mid-60s at Swaffham.

Such feats and a handicap index of plus-1.2 drew the attention of Norfolk County Golf Union coach Nic Cains.

Invited to attend winter training, Spinks – now a Swaffham member – has sufficiently impressed county team joint-managers Simon Clark and Carl Green to earn up a call-up for Norfolk’s Anglian League curtain-raiser.

He has been named in the eight-strong side to face Leicestershire and Rutland at Cosby Golf Club.

And Spinks has also been selected for the following weekend’s Eastern Counties Foursomes two-dayer at Seacroft in Lincolnshire.

Spinks said: “I was over the moon to see my name on the list for the first team.

“I didn’t expect it at all, really, because of the calibre of players that are in there. But I’m very, very thankful and just looking forward to seeing how I can fare up against some of these sides.”

Spinks has thrived during the Norfolk elite squad’s in-depth winter program. Targeted sessions to refine short game and putting have been organised, alongside support from specialists including a sports psychologist.

Spinks said: “I can’t see how all the work that the county put in over the winter won’t have made a positive difference to my game, everyone’s game – because it’s all been about development.

“I didn’t know what to expect coming into it, but it’s been brilliant.”

Spinks has already started to reap the benefits and points to the wedge-game work he has done with Cains.

He said: “My ball position was about three inches too far forward in my stance without me knowing.

“Nic was able to change things quite dramatically just by looking at me and saying ‘let’s put it back a bit.’

“And the ball strike, flight, distance, everything was way better. So that’s been a massive help in my short game.”

Norfolk are set for a stiff test in their opener as Leicestershire and Rutland are the defending Anglian League champions.

But Spinks said: “I like a bit of a challenge and a bit of pressure. I don’t mind it.

“I tend to look at it as an enjoyable environment, something I can sink my teeth into.

“If you come away from it and don’t get the result you want, as long as you feel like you’ve put everything into it and you’ve had a good game of golf, what more can you ask?”