Did you know that golf was played in Pontnewydd 150 years ago? It gives Pontnewydd Golf Club a special claim of being the oldest course in Wales.
I met Richard Palmer, in February when he was the club’s current vice-president and incoming president. He invited me over for a coffee and a chat about 2025 being a very special year for the club, where it will be celebrating its 150th anniversary.
He told me: “A lot of people don’t know about this place and we want them to know more about it as it was arguably the oldest course in Wales.”
He included “arguably” in that sentence and explained why. It’s because Tenby Golf Club’s strapline of being the “Birthplace of Welsh Golf”. The West Wales club’s website says they became “established in 1888” and then adds in brackets “although golfers had been active since at least 1875.”
‘Oldest in Wales’
Richard went on: “As a club, they might be [the oldest in Wales], but as a course, there were holes here [Pontnewydd] in 1875. What used to happen was the solicitors, doctors, and professional people who wanted to play golf then, when the game was new, would come up by train. Sometimes they would stay at the Cwmbran Hotel, which used to be on the canal by Pontnewydd Park.
“A farmer would sometimes transport them by horse and cart up here. They’d play as many rounds as they wanted to, and then he’d take them back down to the hotel, or they’d catch a train, and off they’d go and get on with their lives.
“There were only four holes, I believe. They started with four holes, and I know there’s the remnants of one of the holes right up the top.
“When you walk around the course, you can see where the old walls were.
“When I was a child, I lived in Sebastopol and we would come through what we called Prosser’s Wood, then walk onto the course, and the greens were roped off to keep the sheep off.”
He said the first “clubhouse” was just a “tin shed”.
In the early 1970s, the Guest Keen works in the town closed their sports club, and the clubhouse was transported up here and rebuilt.”
Around 25 years ago, the clubhouse was demolished, and the new building that exists today was built.
‘Land owned by a local family’
The club is on land owned by a local family and leased to the club. Richard thanked them, saying: “They like having a golf course on here, so they’ve been very supportive of the club.
“It’s a members’ club, so it’s owned by the members. It’s one of the few members’ clubs around here.”
The club has helped the growth of the sport in Gwent with former members starting up new courses.
He said: “Pontypool and Newport [golf clubs] were born out of this club, so they’re the children of this club, they’re the offspring. When people wanted to play more golf, they built an 18-hole course up in Pontypool, they built one down in Newport, and they were born out of this club. The people were members here and built the clubs there.
“We’ve got players who’ve got handicaps of two, three, really good players, and we’ve had some really good players go through here. The professional at Greenmeadow, Leon Clark, used to play team golf up here.
“The professional at Woodlake Park used to play junior team golf up here. So yes, some good golfers come through here.”
‘Around 300 members’
The club has around 300 members and has seen a growth in young members over the last year. Richard said they’ve got a “strong junior section.”
Earlier in the year, a man walked into the clubhouse and said he had moved back to Wales from Norway. He pointed out to Richard that his name was on a few of the competition winners’ boards around the clubhouse for tournaments held in the early 1980s.
Richard said the man had a photo as a two-year-old boy putting on the third green with his dad. The man now plans to rejoin his old club.
I asked him what it is about golf and Pontnewydd Golf Club that he loves.
‘You can’t get enough of it’
He said: “Once it gets its hooks into you, you can’t get enough of it. You keep coming back, thinking ‘I did that wrong, I can do better than that’.”
“There’s a place called The Cottages, on the sixth hole. There’s a view up there right down to Weston-super-Mare. You stand up there on a good day, and you can see right across the channel. It’s beautiful up there. You can see all the industry in Newport and all the greenery in Cwmbran.
“As a golfer, if you stand on the last tee and look down here and see the clubhouse, it’s a great picture.” The photo in the gallery showing this view was taken by Richard.
The club plans to mark the 150th anniversary with several tournaments and social events during June. They’re looking for businesses and sponsors for the tees and events. Get in touch with Richard if you can help.
During that month, a plaque to mark the 150th year will be unveiled in the clubhouse.
View a selection of more photos from Pontnewydd Golf Club in this gallery on Facebook.