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THE MOVE TO HUBBERSTON
OFFICIAL OPENING ON 15th JULY 1933
Members outside the old clubhouse
Back row; Mr. Aitken (Professional) Mr. Howard Llewellyn, Mr. George Clarke, Mr. Rex Amphey, Mr. Trevor Kelway, Mr. Harry Rees, Mr. Fred Llewellyn.
Front Row; Mr. W.G. Lewis, Mr. Harry Llewellyn, Mr. Laken Cobb, Mr. Wilfred Hancock, Mr. Richie, Mr. Joe Lewis, Mr. H.V. James.
Little more is known about the Golf Club until 1933 when the Golf Club moved from Goosepill to Hubberston. This is the same land as we now play on and know as “the front nine” The first tee was situated in the area of the present 17th green.
The Milford Haven Golf Club acquired the land in October of 1932. A lot of effort must have been put into the preparation of the land to make it into a golf course because within 9 months the course was ready for the official opening. The original corrugated iron clubhouse was removed from the course at Goosepill and re-erected at the new Hubberston course. It was situated to the South East of the present 17th green.
The road, which is now the Elf jetty road, had not been built at that time, if it had been the clubhouse would have sat right in the middle of it
Members outside the old clubhouse after it was relocated to Hubberston. Names unknown. The picture must have been taken in the early 1950s because of the TV aerials visible behind the clubhouse. Also George Clarke who is sitting in the front row fourth from the left was Captain in 1953 and is shown wearing the same clothes as he wore for his Captain’s photograph which is shown in the chapter of Past Captains.
There appeared to be a lot of interest in the opening of the new course as is evident in the following newspaper article which was printed in the West Wales Guardian the week before the event.
The Hubberston course was a 9-hole course, which covered the area we now know as 'the front nine’ was officially opened on Saturday the 15th of July 1933
The greens were still a little bit rough but every endeavour was being made to improve them as soon as possible.
At the official opening ceremony which was performed at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday the 15th of July 1933 when the event was fortunate in being favoured with fine weather. The wind that was blowing being not strong enough to affect unduly the play that was to follow the opening ceremonies.
Mr. Bert Tully who was the Club Captain at the time was instrumental in obtaining the services of the famous British Ryder Cup player Mr. Percy Alliss (Peter Alliss' father) to play the first round at the new, officially opened Milford Haven Golf Club. Mr. Tully had met Mr. Alliss when he received lessons from him at Clyne Golf Club at Swansea where Mr. Percy Alliss was the Professional.
The officers of The Club at the time of the official opening were:
PresidentDr. H.O. Williams
ChairmanMr. J.H. Llewellyn
Hon. TreasurerMr. Herbert Cole
Hon. SecretaryMr. D.J. Davies
The President, Dr. H.O. Williams drove a ball from the first tee. After which the first round at the officially opened Milford Haven Golf Club was played by Mr. Percy Alliss (father of Peter Alliss) and Tom Aitken who had been the professional in 1930 at Goosepill but was by then attached to Gloucester Golf Club. According to a newspaper article from The West Wales Guardian "Mr. Aitken was given a very cordial welcome by his old Milford friends"
A fair crowd followed the players around with members of Fishguard, Newport, Cardigan and Haverfordwest Golf Clubs being present among the gallery. At first Mr. Aitken seemed to be a little nervous, perhaps not being so used to having such a crowd around him but his confidence grew as the match progressed. The match was all square going into the 18th however Percy Alliss won this hole with a par against Tom Aitkin's bogie. Mr. Alliss had played the 18 hole round in 75 strokes against Mr. Aitkins 76.
The ball that Mr. Alliss used to play the round was mounted and is still on display in the trophy cabinet at the entrance to the lounge bar.
After the ceremony the officers and committee pledged
"To leave no stone unturned in helping the greenkeeper to get the course in first class condition as soon as possible"
West Wales Guardian Newspaper photograph taken at the course opening
Report in the Haverfordwest and Milford Haven Telegraph
The ball that was used by Mr. Alliss in this competition was offered at the meeting of 14th February 1934 to Mr. Bert Tully as thanks for his efforts. This offer was declined by Mr. Tully who wanted the ball to stay with the club.
During the Presidency of Mr. Roy Griffiths in the year 1999 the minute book for the years 1933 to 1940 was found by a stroke of good fortune in the attic of a house in Dewsland Street, Milford Haven. A friend of Mr Griffiths (Mr. Steve Cove) was helping his son move out of his house at Dewsland Street and when clearing the attic they found the minute book. Knowing that Roy was the incumbent President of the Golf Club he contacted Roy and gave it to him. Roy in turn presented it to the Club.
