2009 Ryder Cup contenders and the English Tourist Board’s regional ‘Hotel of the Year 2000’, De Vere Slaley Hall, has welcomed a new appointment to its golfing team.

Craig Fetherston, 28, takes up the role of teaching professional, developing teaching and assisting the golf shop by giving expert advice to customers looking to buy new equipment.

Originally from Newcastle Upon Tyne, Craig worked at Gosforth’s Parklands Golf Club for eight years as golf shop assistant, during which period he became a PGA qualified teaching pro.

Craig is also a member of the Professional Golfers Association.

Mark Stancer, golf operations manager at De Vere Slaley Hall, comments: "Craig is an important addition to the team.

"He has a fresh and extensive knowledge of golf which will be very beneficial to our players and his experience in customer relations is warmly welcomed by De Vere Slaley Hall."

De Vere Slaley Hall can be found west of Newcastle, set in 1,000 acres of prime Northumberland forest and moorland and surrounded by two championship golf courses. While the hotel includes many original Edwardian features, it also provides a broad range of four-star facilities such as a leisure club and health and beauty spa.

Offering outdoor activities ranging from clay pigeon shooting and archery to mountain biking, quad biking and hot air ballooning, De Vere Slaley Hall also benefits from conference and banqueting facilities which cater for private meetings through to major conferences.

De Vere offers some of the UK’s finest four and five-star hotels, each with a character of its own. It is also the first hotel group in the UK to have received two coveted industry standard awards – Hospitality Assured and Hospitality Assured Meetings – the kitemarks of quality customer service provision.