Children in Oxford are being encouraged to take up golf in preference to a life of crime.

The city council's street warden team could be responsible for fostering a future Tiger Woods.

Boys and girls as young as eight from Rose Hill have been lured from the streets by the opportunity for coaching on the Hinksey Heights course from club professional Dean Davis.

Already 12 to 15 have been playing regularly, swinging with the best, and are said to be "enthusiastic and well-behaved", with one or two budding stars who already keep well away from the rough stuff.

It is another ground-breaking initiative by the street wardens who work in the community to fight antisocial behaviour, dealing particularly with the nuisance of graffiti, litter, noise and abandoned cars.

Theresa Sheppard is one of the 10 street wardens, who were introduced in Blackbird Leys, Littlemore, Northfield Brook and Rose Hill, in February. She said: "We really have enjoyed helping these young people learn to play golf properly.

"Some of them play on the grass around the estates, but they have loved learning from a golf pro and on a proper course.

"We need to encourage them to take up sports and different interests, as boredom is a big contributor to getting into trouble as children get older." Oxford City Council's executive member for crime and community safety, Susan Brown, said: "This is yet another initiative which demonstrates the hard work and inventiveness the street wardens are putting into supporting the communities they work in.

"The feedback from local communities has been very positive and we hope schemes like this one will allow local youngsters to develop new skills and interests and keep out of trouble."

Since the scheme began, car thefts have dropped and local communities have welcomed the presence of the wardens as a deterrent to trouble-makers, said a city council spokesman.

But she added: "The wardens have also seen a need for activities for children and young people in the area to help prevent them turning to antisocial behaviour."

As reported in the Oxford Mail on Monday, about 30 children in Blackbird Leys and 15 in Rose Hill have signed up as junior street wardens, litter-picking and pointing out incidents of vandalism and and graffiti to their senior counterparts. We revealed that the revolutionary scheme, first pioneered in Swindon, was at risk because of lack of funding from local businesses.

Ms Sheppard said: "We have absolutely no funding and the success of the scheme will depend on the support we get."