Whitehall Golf Club came into being on the 1st June 1922 when the Club House was officially opened by the President, Mr Bruce Jones M.E.J.P., agent for the Abercynon Colliery, who drove a ball off the first tee.

Many of the Founder Members had previously formed a small club in 1919 called the Abercynon Golf Club; the course consisted of three fields rented from the tenant of Gilfach Farm on the Llanwunno Mountain.

The day when the club was officially opened was glorious. A large crowd of members and friends were served with refreshments by the Lady Members of the Club on the Green in front of the Clubhouse.

The membership consisted mostly of members of the teaching profession, business people and officials of the local colliery.

Mr E.J. James, the local Ironmonger, presented the Championship Shield to the Club. It is worth mentioning that the original silverwork from this 1922 Championship Shield is now incorporated into the Champion of Champions Board mounted in the lounge. This silverwork was rescued from rejected scrap and restored by Life Member Gordon Davies in 1980.

The fees for that first year in 1922 were 10 shillings Joining Fee and 10 shillings Annual Fee.

There were tremendous difficulties in the early years. Not least among these were water, lighting and finance

Water

This had to be carried from the Whitehall Farm in 7-gallon cans. Mr and Mrs Sellick, the first Stewards, carried their drinking water from their home in Hollybush, Nelson.

Lighting

The lighting system for the first few years consisted of 3 hanging oil lamps. These were later upgraded when Mr J.D. Maddox generously presented the Club with 2 calor gas mantle lamps. Modernisation really took place a few years later when Mr Will Jones of the Travellers Rest Garage installed a 7-horsepower motorcar engine outside the Clubhouse. This fed a number of 12-volt car bulbs, which were hung from the ceiling of the Clubhouse.

There were often great difficulties in starting the engine and on many occasions everyone had to wait for the arrival of Mr Jones before the light would work.

Finance

From its early days the Club had great difficulty in meeting its financial obligations and from 1922 to 1928, the Club was constantly in the red.

At the Annual General Meetings, pressure was applied by a number of the younger members to apply to for a licence to sell beer, wines and spirits. In those more conservative times, this was strongly opposed by a significant section of the membership.

In the Annual General Meeting held in January 1927, the motion to apply for a licence was defeated by 43 votes to 25.

Owing to the serious financial problems of the Club, a Special General Meeting was held on 19th July 1928. It was agreed that each member pay a levy of 10 shillings, which was to be paid as a lump sum or at a rate of 1 shilling per week.

It was also decided that each member would endeavour to recruit a few half-yearly members, who were to be accepted from the 13th August 1928.

Mr W.R. Owen then offered £1 on the condition that 10 other members would do the same. The Chairman and Secretary were asked if they would interview members with a view to obtaining other offers of £1. Members responded positively and the money was collected by the Chairman

General

At the Annual General Meeting held in January 1928, a further attempt was made to register the Club for the sale of beer, wines and spirits. Again the motion was defeated by 30 votes to 21.

At the Annual General Meeting on January 1929, a motion was proposed by Mr J.H. Roberts, and seconded by Mr I. Pitt, that the Club apply for a drinking licence. The motion was finally carried by 29 votes to 15.

The decision to open a bar in the Club resulted in a severe split of opinion between the members. These became known as the BARites and the Anti-BARites. For a few years there was a lot of unpleasantness and a large number of resignations.

Consequently, the BARites and the Anti-BARites arranged their own matches and competitions and there were many clashes between the two sections out on the course.

Before the Club received its licence to sell alcohol, some members would purchase bottles of beer from local Off Licences to bring to the club for consumption.  When matches took place, members of the Whitehall team would purchase glasses of Amber Ale from the Hollybush Inn Nelson to entertain the visiting teams.

The first bar in the Club was a small room cut off from a part of the lounge. It resembled a small railway booking office, with a small shutter for the supplying of drinks. Only one person could stand at the bar so everyone formed a queue causing very many arguments over whose turn it was.

The Annual Dance was one of the highlights of the Whitehall Calendar. But the dance organised during the ‘bar split’ was so poorly supported that there was insufficient money to pay the band.  It was only a whip-around by the few members attending that saved the Club from a very embarrassing situation.

Golf Course

In January 1927, it was decided at the Annual General Meeting that Whitehall Club be affiliated to the Welsh Golfing Union. It was agreed to pay the Annual Subscription of £3.3.0.

For many years the equipment for maintaining the course was very poor. The fairways were very narrow and much time was spent looking for balls. The machinery used for cutting the fairways was a single blade grass-mowing machine, drawn by a horse hired from Whitehall Farm.

Additional problems were that Mr Edwards, the tenant of Whitehall Farm, had full grazing rights for his sheep on the course. On some occasions, apart from the sheep, cattle would stray onto the course from adjoining fields. Again it is worth noting that we had the ‘sheep grazing rights’ problem right up to 1990 when the committee under Roger Corns successfully negotiated an annual fee to allow us a ‘sheep free’ golf course. This was a tremendous move forward.  

At the Annual General Meeting in 1930 it was decided that the Club officially recognise Sunday Golf.

1932 - 1947

In 1932 Mr Jack Coles was appointed as a part-time Grounds man. He worked on the course after completing his daily work as an engine driver on the railway. The Honorarium paid to Mr Coles was in the region of £1.

In January 1932, the treasurer reported to the Annual Meeting a loss of £22.5.0, which was due to non-payment of fees by some members.

In 1935 the Annual Fees for Gents was £1.17.6 and Ladies £1.2.6.  Joining Fees of £1.10.0 and £1.0.0, respectively, would apply.

In 1940 Mr Coles resigned as part-time groundsman and was replaced by Mr Sellick, our Club Steward, at a weekly wage of £1.0.0 Mr Coles was made a Life Member in recognition of his work for Whitehall Golf Club.

In 1941 Mrs Madge Clancy presented the Club with a horse for work on the course. Its main work was to pull the new triple blade cutter. In 1942, the Club, for the first time, showed a credit balance of £18.16.11 at the Annual Meeting.

During the War Years, 1939-45, the Club was packed on three evenings a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Even during the winter months and the wartime blackouts, the Club was always full.

Very few cars were seen at the Club owing to petrol rationing. Although beer and spirits were also on a quota basis, no one remembers the bar running dry.

During the blackouts, members would proceed to the Club in groups. Darts, cards and Russian Bagatelle were the order of the day.

During the war, there were a number of RAF Officers stationed at the Llechwen Hall who were made honorary members of Whitehall Golf Club.  Members loaned clubs to officers who wished to play.

The Annual General Meeting of 1945 decided to raise the fees by 10 shillings to: Gents £2.10.0, Ladies £1.15.0, Non-Playing £1.5.0.

In 1946, Mr Harry Coles, who was on holiday in Cardigan, telephoned the Club advising that he had been offered a Motor Tractor for £340.  This was desperately needed to pull the triple cutter in place of the horse that had become too old for working.

It was decided to purchase the tractor, which could run for one day on 5 gallons of oil at a price of 1 shilling a gallon.  After checking with Mrs Clancy, it was also decided to sell the horse to Mr Edwards, the farmer.

In 1947 Whitehall Golf Club successfully applied to join the Glamorgan Golfing League.

Early in 1947 heavy falls of snow took place, which lasted over many weeks. The conditions in the Steward’s living quarters were deplorable with water pouring in through the roof. The only dry part of the Club was the Bar and that is where the Steward and his wife slept for many weeks