Eric West's golf career has come on in leaps and bounds over the past year or so.

Now the Tour de las Americas (TLA) and part-time Canadian Tour player hopes to continue in the same vein, or even better, this term.

The 25-year old Bermudian is due to tee off in next month's TLA Qualifying School event in Florida where he hopes to enhance his chances of qualifying for some of the more lucrative events on the Canadian, Challenge and Nationwide Tours.

But before he can even begin dreaming of earning a big pay day he must first fulfill a practice obligation with esteemed coach Mike Bender – who also coaches 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson – in Florida at the end of the month.

Since relocating in Bermuda with wife Nicole four weeks ago, the 2005 Bermuda Amateur Stroke-Play champion has been trying to dust off the cobwebs acquired from a lengthy break from the game at Mid Ocean Club.

"My game is not that great at the moment. Since I have been playing here my ball striking has come back pretty quickly, but my chipping and putting around the green is taking a while to return," West said.

"I have been playing a bit for the past few weeks just trying to get back into the swing of things and wasn't even planning on playing this early in the year having recently moved back to Bermuda on a full-time basis."

The plus-four handicapper qualified for the Tour de las Americas last March and retained his tour status at the end of the 2008 campaign after finishing among the top 65 players.

West's best finish to date on the South American tour arrived at last September's Taurus Abierto de Peru in Peru where he finished 12th and he is also a multiple winner on the Moonlightgolf.com Tour.

"Overall, I feel my progression has been pretty good. I made a lot of cuts last year which was good," he said. "I thought I did a lot better than in my previous year and so I am improving with each year."

West added: "I'm only 25 and although I would prefer to be a bit further along than I am, I think I'm pretty much where I should be at the moment. And if I have a good top 30 finish on the Canadian and Tour de las Americas Tours, then I'll be very happy with that. I just want to shoot under par, make more cuts and make some money."

The 2005 Vacaville City champion also wants to share his golf knowledge to the Island's youth golfers who he feels are falling further behind their US counterparts in terms of development.

"When I played junior golf it was a really serious organisation but now the numbers are dwindling resulting in fewer really good kids," he recalled. "When I was playing Michael (Sims) wasn't even the best; there were a lot of other kids better than him and at least there was that competition. But now there's only two or three kids that are really good and competing well internationally."

He added: "My goal is to be more involved in helping the junior players. I want to spend more time playing with them and helping them out so they can be better prepared to play in the US because I know how good these kids (US) are these days and how much training they are getting.

"What I see happening here is not realistic for the kids to be doing what they are doing to get a Division One scholarship. So I am trying to find ways whereas I can be proactive in helping the youth.

"It's a very small community here and I am happy to talk to people and share what I know. I want people to know that I am available if they need any help."