LBGC Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 16
Langland Centenary Book
15/2/05
6:08 pm
Page 16
issued directions that some parts of the course were to be
ploughed up and crops sown. Nevertheless the Club survived
these difficulties, and golf continued to be played even if the
shortage of balls meant recourse to the old “gutties”, or even
wooden balls.
In a series of reminiscences from older members of the Club it
was apparent that after the war there were plenty of these
wooden balls lying around and many a fire was lit at home with
a bucketful of “gutties” and “woodies”. Regretfully very few, if
any, were retained as keepsakes or museum pieces.
many years. He held the course record for a number of years
in the 1930s and 1940s with a fabulous round of 62. After such
a wonderful playing record Courcey turned to the
administration of golf and was West Wales representative on
the Welsh Golfing Union and a member of the Glamorgan
County Union for many years, being particularly interested in
junior golf and probably doing more for junior golf than any
other five men put together. Some of the Club’s top players
Bob Pressdee, Chris Last and John Colegate were all coached
and assisted by Courcey. Unfortunately, ill-health limited
Courcey’s golf for some years before his sudden death in 1973.
After the war the Club entered into a period of greatly
increased membership and growing prosperity. In 1919 the
membership was 220 of which 60 were Ladies.The minutes
record the entering of a team in the first Victory Shield
Foursomes Competition to be played at Royal Porthcawl. No
mention is made, however, of how the team fared, and it was
fifty-three years and a couple of wars later before the Club
won the Competition! If anyone is arguing about a couple of
wars, then remember the 39/45 conflagration and the
Korean War.
By 1921 the membership had reached 322, including 116
Ladies. As this was on a short nine hole course, it is small
wonder when an average of 1000 visiting members per annum
is also taken into account that all sorts of rules and regulations
had to be made to avoid congestion, particularly at week-ends.
The number of members still increased but the subscription
was maintained at the figure agreed upon in1913.
This improved prosperity was too good to last, national
conditions deteriorated, the membership started to decline,
and the Club began to lose money. The Committee soldiered
on despite the many difficulties and negotiated a lease for
twenty five years with the new owner of the farm lands, Mr.
Frank Gilbertson. He was a member of the Club who at the
time lived in Caswell but intended building a house “at the
north-east corner of the Boggy Field”, and this field, therefore,
was not included in the lease. It would appear that this house
would have been sited somewhere near where the present
putting green is, or perhaps a bit lower.
During the early twenties many new members were elected to
the Club, but none were to be so important to the future of
the Club than Grieg Simpson, elected in 1920, and de Courcey
Penn elected, as a junior, in 1922.
The late Greig Simpson, subsequently to become President,
whose efforts in the second world war probably kept the Club
in existence, and who was elected a Life Member in 1948 in
recognition of those efforts, very nearly left the Club early in
his career.The story goes that Greig was playing alone and was
putting on the seventh green when a fellow member drove
from an adjacent tee and hit him on the hand. Greig’s reaction
was to run to the tee and punch the offender so hard that he
was knocked off the tee! When hauled before the Committee
he was reprimanded, but privately told that he had neither hit
the offender hard enough or far enough! There are still some
of those equally popular members among us today
Greig was known, so the stories go, as “ the bloody blacksmith”
and had in those days a personal caddy, a young lad from
Newton, and it is pleasant to record that when in the Club’s
Jubilee of1954, Greig was again elected Captain, one of his ViceCaptains being Bill Richards, his caddy thirty years earlier.
The late de Courcey Penn was of course a first class golfer,
winning most of the Club’s trophies, being Club Champion
three times, and representing Glamorgan in team matches for
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Caswell Hill
The period of the 1920s at Langland could be known as the
“Hill Era”, as the professional was W.H. Hill, the greenkeeper
W.J. Hill and the stewardess Miss B. Hill, soon to become Mrs.
Venn. Bill Hill, the professional, was a short man, but a most
capable golfer who hit the ball very straight. He advised all his
pupils to hit well behind the ball so as to achieve this desired
straightness. Unfortunately, few of his pupils possessed wrists as
strong as his, and a lesson with him was often a painful
experience.
Bill Hill’s brother, Frank Hill, professional at St. Mellons, was
Welsh Professional Champion and on two separate occasions
led the field after two rounds of the British Open. Other
notable local golfers at this time were Gus Faulkner - father of
Max - who was at Pennard, and Percy Allis - father of Peter at Clyne.
In 1924 Frank Venn was appointed Greenkeeper and he served
the Club faithfully and well for the next forty-one years, and
subsequently on a part-time basis for a few more years. Over
the years Frank acted as Greenkeeper, Steward, and during the
war years to give lessons to beginners as well. So highly were
Frank’s services esteemed that he was made an Honorary
Member of the Club. Mrs.Venn acted as stewardess until 1927,
and then again from 1939 until her retirement in 1958. Happily,
when Mrs.Venn left, the Club was able to make a gift to her in
recognition of her services, and when Frank retired the Club
undertook to pay him a modest pension this helping towards a
happy retirement in the village of Mumbles.
The financial position of the Club was, in 1925, still causing
concern and the Ladies were asked to organise a Club Dance
to improve the Club funds.The first dance was held in the
Autumn of 1925 and proved to be successful, raising a profit of
£ 26 - as much, if not more, than many subsequent dances.The
subscriptions were increased to three guineas for men and two
guineas for ladies as from 1st October,1925 and an appeal was
made to members to make this subscription increase
retrospective to 1924. Judging from the rather plaintive circular
issued in July 1926, the response was somewhat disappointing,
the circular stating;