A FORMER golf club worker supplied eight pals with drugs for a year, a court heard.

Police raided 24-year-old Lee Ruck's home and were shown cannabis buried in the garden.

They also found more of the drug in a shoe-box and an anorak besides two ecstasy tablets.

Ruck, of Pipe Freefield Cottage, Lyde, Herefordshire, pleaded guilty to six counts of drug supply and possession and allowing his home to be used for smoking cannabis.

Recorder Philip Parker QC warned Ruck he had come 'within an ace' of going to jail.

But he had acted with total honesty towards police and had made moves to quit the habit.

Ruck was put on probation for 12 months with a condition he attend 12 drug counselling sessions. He was also ordered to carry out 100 hours community work.

Prosecutor Peter Tooke said police raided the cottage on January 14 this year. Ruck, a heavy drug user for 10 years, showed them two large pieces of cannabis hidden in a garden pit.

He confessed he supplied friends in order to buy cannabis in bulk and cut costs. He had three previous convictions for drug possession.

Gareth Walters, defending, said Ruck, who worked at Burghill Golf Club and now at a golf driving range, took cannabis to relieve pressure.

But he needed more of the drug than he could afford and supplied friends. He was not a commercial dealer for profit.

Mr Walters said he was pleasant young man who had been shocked by his prosecution.