LBGC Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 12
Langland Centenary Book
15/2/05
6:08 pm
Page 12
Meeting held at the Langland Bay Hotel
Tuesday 24th September 1901
Present; Messrs Walter R. Collins (in the Chair), H.M. Peel,
T.W. Islay Young, Revd. H.S.Williams, R.E. Gold, A.P. Steads,
J.F. Coonan, G.H.B. Shaddick.
It was resolved;“To take measures to form a golf club, and Mr.
Shaddick having reported that he could not make any arrangements
with Mr.Woolacott with regard to his fields adjoining Cliffe Cottage, it
was decided that endeavours should be made to form links entirely
on the farm now occupied by Mr. Arthur Gwynne.That Mr. Shaddick
and as many of the gentlemen present who could manage it would
attend on the ground on Thursday next at 4 pm for the purpose of
marking out proposed greens and teeing grounds on such farm...”
It was interesting to note the passage in the minute “that as he
could not make any arrangements with Mr.Woolacott with
regard to his fields adjoining Cliffe Cottage...” - This and similar
remarks crop up many times in the Club’s minutes over the
next sixty-odd years, for despite amicable relations between
the Club and Mr.Woolacott - father and son - it was not until
1965, when the son retired from farming that the Club was
able to obtain any playing rights over the fields mentioned in
1901. Incidentally, the Cliffe Cottage mentioned is the earlier
one, the ruins of which still stand alongside the present Cliffe
Cottage which was built between the wars on the present
8th hole.
Although we must assume that several of the gentlemen
attended two days after this historic meeting to mark out tees
and greens, no further entries appear in the Club’s minutes
until 1904. Part of the reason for this apparent delay may have
been that the Langland Bay Hotel Estate was for sale at an
auction to be held at the Hotel Metropole, Swansea, on March
11th, 1902.The sale comprised approximately 60 acres and
included the “palatial seaside hotel establishment”, “three
detached villa residences”, the farmhouse and outbuildings
known as Langland Farm, “together with” 35 acres of fertile
meadow and arable land, a considerable portion of which is
ripe for immediate development as building sites.
The map which accompanied the notice of sale shows
proposed roads running up the side of the hedge alongside the
present practice green, and the whole length of the present
second fairway with a further road running down the centre of
the land, roughly on a line with our present practice area.The
land where the tents later stood in the summer is marked
“Building Plots already sold.” As is the area now holding the
second green and the top of the third fairway. If planning
permission were to be obtained at today’s prices, what would
the land be worth? No information has been traced as to why
development did not take place, but all present members must
be delighted that the beautiful area we use, enjoy, and all too
often take for granted, remained undeveloped.
The next minute is dated July,1904. By this time our founders
were getting near to making what they hoped would be the
final arrangements about the ground to be used, even going as
far as to make a rule that no Sunday golf was to be permitted.
The Course was officially scheduled to be opened on Saturday
September 10th, 1904, when the President, Sir John Jones
Jenkins (afterwards Lord Glantawe) was asked - weather
permitting - to drive off. Apparently the weather was not
inclement, or the Founders were not the “fair weather golfers”
the minute alleges, for the inaugural drive was made, and the
clubs the President used are still on show in the Clubhouse
today.The inaugural ceremony was timed to take place at
3.30p.m., and tea and light refreshments were to be provided
by the club at the Langland Bay Hotel between 4 and 5p.m. So
it seems that the most that the President could have done is to
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play one hole, and it is unfortunate that the records do not
show what sort of shots the President played! Perhaps the
members of the day were too polite to record them!
The course as it was played in 1904 was all in front of the
farmhouse, and the plan was shown on the scorecard, a copy of
which is retained in the original minute book. Incidentally, these
score cards then cost 1d each.The total length of the first
course was 1801 yards, but from reading the minutes it is
evident that continuous changes were taking place.
The Founders really got down to business at this stage, forming
a Committee and deciding that the Club should be called
“Langland Bay Golf Club” and they agreed that “the rules of
the Swansea Bay Golf Club shall be the rules of the Langland
Bay Golf Club subject to certain alterations”. One of the
alterations in the rules must have been a local rule permitting
cleaning of the ball on the green, because some thirty-odd
years later one of the Club’s golfers was in the process of
winning the Open Meeting at Swansea Bay when he cleaned
the ball on the eighteenth green and was disqualified.There
being no local rule allowing a ball to be lifted and cleaned at
Swansea Bay, and the rule of golf permitting this was not then
in use.
The minutes also record the purchase of a roller for £1, but it
could not have been a good buy, as one month later it cost £3
to repair, and less than twelve months later a roller had to be
borrowed from the cricket club. A club Professional was
engaged for six months at 15/- per week, “it being distinctly
understood that for this sum he does all the work required of
him through and on the greens without further expense to
the Club".
These arrangements were apparently unsatisfactory, for a year
later a “full time professional” was appointed at an inclusive
salary of 25/- per week, “all teaching fees to be paid to the
Club funds”. The first professional was W.H. Booth who was
later in a similar position at Blackpill Golf Club, now the
Municipal course at Ashleigh Road and often irreverently
known as “Royal Ashleigh”.The professional’s shop adjoined the
old Clyne Valley railway line near to the present Halfway
Garage. It was here at Ashleigh Road that the Swansea Bay Golf
Club had been formed before moving to Jersey Marine.
W.H. Booth - First Golf Professional at Langland Bay Golf Club