A few of the pertinent highlights and some of the amusing incidents are shown in the following pages.
At the meeting of August 2nd 1933 a letter was from the Tax Office was read out re the entertainment tax duty on entrance tickets for the opening of the course. It does not state the amount involved but it was probably a lot less than the 17.5% VAT that we currently pay.
At the same meeting the subscription levels for the following year were noted. Gentlemen subscriptions were £2-12-6 in old money, which is the equivalent of £2.63 in today’s money. Ladies subscriptions were 50% of this.
October 11th 1933. A letter was read out from Mr. J.D. Clark in which he suggested that another member should buy the cup and present it to the club thus changing of the donor. The committee unanimously agreed that a reply be sent to Mr. Clark that members preferred the cup to bear his name and to express a hope that they again have the pleasure of seeing him down here.
In August of 1935 a Mr. Williams presented a horse to the club presumably the horse was to be used to pull the fairway mowers. A pond was created in the stream near the present Valley hole to provide drinking water for the horse. This was the forerunner of the pond feature that we have on the Valley now. Mr. Williams was made an honorary member for this gesture.
In 1936 members were complaining that the horse’s hooves were making bad marks on the fairway.
At their meeting on the 12th of August the committee agreed to spend £5 for the purchase of a car to pull the mower. One wonders what happened to the poor old horse.
At the Executive meeting of February 14th Mr Tully complained about the fact that members were not replacing divots. A similar problem exists today.
At the same meeting Miss Alford reported damage to the greens by ladies wearing high-heeled shoes. No further mention is made of the remedies applied to these two complaints.
There appears to be an ongoing dispute between the club and the owner of the land, Mr. J. Belton.
The first sign of this was a note in the minutes of the November 8th 1933 in which:
“It was resolved that Mr. Belton be approached and his attention be drawn to the damage caused through his colts breaking on to the course, especially in the cases of No 1 and No 9 greens. At the same time he was to be asked to do something with a view to killing off the moles” Many years later we still have the same problems with moles, it appears that this is a problem which we will never rid ourselves of.
There were continuous references asking Mr. Belton for a reduction in the rent of £60 per annum paid for the course. This argument seemed to continue for most of the 1930s with numerous complaints ensuing from both sides.
One of the complaints from Mr. Belton was that the fairway grass was being cut too low and he was unable to use it for extra grazing of his livestock.
This activity continued until September 1938 when it was noted that the term of the original lease was due to expire. A sub-committee was formed to discuss the renewal of the lease with Mr. Belton.
The first meeting with Mr. Belton was inconclusive with a request for a £10 reduction of rent being refused. Mr. Belton did offer to provide the club with a mower free of charge, this offer was accepted by the committee. The question of the lease was then put in the hands of Mr. Belton's solicitor.
In March 1939 Mr. Belton put his cattle on the course for grazing which in the committee’s words “was causing a considerable amount of damage” this was conveyed to Mr. Belton who replied “that owing to a very bad winter he was in a bad way owing to a shortage of grass and that he could get no hay. He was compelled against his will to place the cattle on the course for a short time and that he would repair any damage to the course and greens. He would remove them as soon as possible, he also said that he would remove them for the opening match on the Saturday”
Also at the same meeting it was noted that notice had been received from Mr. Belton terminating the lease on the course on September 18th 1939. He was again asked for a renewal at a reduced rental because the membership had gone down and the course upkeep had gone up since the lease commenced 7 years ago. No decision was made and Mr. Belton was ‘given time to think it over’.
At a meeting on April 13th 1939 between the sub-committee and Mr. Belton he agreed to give a reduction of £10 for the present half year and in return for him grazing cattle on the course the rent would be reduced to £30 per annum at a yearly tenancy.
The committee agreed to this with the following conditions. The cattle would be removed by April 20th of each year and the course kept free of them until after October 10th.
It appears that the matter did not end there, in the meeting of October 4th 1939 it was noted that a further notice to quit was served on the committee. This notice to quit was effective in March 1940.
Further meetings with Mr. Belton were held and he agreed to the club carrying on playing golf but they would not be allowed to cut the grass. The committee considered this to be “grave injustice” Later Mr. Belton modified this to not cutting the fairways too short and agreeing to rescind the notice to quit.
While all of this was going on the committee was investigating the possibility of siting a new course at the Atlantic Club (South Hook Fort) and were in discussion with the owner, Mrs. Lee Roberts.
After a lot of effort and discussion it was decided that there was insufficient land to support a golf course and the matter was dropped.
While I feel sure that this was not the end of the matter, no further documentary evidence can be found on this subject. It was obviously eventually resolved because we are still playing the on the same course although much modified.
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