Courtney Young was born in Jamaica on 11 February 1955. He is one of twelve siblings and grew up in Clarendon, where he attended Glenmuir High School. After studying surveying, he moved to the Cayman Islands in 1984 to work on the construction of the Cayman Brac airport. He eventually emigrated there permanently in 1987 to take up a role with the government.
Young played club cricket in both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands before turning his focus to officiating. He became the first president of the Cayman Islands Cricket Umpires Association in 1995 and held that role until 2012. He eventually joined the ICC Associates and Affiliates Umpire Panel in 2011 and remains a long-standing representative for the Americas region.
His first-class umpiring career spanned four matches between 2004 and 2007. He made his debut in the 2004 Intercontinental Cup, standing in a fixture between Bermuda and the United States. He also officiated matches involving Canada against Kenya and the United Arab Emirates during that period.
In recent years, Young has moved into the shortest format of the game. He has officiated in 4 T20I matches between 2022 and 2025. His first on-field appearance in a T20I came during a series between the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas in April 2022.