LBGC Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 29
Langland Centenary Book
15/2/05
6:11 pm
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health deteriorated and on medical advice she resigned as
stewardess.The club was able to make a presentation to her in
recognition of her past service and engaged a new steward to
carry on. At about the same time our professional was
involved in a rather sordid Police Court case which caused
some dissension among members. A minority wanted him to
stay on but two Board members requisitioned a special Board
meeting to obtain his dismissal. As a compromise the
professional was asked to resign his position, which he did, but
one Board member would not accept the majority decision
and resigned from the Board. As one member said at the
Annual General Meeting “it is a shame that the Club should
lose the services of such a Board Member over a Club servant,
and one who was not even a good Club servant”.
Alf Lockley, Welsh Amateur Champion 1956
Members, generally, were pleased with the amended course and
a further exhibition match was held in 1958, when Dai Rees
played our professional and afterwards held a “golf clinic”.The
only trouble with these exhibition matches was that they
usually led to a spate of broken windows. Members tried to
emulate the long hitting professionals which usually resulted in
a prodigious slice and another window would be shattered.
During 1958 Bob Pressdee reached the semi-final of the Welsh
Amateur, won the Glamorgan Championship and was selected
to play for Wales. In recognition of these achievements he was
made an Honorary Member only ten years after joining the
Club and was certainly a force to be reckoned with in Welsh
Golf as well as being one of the most popular figures of the
Welsh golfing scene.
Bob Pressdee
He served on the Welsh Golf Union as a selector and was nonplaying Captain of the Welsh team. One will never know but
perhaps if Bob had not been such a nice chap he may have
been an even better golfer.Yet let us be sure of one thing, he
was happy as he was and those who played with or against or
chatted to him soon became happy in his company.
The rest of 1958 was unfortunately not as pleasant. Mrs.Venn’s
In November 1958, from a short list of three,T.J. Lynch from
the Nelson and Colne Golf Club was appointed professional.
Tom, who commenced his golfing career at Hoylake, was
destined to play a big part in the development of teaching golf
at Langland and in particular to junior golfers. More of Tom as
the book progresses.
At this stage in the Club’s history there was once again some
dissension among members with one fraction arguing that too
much was being expended on the course and not enough on
the Clubhouse and the other faction had diametrically opposed
views.The Board was of the opinion that expenditure was
needed on both but which had the priority? -Which comes
first, the chicken or the hen? No golf course can prosper
without a Clubhouse and a bar, but equally, without a
reasonable course, the Clubhouse would become a liability. It
was finally decided to carry out some capital works on the
course in order to reduce the maintenance costs and to
implement the first stage of the long term plan for the
Clubhouse improvement. Any suggestion that the demand for
Clubhouse improvement came from non-golfers only must be
refuted and it was Eric Linklater, the well known author, not
Gordon Lamb or Jack Pressdee, who is reputed to have said
“the trouble with golf is that it takes you far away from the
Clubhouse”! During the close season the members turned out
and dug trenches to drain the old seventeenth fairway, the
boggy field of the 1920 lease, leading “soakaways” into the
existing drainage ditches.These then had land drains installed
and were filled in by the contractor who also removed many of
the old hedgebanks, which were still in existence.The cost of
these improvements was £350, but the work rate of the
ground staff was much improved as the gang mowers were not
so impeded as in the past. Equally members were not subject
to so much frustration searching overgrown banks and ditches
for lost balls, so the speed of play was generally improved.
Early in 1959 planning consent was received enabling the bar to
be moved to the centre of the building where it now stands,
with a hatch to serve the snooker room and another to serve
the hall which was extended to form a lounge.The former
staircase was altered to form a “Y” branch, the right hand
branch to the ladies’ locker rooms, the left hand branch to the
then empty men’s’ locker rooms which, after long discussions
over the possiblities of installing a full sized billiard table, was
converted into a games room and the table tennis reinstated.
The work commenced in the Autumn and was completed early
in 1960, the new bar being officially opened on 1st March,
1960, which is the origin of the annual St. David’s Party which
was held in the Clubhouse.
Other affairs occupied the Board at this period. Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas who had been Steward and Stewardess since the
departure of Mrs.Venn were replaced by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur.
Arthur Arthur, yes that really was his name, was originally a
Pole, who came to this country during the war. He and Mrs.
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