LBGC Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 31
Langland Centenary Book
15/2/05
6:11 pm
Page 31
cometh the man. Ken Phillips, recently elected to the Board,
acted as Clerk of the Works, and got the job done for about
half the lowest tender. Admittedly, the main contractor was
unable to complete the alterations properly, but remedial work
was comparatively inexpensive.The Clubhouse interior was
now in its present form as regards the common room and
main part of the men’s bar. Unfortunately, use of the games
room which was also the Junior’s, was lost and handed over to
the ladies in order to improve their woefully inadequate locker
accommodation.The ladies with some minor professional
assistance did a great “Do it yourself” job on improving this
accommodation.They used it until conversion into the
Steward’s quarters in 1974, when due the circumstances they
had to suffer a certain amount of inconvenience in temporary
locker rooms until their present accommodation was
completed in 1976.
Board of Management 1962
The negotiations with Dick Woolacott having fallen through,
the “TALC” members now occupied themselves with possible
ways of replanning the course to obviate some of the climbing,
reduce danger and increase the length of some holes as major
considerations. Lee Taylor and David Billings spent many hours
drawing up plans and either finishing up with sixteen holes, or
being stuck out on a point with a long, long, walk to the next
tee. In fact some serious consideration was given to reducing
the course to fourteen holes.
1964 was the Club’s official Diamond Jubilee and some form of
celebration was considered. As a change, the Club
endeavoured to arrange an exhibition match between two lady
professional golfers. For various reasons this was not possible
so it was decided to organise a competition for Welsh based
professionals and put up a prize of £100.The competition was
organised by Lee Taylor, was successful and won by Sid
Mouland of Penarth.
The professional competition was so successful and received
such complimentary remarks that it was decided to run a
further one in 1965 with prize money increased to £200.
However, due to lack of support it was cancelled.This was
most annoying, as a lot of work had been put into the scheme
and the feeling among members was that if the Welsh
Professionals did not want to make any money the Club could
use it to good effect. John Moody, the Western Mail Golf
correspondent at the time, made similar remarks in his weekly
column, and the Welsh P.G.A. Secretary wrote a charming
letter of apology. Lee Taylor, on whom the main burden of
organisation had fallen, complained so often about it, usually
prefacing his remarks “stop me if you’ve heard it before” that
the reply “willingly but how?” hardly ever disconcerted him!
Complaints were still being received about the length of the
course. Good players were tending to leave Langland because
they were unable to play any long second shots and in an effort
to overcome the complaints the Board engaged Henry Cotton
to draw up a new course layout. His plans were received in
June 1964 and came into play in April 1965.
At the same time as these operations were being effected, the
Board decided to seek tenders to carry out a further stage of
Clubhouse expansion.This entailed the conversion of the
Billiard room to a kitchen, the erection of a new Billiard room,
extension of the existing bar service into the common room
and the extension of that room to bring the existing Dining
room/ Lounge into one with it.The tenders when received
caused the Board Members to think this was once again a pipe
dream, as the lowest tender was £4000. Cometh the day,
The new Henry Cotton layouts came into play in April 1965
and the complaints flooded in! The layout in theory had been
fine, but in practice the long and arduous haul from the green
to the next tee was causing much difficulty and there was
certainly an increase in danger.The Handicap and Greens
Committee in an abortive attempt to minimise the dangers
increased the number of already unpopular “out-of-bounds”
trenches and reduced the length of some holes which did little
to staunch the flood. In retrospect, the alterations, certainly the
most unpopular anyone could remember, were probably made
worse by too early a reaction by the Handicap and Greens
Committee.
The operation was a failure but the patient lived! The patient
lived because, whilst further changes were being carried out or
debated on, the Board received the electrifying news that Dick
Woolacott was retiring from farming and that his son was not
interested in carrying on the family business. “TALC” was
hastily reconvened and George Shellard co-opted to negotiate
with the three landowners involved. By October 1965, he was
able to report that leases had been obtained on all the land
south of Caswell Road which had been previously farmed by
the Woolacott family.This was what the Club had wanted since
inception and was a tremendous boost to moral and interest.
Although criticism of the Cotton layout continued, with very
little of it being constructive, at least it could be faced that it
was only for a limited period that members would have to
suffer. Some of this land has since been purchased by the Club
and is owned freehold.
The Board formed a special sub-committee to deal with the
planning of the land; this comprised Lee Taylor, Bob Pressdee,
Jim Seaton, George Shellard,Tom Lynch and David Billings. It
was decided not to go to Henry Cotton again but to use the
course architect retained by Carters Seeds. He duly attended
on a freezing cold day and was the first man to be seen in
Wales wearing a fur coat but It was certainly needed that day.
His plans envisaged, among other things, two loops of nine
holes each, which was fine except that it meant climbing most
of the hills twice.The sub-committee determined to design
their own course, bearing in mind that members required to
start and finish outside the Clubhouse and to retain, at least,
the present eighth and sixteenth holes. Each member of the
sub-committee designed the course he would personally like
and then at a series of meetings each plan was discussed in
some detail and the best of each design incorporated into
the whole.
It is interesting to recall that one Board member doubted the
ability of the sub-committee to produce a viable plan, but some
years later asked that the minutes record his doubts as
mistaken and offered his congratulations.
31
31
