The History of Betws-y-Coed Golf Club
The course is set against a backdrop of mountains, rivers and the wonderful scenery of the valley. The views of the countryside and the national park make Betws-y-Coed Golf Club one of the most beautiful courses in the country. This is the story of the course.
2007 sees the 30th Anniversary of Betws-y-Coed Golf Club, but the course was there for a few months between 1912 and 1914 when it was returned to agricultural use for the war effort. The bunker by the practice green is now all that remains of the old course.
The new course was opened (albeit on temporary greens) on the 4th June 1977, and was formally opened with a drive off the first tee by the Earl of Ancaster on the 3rd October 1978.
The opening of the course was a great success, and a culmination of efforts that had started some six years earlier at a meeting to discuss the building of the course on 36 acres of the Royal Oak Fields in 1971, and the obtaining of a generous lease from the Earl of Ancaster in 1974.
With grants from the Welsh Sports Council, the Betws-y-Coed Council and the invaluable efforts of the dedicated commitee, the money was raised to build the course and the clubhouse.
Progress began to accelerate in 1976 when the construction plant finally rolled into the fields and course began to take shape, and a public meeting was held in the Memorial Hall on the 29th July to encourage membership and to report on progress.
Money from Border Breweries financed the furnishing and equipping of the clubhouse, and in February 1977 the first green keeper, Mr Bill Hemas, was appointed.
The first commitee meeting was held in the clubhouse on the 2nd May 1977, and the minutes of the meeting quote, "The members have arrived 'home' after six years of planning, exhortation, negotiation, liason and cogitation." It was a very proud moment for all involved.
Finally, the notion first started by E. R. Hughes (Nwd), L. Parry and T. H. Jones (Tom the Bank) had become a reality. The club is indebted to them, and all the people involved, that made the course what it is today.